I want to switch to work on larger global problems that are also technically challenging. So far I’ve recognized following job profiles-
Combatting climate change:
* Reducing the power consumption of data centers. Data centers consume ~2% of global electricity consumption and are estimated to consume up to 8% by 2030 due to the ML boom. Example roles: Site efficiency teams in Big 4.
* Building systems to support autonomous vehicles. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation account for about 29 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor to U.S. GHG emissions. Autonomous vehicles are projected to reduce per-mile greenhouse gas emissions by up to 94%. Example roles: system performance teams at getcruise.com, tri.global
I am wondering if there are other software engineering/research roles I should apply to. Roles that combat global challenges and are also technically interesting.
I've recently found a post on the Effective Altruism forum encouraging people to consider starting a computer security career to help mitigate the AI risk:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZJiCfwTy5dC4CoxqA/...
There are a number of companies like us popping up. Bear Flag Robotics in California is another example.
thomas at seedotrun.com if interested.
If you are familiar with ICS security / systems, you can literally see the incinerators with dashboards of “humans per hour” and things like that.
Anyone with data wrangling skills (BigQuery, DataPrep, stuff like that), setting up cloud infra, or even just really good hard-code internetting research skills would be appreciated.
001-alias-aw@outlook.com
I actually wouldn’t have minded posting my real name, but it seemed somehow like it would take away from my post unless I used a cool anonymous (but not really) alias.
There's (some) work in conservation (meaning ecological habitats and stuff) if you care about biodiversity, but it mostly requires GIS skills.
A lot of "global problems" (like cancer) are also local problems (like different environmental exposures or individual genetic profiles). It's hard even while working at a global problem to have a solution with global impact. This cannot be understated.
There are some decently big problems in mining (where mining certain compounds has become exponentially harder) and the industry does not typically have a lot of software talent already. However, it can be quite difficult to get into depending on your geographical location.
Have you considered working for the government?
We're looking for people who have Rust/C++ or Pytorch/Tensorflow experience.
A large global problem is still starvation, millions of people dying every year. Work on helping countries feed themselves.
Majority of the world does not have access to internet, decentralised peer to peer networks could help here.
Thanks for the pointer about the internet. I will check out Project Loon and Internet.org.
Goodluck, hope you find something!
We have our sensors out in the wild in SF / Copenhagen and has shown tremendous improvements in efficiencies of up to 60% compared to under optimized pickups. Garbage is definitely something we need to be better at for a sustainable world in a global scale.
I like their framework of looking for cause areas that are large (you're already looking for this), tractable (so your work might actually result in something), and neglected (where your marginal impact is highest). That'll probably lead you toward:
1) Global poverty & public health: The evidence here is vast, and the marginal impact is huge in the developing world, where simple interventions like giving people money (GiveDirectly) or anti-malarial bednets (Against Malaria Foundation) save a life at the cost of ~$2,000. GiveWell does an excellent job evaluating these charities. This is where I ended up, but in the for-profit sector, at Zipline (flyzipline.com). We deliver essential medicines and vaccines by drone to the rural poor in Rwanda & Ghana. Some of our projects are funded by great organizations in this space like Gates & GAVI. I also donate ~50% of my income to GiveWell top charities, along with...
2) Farm animal welfare: Depending on how much you value an animal's life and well-being in relation to a person, the vast suffering of farmed animals is a huge problem that is also quite neglected and tractable. According to Animal Charity Evaluators (the GiveWell of this space), the most effective organizations are those like The Humane League (corporate outreach for improved standards) or The Good Food Institute (promoting and developing meat-alternatives, e.g. Impossible Burgers, or cultured meat).
3) Improving the long-term future: If you value the lives of future generations, then you might choose to focus on mitigating existential risks, i.e. those that risk extincting humanity. AI risk mitigation, e.g. OpenAI, gets a lot of focus in the bay area for obvious reasons, but there are many other opportunities here, e.g. reducing global pandemic risk, nuclear security, etc.
Hope this helps, and of course, I'd be happy to provide more links, articles, books, blogs, or podcasts on any of this! Or even better, put you in touch with some of the folks who work at these organizations
1. Zipline looks interesting! I've added it to my target companies.
2. I'm a vegetarian and I feel happy to see innovations like Impossible Burgers. But if I understand correctly, biochemists can contribute most to solving these challenges.
3. Do you have more resources for the third bullet? I'm apprehensive of this since some of the existential risks might be speculative and unreal.
https://jobs.lever.co/flyzipline/?team=Software%20Engineerin...
Happy to talk it over if any catch your fancy! My email is matt dot e dot fay at gmail dot com
2. There's certainly fewer, but still plenty in this field! For example, if you check the 80,000 Hours Job Board, both Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are hiring for software positions:
https://80000hours.org/job-board/factory-farming/
I can also ask around if you'd like.
3. The x-risk work is definitely speculative, by definition honestly. If the first two are stocks and bonds, this is the angel investing of cause areas:
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/hits-based-giving
I've stayed away mostly because I was looking for tangibly impactful work (too removed for me), but there are really smart, kind folks making convincing arguments that this is the best use of your time and/or money. For example:
- https://80000hours.org/articles/future-generations/
- https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/21/18126576/ai-ar...
- https://futureoflife.org/2018/09/17/moral-uncertainty-and-th...
Looks like a good place to try to make a quick buck off of desperate people while wrapping yourself in a piety burrito
Not that I have anything against profiting from misery
These include fighting poverty with intelligent smartphones, fighting commodity volatility and fighting online hate and extremism.
All have a AI + human angle and interesting backing.
Mail me on semantic at gmail.com if of interest
Great report to listen to about it here. https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/48/
Warning. The darknetdiary episodes are ADDICTING. Awesome stuff!
Posted link to wrong episode. Correct episode about journalists and smart phones.. https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/38/