Jun. 16, 2023 • Written by Emily Dardaman and Abhishek Gupta TL;DR: Lines are blurring between natural and artificial life, and we’re facing hard questions about maintaining meaningful human control (MHC) in an increasingly complex and risky environment. RISKY BUSINESSEver heard of a “normal accident?” Stanford University and University of Milan researchers found that complex… Continue reading Normal accidents, artificial life, and meaningful human control
Writing
AI isn’t just coming for our jobs. It’s coming for everything.
Image: “A beautiful future with AI and humans coexisting, watercolor,” DALL-E, 2022 To readers: Pardon the alarmist headline – hopefully, if you skip to the Author’s Note at the bottom, it will make sense. Introduction In the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of progress in artificial intelligence. Technology has reached the point where… Continue reading AI isn’t just coming for our jobs. It’s coming for everything.
Dispatches from the far frontiers of social impact
I just got back from Effective Altruism Global (EAG), a 3 day conference where 1500 researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and consultants gathered in San Francisco to explore the cutting edge of data-driven social impact. Given a world full of problems and limited resources, which problems should we prioritize? A lot of organizations fall apart over… Continue reading Dispatches from the far frontiers of social impact
Uncles
Since September, my family has lost four uncles and an aunt to unrelated causes. Some were old, some were not. Some passed easily, others didn’t. The first was my uncle, Chip, who was unvaccinated and succumbed to COVID-19 during the lethal Delta wave. I got the call while riding an Uber to the airport in… Continue reading Uncles
A year in beauty
Growing up as a second-generation tomboy, I had a blast. But I struggled to catch up as a teenager. I remember arriving at college and being baffled by the advanced knowledge of other students regarding hair, makeup, and posing in pictures. Where did they learn this!? It took a long time for me to find… Continue reading A year in beauty
2021, as told in hobbies
Over the course of the pandemic, I found myself with lots of virtual clubs and activities. A book club in Boston, a mentor in Houston, a run club in rural New Mexico. A second run club in Savannah, Georgia. A third run club at work. A community softball league. Dungeons and Dragons on Sundays …and… Continue reading 2021, as told in hobbies
Book Recommendations
Click here 🙂 I’m reading 100 books this year. To celebrate being 5 books behind and frantically cramming, here are a few all-time favorites.
When you don’t land your first job
Work that represents our values is hard to find. That’s not a proverb—it’s a fact. Sometimes, it feels like I work at the only purpose-driven company in the world. I applied to BrightHouse two years in a row before I got in. It was the only place in the world I wanted to be. Now,… Continue reading When you don’t land your first job
Managing Up
De-Charlie Brown the adults in my life If you’re like me, you start your job eager to do good work and make your bosses proud. Maybe you went to journalism school or pride yourself on your communication abilities. And then your new boss opens their mouth, and you realize you don’t have any idea what… Continue reading Managing Up
Avoiding distractions on an internet machine
via the Pomodoro Technique When time stretches before me like a sad industrial carpet, I like to get things moving with a quick concentration exercise. Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato, and the Pomodoro Technique is based on those old fashioned tomato timers from our grandparents’ kitchens. The idea is simple: focus for 25… Continue reading Avoiding distractions on an internet machine