# Useful Things Volunteers Can Do Right Now

Per [Kaj's suggestion](/lw/7bn/call_for_personal_volunteers/4q3r), I'm posting my list of useful things volunteers can do _right now_. Without help, most of these things won't occur, because I need to be spending my time writing papers, promoting the [Singularity Summit](http://www.singularitysummit.com/), collaborating with other researchers, improving Singularity Institute's [transparency](http://intelligence.org/blog/2011/08/26/singularity-institute-strategic-plan-2011/), etc.

Previously, I tried to have volunteers contact me so that I could assign people tasks, but that has become too time consuming ([as Eliezer predicted](/lw/78s/help_fund_lukeprog_at_siai/4ovt)), largely because (in my experience) the odds that a volunteer will actually perform a task given that they've agreed to perform it are very low.

So, I'll post my list here and hope that a few people self-organize to get some of them done. It's worth a shot! My sincere thanks to anyone completes any task on this list.

*   Translate the [Singularity FAQ](http://intelligence.org/singularityfaq) into other languages, besides English and Italian.
*   <del>I have about 8 fashion photos each from 3 minicampers, which need to be shown in random order to 5 straight females (in meatspace) who will judge which they prefer. I have the exact experimental design and the photos. Please email me \[lukeprog at gmail\] if you'd like to do this; it's perfect for somebody social.</del>
*   Begin to develop a list of AI technology predictions; a step on this path is to create a list of sources for AI technology predictions. We want to eventually be able to write up a report of correlates between predictions and the properties of prediction-makers at the time of their predictions.
*   Find out how much money the U.S. government/military has spent researching machine ethics (e.g. via Ronald Arkin), and how much of that money was given to whom and for which projects (citing sources along the way).
*   Work with XiXiDu to interview (via email) more AI researchers about AI risks; see [here](/lw/682/j%C3%BCrgen_schmidhuber_on_risks_from_ai/).
*   Come up with ways to illustrate the idea of an intelligence explosion or friendly ai with a static graphic or a very short animation; create those graphics or animations if possible.
*   Make a list of additional media for [IntelligenceExplosion.com](http://intelligenceexplosion.com/) (e.g. summit videos).
*   <del>Find a free tool that backs up all your Google Docs, and is available for Mac, Linux, or PC.</del> ([thanks Dreaded_Anomaly](/r/discussion/lw/7s7/useful_things_volunteers_can_do_right_now/4w0j)!)
*   <del>Research nootropics for rationality, especially for increasing cognitive reflectiveness / need for cognition. Make a list of recent, useful papers on the topic.</del>
*   Join the [Less Wrong Public Goods Team](http://groups.google.com/group/lw-public-goods-team) google group and work on, for example, the project of making it much easier to add features to Less Wrong.
*   There is no end to the useful things that you can do at [SingularityVolunteers.org](http://www.singularityvolunteers.org/).

If you live in Berkeley and want to work directly with me on tasks, even better. I have a bottomless need for in-person personal assistants who want to do things that decrease existential risk, and you'll get to see the inner workings of an org currently making a run at being the world's leading independent transhumanist organization.