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Denis

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Both are shockingly underfunded. But I think future generations will be even more shocked by how we treated (i.e. actively caused great suffering to) farm animals than by how we failed to help humans in dire need. 

Good analysis of this from PauseAI:

I don't want to presume to paraphrase their analysis into one phrase, but if I were forced to, it would seem to be that there was a lot of pressure on Governor Newsom from powerful AI companies and interests, who also threatened to ruin the bill's sponsor Scott Wiener. 

Still a pity that he couldn't resist the pressure. 

It's kind of pathetic, but this is the reality of politics today. With their money, they really can either make or break a politician, and we voters are not smart enough to avoid being taken in by their negative advertising and dirt-digging. 

It's clear that we need a much stronger movement on this. The other reason he was able to veto this bill is that the vast majority of people do not agree that AI poses a major / existential risk, and so they do not insist on the urgent action we need. 

I understand they have fixed this issue, but if not, just contact them directly. 

I signed up originally with an abbreviated version of my national ID number, but they preferred to correct the system and have the accurate number. 

Answer by Denis 6
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This is where we need a broad perspective. 

Long-term, we solve the problem of meat-eating with artificial protein, which also solves many other problems. 

Medium-term, we work to end factory-farming, which needlessly increases the suffering of animals. (I don't want to get into it because there are many experts here and I'm not one of them, but it may be arguable that an animal which is bred for food but gets to live a decent life in a field is better off than if it hadn't been born because people didn't need to eat it. However, in the case of factory-farming, such an argument seems totally untenable). 

Short-term, we accept that we live in an imperfect world and that most people value saving human lives, even at the cost of animal lives. So we work to save human lives and improve health and improve quality of life, and instead of losing sleep over the calculation of the net impact on animals, we support the amazing organisations who are working to end factory-farming (like Farmkind) and to develop alternative protein (like GFI). 

It's valuable to discuss questions like this, and I absolutely do not claim to have a definitive answer - all I say is that when I think about this, that's how I rationalise it. 

Hi,

I'm not sure if you've had any interactions with the "EU Technical Policy Fellowship" led by Training for Good. You can find a lot of information online, and I could put you in contact with the trainers/organisers if that would be helpful. 

They take 12 people (out of about 300 applicants) through an intense 8-week program about how to influence EU policy towards better AI Safety Governance. I was lucky enough to be a fellow earlier this year. Many of the fellows then do a 6-month internship at an AI-focused think-tank or Civil Society organisation. 

IMHO this group may be of interest to some of the fellows and/or they may be interested in volunteering to support some of the activities. I'm not sure, as the focus of the fellowship is very much on getting people into the bodies that you do not want to duplicate. 

They may also just have a good network of others who may be interested - again, possibly you already have access to the same network (Brussels isn't so big!)

There may also be potential to work with the new AI Office. I'm sure they are totally understaffed and over-worked at the moment - however, it sounds like you're planning to do some things that they would support, so maybe they would see enabling this organisation as an effective way to meet some of their needs.



 

On this subject, it was nice to see Nick Kristof in the New York Times write on a related theme, comparing how we treat and respect dogs and pigs.

Opinion | Dogs Are the Best! But They Highlight Our Hypocrisy. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Great idea! Let me do this when I feel inspired and opinionated! 

Wow, great example. Thanks for sharing this. Everytime I see this happening, it frustrates me, but I don't actually have a clear idea of how to talk about it. 

That's really interesting, and makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing! 

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