iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The other academics are not meant to be our "competitors" though - okay, maybe this was a false friend in the AI translation from French? (AI sneakily trying to pit us against each other :) )

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But I think there will be enough mainstream support to bring it back in 2-4 years. (And still, it's a tragedy).

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I'm moderately hopeful/confident this will reverse. It's not 'permanently cancelled forever'. Americans on both extremes of the political spectrum loved to criticize USAID, mostly unfairly imo... "white savior colonialism just to help US industry" vs "foreign rat-holes, keep our money at home".

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

GDP per year (big stack of bricks) and ODA given (smaller stack). The recent drops means the USA has fallen below Germany, a country with less than 1/4 the population & 1/6 the GDP, as a "foreign aid power". (ChatGPT helped build this, obviously)

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daaronr.github.io/music/#v=1&k=C A little tool I built - 18 ways through a 12-bar blues form, with chords maps and a simple backing track that can be adjusted. Let me know if you find it useful. #jazz #blues #musictheory

daaronr.github.io

Blues Flow

Play and study 18 versions of the 12-bar blues, from three chords to Parker-style changes, in any key, with a walking-bass backing band.

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Was motivated by @thezvi.bsky.social telling us we should try ambitious things with Claude 5.5

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This was a very ad hoc and fairly unsystematic comparison. It also doesn’t represent “a standard jazz tune” because I was asking it to do some specific things involving duo counterpoint. But I think it came out interesting.

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I basically agree but the term “pre-publication” can be confusing here. By “publication” I guess you mean “published in a journal that claims ownership” rather than “the exact same content is already available to everyone in a preprint/working paper”?

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Rich people can be and have been held accountable in loads of cases. But I’d say “a rich person should never make a societal decision” seems somewhat correct because no one should make such a decision unilaterally — that’s why we have a democratic republic.

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not sure what the OP means. Am I missing some context here?

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Reposted by David Reinstein

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 26/09/2026

Foreign aid contributions fell in 2025 amongst almost all of the top 10 donors. In 2025, the amount of foreign aid given by the world’s richest countries fell by almost a quarter. That amounted to a reduction of roughly US$50 billion.

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I think “gouging” usually refers to a response to some event like a natural disaster

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That would be socially undesirable I think But maybe not what people traditionally call “gouging”. That’s identifying a factor (health concern) that’s positively associated with income or carefulness and thus willingness to pay.

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I didn’t say “should be” in a justice sense. But actually if the companies have the private data they would look not just at income but at expenses, family size etc. Not out of benevolence of course, but because it is profit maximizing to try to get at people’s max “willingness to pay” .

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That seems like the more classic definition of gouging to me. All else equal though i think they will tend to use private information to charge wealthier people more and poorer people less. Not out of benevolence of course, but because it is profit maximizing in that direction.

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How do you define “gouging”? What makes a price fair or not? Genuine question.

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

“But it should prevent algorithms from gouging based on life circumstances like pregnancy, grief, or income” — I can understand the feelings about the first two, but I’d assume that stores would tend to charge people on higher incomes _more_. The reverse wouldn’t make sense from a profit standpoint.

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Sorry, I thought you were suggesting that effective altruists had advocated for this. OpenAI CFO advocating for isn't the same thing, of course.

David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Also note that this quotes is 13 years old. Is it still relevant? What are your thoughts?

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David Reinstein @daaronr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Who advocated for this and why? I’m curious.

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You might say this is a no true Scotsman argument, but I think it’s more reasonable to focus on the larger number of people who identify themselves as aligned with AI as well as the largest foundations and organisations aligned with this, such as Coefficient Giving, GiveWell, etc.

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But I think it’s only fair to speak differently about the thousands of people who are active on EA Forum, who have taken giving pledges, and who advocate for causes like animal welfare and AI safety.

This forum is actually pretty core to the effective altruism movement. There may be some Silicon Valley elites who do use EA sounding arguments to justify harmful actions, including promoting the development of dangerous AI capabilities.

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That’s good and thank you for doing it. I just don’t see the argument for criticizing people who are also donating and sharing but thinking about how they can stretch their contributions further by, e.g., considering people in very poor countries.

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Every movement has bad apples. Look at the substance of what most EAs are actually doing and where most of the funding is going.

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EA is very distinct from Ayn Rand’s philosophy, which vilifies any form of charity or altruism.

I don’t think it’s helpful dialogue to call something a cult. And I don’t think it’s descriptive here; among other reasons they are a range of opinions and they encourage thoughtful, substantive, non-violent discussion and debate.

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I’m not here to defend that particular statement. Just to tell you that in general EAs are your ally not your enemy if you care about global poverty, animal welfare, or global risks.

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forum.effectivealtruism.org

As I said, people in EA were generally horrified by the closure of USAID and are working to try to reverse it and help ameliorate this situation. Eg forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AFcm2x... www.givewell.org/USAID

Implications of USAID freeze on donations

Has anyone considered what donors can do in response to the USAID freeze? • Categories of actions which spring to my mind: …

I have ha ddoubts about it myself , but what is your specific objection?

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He clearly does not reflect the core principles and actions of most people who identify with EA, e.g., a wide moral circle of concern for humans and animals. (Musk seems to have little concern for Africans for example)

He is certainly not any sort of EA leader anyways. I think some expressed admiration for things he has said about AI risk in early stages. but many more have expressed revulsion to his contribution to dismantling USAID, his advocacy against philanthropy, and his pursuit of data centers.

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He has expressed concern about AI risk at one point but he is now full speed pursuing data centers and has explicitly advocated against charity and altruism. Not endorsed by Effective Altruists, and has donated very little to charities, EA or otherwise

Look at what EAs are actually doing and donating to, not at this one quote.

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You could criticise them for emphasising measurement, but you are picking on people actually donating their time and money and trying to do the most good, instead of people like Musk and Bezos buying mega yachts,calling all charity a hoax and dismantling aid programs.

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charityentrepreneurship.com

But EA individuals and foundations are far from “neglecting the poor”; they are still donating very large sums and founding interventions to help the poorest people in the world. See the work of www.charityentrepreneurship.com for example.

Charity Entrepreneurship

Launching high-impact nonprofits by connecting entrepreneurs with effective ideas, training, and funding.

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But EAs are strongly advocating for slowing down, regulating or pausing AI development. That’s probably the biggest emphasis at the moment.

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This is just factually incorrect. EA donors and organizations have given away tremendous amounts to help with global health, poverty, and support animal welfare (e.g. through promoting corporate commitments to use only cage free eggs.) You are picking on the wrong people here.

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So much innacuracy here. Look at the good work that GiveWell endorsed charities have done throughout the world. Bednets are one of a number of interventions that have saved many lives; what is the evidence that these are targeted for selfish gain?

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