The Nonlinear Library LW - Balsa Update and General Thank You by Zvi
Dec 13, 2023
12:07
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Balsa Update and General Thank You, published by Zvi on December 13, 2023 on LessWrong.
Wow, what a year it has been. Things keep getting crazier.
Thank you for taking this journey with me. I hope I have helped you keep pace, and that you have been able to discern for yourself the parts of this avalanche of words and events that were helpful. I hope to have helped things make somewhat more sense.
And I hope many of you have taken that information, and used it not only to be able to check Twitter less, but also to make better decisions, and, hopefully, to help make the world a better place - one in which humanity is more likely to survive.
Recently, my coverage of the Biden administration executive order and the events at OpenAI have been received very positively. I'd like to do more in that mold: more focused, shorter pieces that pull the story together, hopefully de-emphasizing more ephemeral weekly posts over time. I am also happy that this work has potentially opened doors that might grant me larger platforms and other ways to make a difference.
If you feel it would make the world better to do so, please help spread the word to others who would find my work useful.
Thank you especially to both my long-time and recent paid subscribers and my Patreon supporters. It is important to me that all my content remain freely accessible - so please do not subscribe if it would be a hardship - but subscriptions and other contributions are highly motivating and allow me to increase my budget.
You can also help by contributing to my 501c(3), Balsa Research.
The rest of this post is an update on what is happening there.
Balsa First Targets the Jones Act
Even with the craziness that is AI, it is important not to lose sight of everything else going on and to seek out opportunities to create a better, saner world. That means building a world that's better equipped to handle AI's challenges and one that knows it can do sensible things.
Previously I shared both an initial announcement and Balsa FAQ. Since then, we've focused on identifying particularly low-hanging fruit where key bridging work is not being done. I've hired Jennifer Chen, who has set up the necessary legal and logistical infrastructure for us to begin work. We've had a lot of conversations with volunteers, considered many options and game plans, and are ready to begin work in earnest.
As our first major project, we've decided that Balsa will work to repeal the Jones Act. That is a big swing, and we are small. We feel that the current approaches in Jones Act reform are flawed and that there's an opportunity here to really move the needle (but, if it turns out we're wrong, we will pivot).
Our plan continues to be to lay the necessary groundwork for a future push.
We'll prioritize identifying the right questions to ask and commissioning credible academic work to find and quantify those answers. The questions that matter are often going to be the ones that are going to matter in a Congressional staff meeting or hearing, breaking down questions that particular constituencies and members care about.
I believe that the numbers will show both big wins and few net losers from repeal - including few losers among the dedicated interest groups that are fighting for the Jones Act tooth and nail - such that full compensation for those losers would be practical. We also think that the framing and understanding of the questions involved can be dramatically improved. The hope is that the core opposition, which comes largely from unions, can ultimately be brought into a win-win deal.
This is somewhat of a narrowing of the mission. The intended tech arm of Balsa did not end up happening. We will not attempt to influence elections or support candidates. We do not anticipate having the resources for the complete stack, although, if we get...
Wow, what a year it has been. Things keep getting crazier.
Thank you for taking this journey with me. I hope I have helped you keep pace, and that you have been able to discern for yourself the parts of this avalanche of words and events that were helpful. I hope to have helped things make somewhat more sense.
And I hope many of you have taken that information, and used it not only to be able to check Twitter less, but also to make better decisions, and, hopefully, to help make the world a better place - one in which humanity is more likely to survive.
Recently, my coverage of the Biden administration executive order and the events at OpenAI have been received very positively. I'd like to do more in that mold: more focused, shorter pieces that pull the story together, hopefully de-emphasizing more ephemeral weekly posts over time. I am also happy that this work has potentially opened doors that might grant me larger platforms and other ways to make a difference.
If you feel it would make the world better to do so, please help spread the word to others who would find my work useful.
Thank you especially to both my long-time and recent paid subscribers and my Patreon supporters. It is important to me that all my content remain freely accessible - so please do not subscribe if it would be a hardship - but subscriptions and other contributions are highly motivating and allow me to increase my budget.
You can also help by contributing to my 501c(3), Balsa Research.
The rest of this post is an update on what is happening there.
Balsa First Targets the Jones Act
Even with the craziness that is AI, it is important not to lose sight of everything else going on and to seek out opportunities to create a better, saner world. That means building a world that's better equipped to handle AI's challenges and one that knows it can do sensible things.
Previously I shared both an initial announcement and Balsa FAQ. Since then, we've focused on identifying particularly low-hanging fruit where key bridging work is not being done. I've hired Jennifer Chen, who has set up the necessary legal and logistical infrastructure for us to begin work. We've had a lot of conversations with volunteers, considered many options and game plans, and are ready to begin work in earnest.
As our first major project, we've decided that Balsa will work to repeal the Jones Act. That is a big swing, and we are small. We feel that the current approaches in Jones Act reform are flawed and that there's an opportunity here to really move the needle (but, if it turns out we're wrong, we will pivot).
Our plan continues to be to lay the necessary groundwork for a future push.
We'll prioritize identifying the right questions to ask and commissioning credible academic work to find and quantify those answers. The questions that matter are often going to be the ones that are going to matter in a Congressional staff meeting or hearing, breaking down questions that particular constituencies and members care about.
I believe that the numbers will show both big wins and few net losers from repeal - including few losers among the dedicated interest groups that are fighting for the Jones Act tooth and nail - such that full compensation for those losers would be practical. We also think that the framing and understanding of the questions involved can be dramatically improved. The hope is that the core opposition, which comes largely from unions, can ultimately be brought into a win-win deal.
This is somewhat of a narrowing of the mission. The intended tech arm of Balsa did not end up happening. We will not attempt to influence elections or support candidates. We do not anticipate having the resources for the complete stack, although, if we get...