Episode Details

“Reflections on PauseCon 2026” by Joe Rogero

Published 1 week, 4 days ago

Description

A lesson in courage from Washington, DC

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.