Weekly tasks / MicroCommit
In the near future, we will have access to the https://microcommit.io/ platform, and be able to send weekly tasks for everyone who decides to follow us there.
This project is to give ideas, express interest in helping write the weekly tasks, and give any other type of feedback about them.
I already have a decent list. Ask for access to it if you want to participate in writing them: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Vh-HHiQHisqrmAiKagX4AGBxkAlRL-PivV-Iu452uA/edit?tab=t.s0o9w6xnniug#heading=h.xhoug3qml0bw
14 Replies
solid-orange•2mo ago
I'm stoked that we are their first collab. 🙌
I recommend breaking out "sign the petitions" into each individual petition we care about, spread across weeks. Part of what makes MicroCommit work is building up a habit and rewarding that habit. They could sign every petition on the first day, but 1) that sounds like a bigger ask, even if it's dead easy in real terms and 2) then they won't get the dopamine trickle of "oh hey, it's another one of these! These are super easy!"
This is the list of treaties I use in my "What To Do" document for PauseAI Phoenix:
- PauseAI US Petition for an AI Treaty
- PauseAI Statement
- PauseAI “Say No” Campaign
- FLI Statement on Superintelligence
variable-limeOP•2mo ago
Maybe. There is a bunch of "easy ones". and i don't know... i think petitions can seem kind of useless to some people and maybe they say "this is a super easy one" or maybe they say "every week there is one of these dumb ones, the whole thing is dumb".
I don't know which is more likely
solid-orange•2mo ago
A lot of ControlAI's microcommits have been very small and kind of playful ("Check out this thing and consider being involved" / "Read this thing" / "Share this post" / "Introduce yourself in the Discord" / "Send us a link to a good piece of media about ___"), so I expect that signing a petition isn't the smallest or most useless-seeming ask we'll have. It's also kind of the poster child for "thing that looks useless but is actually useful in aggregate," which is the whole point of the microcommit system.
The pitch is that they are signing up to do about 5-10 minutes of useful tasks per week, so I would expect the momentum to carry through for people even if there are two things that look useless and one thing that looks useful, so long as that one compelling thing is there, which may be different per person.
I can't be very confident in my stance, though. The Microcommit team has probably gathered some insights of their own, which I'm sure they'd be happy to share.
genetic-orange•5w ago
Indeed one of the recent actions was to read their own engagement stats.
As per comment in doc: I advise promoting Say No, am proud of it as a way in.
variable-limeOP•5w ago
sorry but i think those are pretty mediocre actions
i mean i can understand that can make you feel part of something but i think they shouldn't be that common
correct-apricot•4w ago
Hi! I'd like the petitions included but I think we should discuss what level of action a microcommit is
keen to scope out a step up action
solid-orange•4w ago
One thing to keep in mind is that Microcommit can be used to put people in the habit of saying "yes".
variable-limeOP•4w ago
I never said we shouldn't have the petitions, only that i'd prefer if we don't share a petition every week at first
deep-jade•4w ago
@michaelende. @simorius
@Pato Vercesi could you share the document about the micro-commits you mentioned?
variable-limeOP•4w ago
Oh, my bad. There's not a guide, but what to not write to not trigger spam filters on the emails lol.
"Put links only in the details section - the title and description is sent in the email, and we'd like to minimize amount of external links for spam filter reasons.
Avoid spam trigger words - Minimize use of "free," "urgent," "act now," "limited time," etc."
I need to update the doc with that and some other things
(like priority levels)
How many tasks per week?
I feel we should limit ourselves to 2 or 3 per week. 4 If they are really easy. I'm not a fan of putting more than that.
Every task after the third one gets moved to the "Extra tasks" category, but I still don't think it's worth it. More when you consider people who follow MicroCommit will get like 5 weekly tasks more besides our own.
genetic-orange•4w ago
Gabe's vision for expected microcommit load on a user who subscribes to c channels (including the central existing one: for now, assume almost everyone will be on that unless the platform really takes off as a general activist affordance) should expect (1 + 2c) regular actions per week, and around half that in extra optional actions on average.
So as is, we are "expected" to submit two regular Pause AI tasks per week.
----
To actually launch the thing I really hope we can get something equivalent to a regular task on the main microcommit channel that says to consider joining the Pause AI channel. It has existing reach. Hoping that folk to self-start and opt in seems less good.
----
I think we would like the very first task on Pause AI to be (as described in the doc) to visit and read the Pause AI join page (which we would have updated with advice about how onboarding changed in July), even if you are already a member, and act if appropriate.
----
Because it is simple and well-honed, as a second task I'd suggest folk add their face to /sayno. The message would be that this is the additional cool and fun way to express and spread ideas from the statement on superintelligence folk may already have signed.
----
What do folk think?
(💬 in doc for anything substantial.)
variable-limeOP•3w ago
Well, if you want to follow Gabe's vision, if c = 2, Core = 5 and Extra = 2or3. Total = 7or8. They create 4or5 per week so we should do 3 not 2
genetic-orange•3w ago
Yes, but the third will typically be an Extra.
(None of these numbers is necessarily "correct", just trying to capture perceived intent.)
variable-limeOP•3w ago
(low priority) Tasks are classified as extra after the first 3