EA - An Exercise in Speed-Reading: The National Security Commission on AI (NSCAI) Final Report by abiolvera

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: An Exercise in Speed-Reading: The National Security Commission on AI (NSCAI) Final Report, published by abiolvera on August 17, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Summary: More EAs should learn to speed-read. Main benefits of speed-reading: reading non-fiction books and articles faster and choosing how long to take on a report/book, rather than an open-ended amount of time. Speed-reading is not simply skimming. People often take weeks-long courses to develop all the related-subskills (I used a 36 chapter-a-day book). Specific sub-skills are: learning to not say the words aloud in your head, reading one or two lines at a time, and even using fewer eye-swipes to get the general sentiment of each sentence/paragraph. You’ll have gotten the gist of each paragraph and chapter through efficient skimming of the parts of the book that summarize the chapter’s directions (first/last paragraphs, table of contents, etc.) I use the 752-page NSCAI report as an example of speed-reading. The views in this article belong solely to the author and do not represent those of the U.S. government. Speed-Reading is Underutilized I’ve seen speed-reading be a critical asset within policy circles, particularly at the higher levels, since you have so many sources of intelligence and analysis to review daily. Even as an entry and mid-level diplomat, I found that speed-reading tactics made my portfolios more manageable. Very famous policymakers who sped-read: President John F. Kennedy took a speed-reading course with his brother, promoted its use among his cabinet ministers; President Jimmy Carter and his staffers learned the skill while in the White House; President Theodore Roosevelt was a known speed-reader. People earlier in their careers, researchers, and people with expertise in many domains should consider learning to speed-read. Learning to speed-read (via a self-paced course) has made large, important bodies of literature significantly more accessible. It allows me to decide how much time I think it’s worth spending on a book, article or report, and to get as much information as I can within that self-imposed time constraint. I.e., reading is no longer an open-ended exercise; I choose how long it will take. You probably already use some aspects of speed-reading, like skimming through a paper where you’re familiar with the topics or skipping to the section with new information. But I am specifically discussing the comprehensive speed-reading skillset, which aims to help you: Read text faster via tactics like minimizing eye swipes, not reading aloud in your head, absorbing a paragraph as one unit as you would a sentence or a group of words. Focus on parts of the book you’d remember if you did read it more closely. Quickly find the key messages and, knowing what to expect, read rapidly since you don’t need to concentrate on the details to understand the book’s direction. Learning to Speed-Read I want to emphasize the different subset skills of a true speed-reading course. Many of these subsets are you gaining a new ability, similar to learning a guitar strum. To develop speed-reading skills, start by using your finger as a pacer while you read, progressively increasing your speed. Once you’re going as fast as you can, start dragging your finger over two lines at a time, and then across whole paragraphs so you’re reading an entire paragraph with fewer eye swipes. These exercises will feel uncomfortable and unnatural at first; you’re training your brain to absorb the information without slowing down by “saying” the individual words in your head or reading line by line. Next, learn to quickly obtain the key messages. You’ll typically scan the table of contents and then the book itself to determine its structure. This pre-skim will help you read faster because you’ll know the final conclusion...