Yesterday I described an experience that impressed upon fifteen-year-old me the importance of speaking with urgency and courage when something awful is happening.

I lived a fresh reminder of the importance of courage last week at PauseCon, a first-of-its-kind conference in Washington, DC run by PauseAI US.[1]

It was really, really good. I’m impressed and I want to see more work like this.

I was there in a personal capacity, but since I also work for MIRI, I was alert for ways that our organizations might support one another. (The opinions in this post are, of course, my own.) I was again impressed by the degree to which PauseAI laid out a clear and promising strategy for its members.

PauseCon's main programming consisted of an informal sign-making gathering, several presentations by local organizers, a lobbying workshop, scheduled meetings with Congressional offices, several social events, and a protest in front of the Capitol on Monday. They were all pretty fun and productive, and I’m dedicating a section to talk about each.

I made a sign! Or tried to, anyway. I am not very good at making signs yet, but [...]

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Outline:

(00:10) A lesson in courage from Washington, DC

(01:17) Sign-making and local presentations

(02:34) Lobbying workshop

(05:34) Meeting Congressional offices

(05:39) The talking points

(08:11) The meetings

(12:03) Social activity

(12:31) The protest

(14:35) Coda

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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