This is the weekly visible open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. ACX has an unofficial subreddit, Discord, and bulletin board, and in-person meetups around the world. 95% of content is free, but for the remaining 5% you can subscribe here. Also:

1: This is your last chance to take the 2022-23 ACX Survey (estimated time 30 min), I will probably be closing it tomorrow or Tuesday.

2:PIBBSS Fellowship in AI alignment/governance accepting applications for summer 2023. In person (in Prague and Oxford) with $3000/month stipend. “While we expect a majority of the fellows to be Ph.D. or postdoctoral students, we encourage all interested individuals to apply regardless of their credentials”. I know and trust some of the people on the mentoring side, and the fellowship is partnered with Stanford Existential Risks Initiative which is well-regarded (in the extremely niche subfield of AI alignment, which may or may not be relevant to any standard career path). Application deadline 2/5/23.

3: ACX Grants updates:

  • Dr. Alice Evans discusses Richard Wrangham’s bioanthropological theory of patriarchy

  • The Institute for Effective Policy has helped convince the Australian government to include funding for long-term catastrophic risks in its Disaster Ready Fund.

  • The attempt to get approval voting on the ballot in Seattle had a complicated outcome. It got on the ballot, for complicated political reasons the Seattle City Council responded by adding a different proposition supporting Ranked Choice Voting, and the Ranked Choice Voting initiative won. I understand there are some bad feelings about the exact way City Council did this, and that the election nerd community is split between Approval Voting and RCV partisans. But my perspective is that either alternative beats the usual “first past the post” system, and if the Approval Voting campaign indirectly led to the RCV victory, they still did great work and should feel proud of themselves. I’m trying to get them to write me a post with the full story.

4: Thanks to everyone who bought subscriptions in the Subscription Drive; I really appreciate it.