I dropped out of physics grad school (got a master’s degree as consolation prize). I needed a job, and knew how to code. So I applied to some big tech company and I was like “you’re going to pay me HOW much??” I had no idea I could get paid so much for just writing code and fixing bugs and stuff.

But now I really want to throw away that money and stability to work on AI alignment research, because it’s the most important thing in the world.