Open Thread 409
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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. Most content is free, some is subscriber only; you can subscribe here. Also:
1: New subscribers-only blog post, God Help Us, Let’s Try To Have An Opinion On The War In Gaza. Sorry it’s late - it took me so long to gather my thoughts that they signed a cease-fire first - but I’m sure it will become relevant again eventually.
2: Qualia Research Institute announces their spinoff effort ClusterFree. Cluster headaches (aka “suicide headaches”) are probably the most painful medical condition known to science, which makes them a natural priority for some utilitarians. They seem to be extremely treatable by psychedelics like psilocybin and DMT (including sub-hallucinogenic doses), so ClusterFree is working on getting governments to research this further and maybe get these drugs into the medical pipeline (cf. ketamine for depression). There’s an open letter here, and you can contact them here. The information for patients is at the bottom of this page.
3: Big EA funder Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy) wants to distribute ~$10 million to projects related to “AI for forecasting” or “AI for sound reasoning”. If you have an idea in this area and want a grant, see here for more information, first round deadline December 1, second round deadline January 30.
4: FRAME is a “fully funded creative fellowship for video creators, storytellers, and communicators who want to shape how the world understands AI Safety and risk concepts”. If you create (or hope to create) AI safety related videos, they want to fly you to San Francisco and teach you how to do it better. Apply by December 20.
5: The annual East Coast rationalist mega-meetup is coming up December 19-22 at the HI NYC hostel in New York. Also, rationalist solstice celebrations around the world.