100 Open questions to think about

Inspired by Alexey Guzey, Gwern, and Patrick Collinson

Here’s a list of a few questions I came up with while filling up an application for SPARC. Most of them revolve around rationality, AI and human decision-making in general. Do let me know if you find these interesting to think about, have any comments, or know the answers to any of these questions!

1. Does Effective Altruism’s emphasis on the future generations, belittle the needs of the current, and if so, is this morally appropriate?

2. Why are calls to people's emotions more ‘effective’ than rationality?

3. How does effective forecasting like Fermicasting provide any plausible benefit? Are people reasonably confident to make meaningful decisions based on the heuristics of other people?

4. Does crypto really have any inherent value? And what is something we can do with crypto that we’d be unable to do with the money?

5. Artificial intelligence is trained on human data. Why then are we outraged when a word-predicting model outputs something outrageous?

6. It is not entirely impossible that artificial intelligence might be better at decision-making than humans, if so, would it be better to align AI to human values, or leave it in some area for independent decision-making?

7. There are several opinions that AI would help create not reduce net jobs. For unskilled blue-collar workers. What are some of these jobs?

8. Is it possible to satisfy the need for human craving for loneliness solely through artificial intelligence?

9. What's the best way to make a positive impact on the world?

10. What's the end goal of humans, is it to optimize individual happiness?

11. What's the best way to form meaningful relationships with people?

12. What are some of the main issues plaguing AI Alignment?

13. Some of the current language models are owned by companies as these are expensive to run. Will Open Source models ever come to be as competitive as them?

14. How should developing countries optimize for development and progress while ensuring that they’re not accelerating climate change?

15. How does one manage to build depth in a specific niche of ai, while managing to stay ‘dangerous’ in other fields

16. What are the best ways to solve problems of distribution like hunger and poverty?

17. What's the best solution to the current problem plaguing chatgpt making up nonexistent information and sources?

18. To what extent of freedom of speech be allowed?

19. With students using chatgpt for almost all essay prompts, what are examples of areas where only humans will be able to make intelligible responses if any?

20. What are some of the best ways to learn about opinions in philosophy, and try to answer questions?

21. With OpenAI constantly patching the different jailbreaks being used to bypass its content policies, 

22. What’s more likely to make people mad: something that’s false or true?

23. Is there a reproducible process for making pop songs that AI can replicate?

24. Will AI ever be able to better understand us than we do ourselves?

25. Is dissociation from emotions better or worse for making decisions? Particularly in a field like friendship or family

26. Should powerful AI systems should behave in the way users want or their creators intend?

27. What's the best way to depolarise society from its current state?

28. The current language models are being trained on data that don't accurately reflect all strata of society, what are the best ways to overcome this?

29. What are some of the best ways to form contrarian ideas that are right?

30. What measures does crypto have once, hypothetically prop-shops start trading crypto and intentionally boost or deflate their value?

31. What are some of the best ways to get better at forecasting?

32. Would Universal basic income promote innovation or deaccelerate it?

33. How do we get better at noticing things overlooked by others

34. Would it be possible to build a programming language that generates additional syntax to solve different needs?

35. What are the best ways to help solve the rising issues of loneliness

36. How does one get to regularly interact and learn from successful people?

37. Is it ever truly possible to overcome our biases, and how can we do this?

38. What are some of the positive outcomes we can get through gene editing, and how can we make an impact in this field?

39. Is there a thing like free thought?

40. Do Animals Dream?

41.  How do various religions differ in the nature and magnitude of their effects?

42. What influences when people to act in accordance with their self-interest and when they don't?

43. How does mental imagery work? How do we improve its function?

44. Do people have different levels of self-control or do they just experience temptation differently?

45. What makes a good life? How do we study this?

46. We remember dreams almost perfectly right after waking up and then the memory rapidly recedes and disappears completely, unless we write them down. This isn’t how normal memories function. So, why the difference?

47. What is “personal productivity” and why does it vary from day to day so much (eg. Weinberger et al 2018)? And why does it not seem to correlate with environmental variables like weather or sleep quality?

48. Does listening to music improve or worsen memory?

49. What is consciousness?

50. What would happen if we could travel faster than the speed of light?

51. How much of our behavior is determined by nature versus nurture?

52. How does language shape the way we think?

53. What makes some memories more vivid than others?

54. What does it really mean to be ‘self-aware’?

55. What laws should be imposed by governments on generative AI, if any?

56. Is rationality a universal trait, or are there cultural differences in what is considered rational behavior?

57. What determines how we perceive time? Is it the same for everyone?

58. How do people make major decisions in their lives? When and why does it come up, and how do they go about making those decisions?

59. Are we all fundamentally selfish, even when we do things for others' benefit? Or are there truly settings (intrinsic and/or exogenous) where we do things that are good for others but bad for both our short-term future and long-term future selves?

60. Do people have different levels of self-control or do they just experience temptation differently?

61. Is there a way to conduct research without bias in funding? How?

62. Would it be feasible for prop trading shops to be owned by the government to ensure market liquidity?

63. What would be the best way to go about building a large language model to rival that of GPT-3?

64. Are we all fundamentally selfish, even when we do things for others' benefit? Or are there truly settings (intrinsic and/or exogenous) where we do things that are good for others but bad for both our short-term future and long-term future selves?

65. What basically goes on in the brain, when we design or think of something ‘new’ or never seen before?

66. Are people able to concentrate more effectively under total silence?

67. what are the factors that influence the speed and accuracy of learning a new language?

68. What is the best way to factor in risk while making uncertain decisions?

69. How does trusting the ‘gut’ work?

70. If we ever find a way to significantly extend the human health span or reverse ageing, what could that post-death society look like? 

71. What are the neural mechanisms underlying consciousness, and how can we study and manipulate these mechanisms?

72. Would it be possible to prevent shrinkage of the brain?

73. How does neuroplasticity differ between the developing brain and the adult brain,

74. What is happening in the brain when a human questions?

75. What is the probability there is microbial-like life (other than from earth) in our solar system?"

76. Is string theory more closely correct than any other current theory of physics?

77. What's the best way to determine if someone would be a good friend for you?

78. How do you ask the right questions?

79. How do I get people to like me? 

80. How do you tell the difference between a preference and a bias 

81. What is the probability that I might be sleep deprived if I wake up before my alarm goes off more than 95% of the time?

82. What do other people subjectively experience when they are thinking? To me it’s like talking to myself (in verbal English sentences) but I'm told that isn't universal.

83. When is self-denial useful in altering your desires, vs satisfying them so you can devote time to other things?

84. How does one define wisdom?

85. What happens to consciousness once you fall asleep?

86. Can charisma be taught?

87. Why is it so hard to predict success?

88. Why are we so fascinated by coincidences?

89. Is It Wrong to Enjoy Yourself While the World Is Burning?

90. Is it more important to help society or to help yourself?

91. how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?

92. Why Do We Want What We Can’t Have?

93. Which Matters More, a First or Last Impression?

94. How do I improve my ability to simulate/guess other people's internal states and future behaviours?

95. How do I work out what I want and what I should do?

96. 2) Would the human race be eradicated if there is a worst-possible-scenario nuclear incident? Or merely a lot of people?

97. What could be the potential downsides of building a universal sign language?

98. How do people ascertain emotions in certain songs?

99. Do animals ever 'ask questions'?

100. When you forget a thought, where does this thought go?