This blog is interesting, in that it is entirely unknown to the outside world. That means that while I have been publishing random thoughts and half-baked content on this webpage that is "technically" available to the outside world, I have yet to tell anyone of its existence. Having something external-facing is extremely important to me (to hold me accountable/engaged), but none of my ideas on EA or AI safety have made it into anyone else's brain. As such, it was very interesting to write and publish my first actual outward-facing content, Mind Crime. The actual publishing date is up for debate as it was complete in February 2025, and I was already sending free PDF copies to some during that time. But given that my first article on the topic was in May 2023, it is apparent that I could claim that this was an essentially two-year effort. The flurry of Mind Crime related topics I made in September 2023 were the basis for the core content of the book. Two years later, I am now a published author on one of the most obscure but potentially most important issues in human history to date.
As expected, no one has read the book. I have a single-digit number of reviews on Goodreads, and it is unlikely that double digit people will ever read it, despite the fact that I sunk hundreds of hours into writing, editing, and publishing. I likely spent $8,000 or so dollars of my personal savings on the project, and spent months wrecking my mental health thinking about existential philosophy, worse-than-extinction scenarios, and torture. Lots of torture. I also stressed continuously about impact, as the first published book in this space commands some amount of author responsibility. Over the last nine months (which in some sense was the bulk of the important work on the project), in addition to this project, I was working essentially full-time and also a full-time student (handling a more intense course load than probably 95% of others in the history of my dual-degree grad program). After all of this work, all of this stress, and my insane lack of time, I am now finally done. The result of my work is that a handful of family and friends read maybe a couple chapters of the book (if that), and it has done essentially nothing of value for anyone. There is only one question now: what's next?
My head is already spinning with ideas. There's really two big options, both to do with advocacy:
1. Become a strong advocate for digital minds, continue from where I left off with the book (this time focused on policy, governance, and creating a workstream of impactful tasks that could help make a difference)
2. Take an indirect route, and advocate strongly for policy/awareness on the dangers on commercializing consciousness through biological computing (Cortical Labs, etc.). This issue is fundamentally intertwined issue with digital mind rights, it is just lower-stakes and much more visceral.
I think that option 2 is probably the most impactful path forward, unless we start seriously hitting AGI or speed up into fast-takeoff scenarios. My plan for now is to use the very limited personal time, not thinking, but taking serious action regarding option 2. And then if the world speeds past lots of milestones in the next few months, consider focusing solely on option 1. Maybe two years from now I will look back at my work in this area, and chuckle at thinking years of my dedicated effort would result in anything widely impactful.