Hello everyone,
My name is Bary, I'm currently recovering from a 2-year-long anxiety and depression episode, which I partly attribute to me joining EA around that time. I am really thankful for this community, and for the amazing people here that helped me recover.
I'm writing a piece for the red teaming contest about community mental health. If since joining or learning about EA, you suffered from a mental health problem, even a minor one, or felt less satisfied with your job or life, I would like to have a 1:1 with you. Feel free to ping me here, on barylevi@gmail.com, or on Discord Bary#6478
Of course, if you feel like talking about your experience can cause you distress, please pass this opportunity. I am not a mental health professional and I will not be able to help.
Don't most dictators pass the power to their children or someone close to them anyway? And are these people not highly likely to remain dictators as well? Is it really the case that dictatorships are likely to become democracies when the dictator dies of old age? I find these are not trivial to answer.
To me, another side of mind enhancement seems to be preventing mental illness and neurodegenerative disease. So if you're looking to maximize your long term impact as an EA, keeping your mental health in check and living a healthy lifestyle are relatively simple interventions that might be equivalent to a certain increase in cognition for some people.
Quick thought: in some population models, in particular ones where human population peaks in the next 50-100 years and then continues declining (see Three mistakes in the moral mathematics of existential risk), there is a longtermist case to make that without life extension, the economy will not be sustainable when:
of course, a lot of things change with AGI as well, so it all depends on your timelines. I generally believe that EA doesn't emphasize aging enough and would like to help you make the case if you're interested.