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Thanks for explaining more.
I sympathise with your feelings around veganism - I too feel a bit awkward saying the V word in some contexts. Some of those feelings are probably down to an internalised veganphobia that I can't shake off despite having been vegan for 4 years. I'm not sure how relevant the vegan/animal rights analogy is to AI safety. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, Pause is already a popular idea, veganism is not. That probably gives pause advocates some leeway to be bit more annoying.
When trying to change the world, you need to make a trade-off between annoyingness/publicity and obscurity/respectability.
On one extreme, you never mention your issue unless asked. No one listens to you.
On the other extreme, you scream your issue into people's faces in Times Square whilst covered in your own faeces and stream everything on YouTube. No one takes you seriously.
There's a sweet spot somewhere in the middle of the two.
All of the activities that PauseAI engages in are seen by the public as acceptable forms of protest.
Although, of course, the details can always be improved, so I appreciate your thoughts. My hunch is that we're probably at around about the right level of annoyingness. (although my personal preference to avoid being seen as weird may bias me against adopting more annoying tactics - even if they have higher expected value).
(PAI person here)
What is it about the PauseAI protests that gives you the same feeling that the animal rights protesters covered in blood give you?
I agree that we should avoid covering ourselves in blood (or similar).
But so far, all we've done is wear shirts, talk to the public, hand out leaflets, hold signs, give speeches, and chant.
Personally, I don't find any of those activities cringy, with the exception of a few chants that didn't catch on and awkwardly petered out. But perhaps you've seen something in person or on video that I haven't?