When the world feels unstable...

By Catherine Low🔸 @ 2025-09-08T01:59 (+54)

I drafted this in May, but the atmosphere feels similar now.

I’m feeling unusually worried right now about problems in the world. I'm typically skeptical when people claim things are uniquely bad—and I counter their claim with some uplifting graph from Our World in Data. But recent developments around AI timelines, global political changes, and cuts to important global health programs, have left me more pessimistic than usual.

I'm reminded of physicist Richard Feynman writing about his time shortly after working on the Manhattan Project: 

I would go along and I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things? It's so useless.

This captures how I've been feeling lately—watching normal life continue while carrying this sense that maybe everything has changed.

I don't have solutions, but I want to acknowledge what many are experiencing and offer some thoughts on navigating this period.

If you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed

Know you're not alone. Many people in our community are grappling with similar feelings right now. The disconnect between your concerns and how the rest of the world seems to operate normally—something I think most EAs experience—may feel particularly acute now.

Prioritise your safety and wellbeing. If you or your loved ones face direct threats or hardship, focusing on immediate safety is important. You can care about more than one thing, and it is okay for impact goals to take a backseat.

It's okay to take breaks. Not everyone needs to be at maximum intensity all the time. Some people have the drive to tackle big problems right now, and I'm grateful for them. Feel compelled to sprint? Think carefully about whether now is your time to do so. If it is not the most important time for you personally, leave some reserve energy so you can sprint in the future when you need to.

Watch how stress affects your decisions. When you're tired or worn down, you're more likely to make poor choices, especially when doing the right thing requires extra effort or social cost. High pressure also forces faster decisions, and consulting fewer people—exactly when you need more careful consideration. Listen to your gut when something feels off, as it might be a sign that you’ve missed something important, even if you can't articulate what immediately. You don’t have to make decisions based on gut alone, but it’s a data point that is worth including.

Manage your information diet carefully. Some people don’t have the freedom to look away from upsetting content in the world, and looking away can feel isolationist as news stories can and do spark important action. But consider what media consumption fuels your ability to do good, versus what feels toxic. Try cutting down to a few trusted sources, and looking at digests or summaries instead of frequently checking news and fora. One approach could be to consider what things you can take action on, and stay informed about those. 

If you're with others who are stressed

Recognise the signs. People around you may be more stressed than usual or acting differently. The current environment may be contributing to changes in their behavior or engagement.

Considerate communication matters. If you're not feeling the current anxiety, be aware that your usual approach or focus might come across as jarring or tone-deaf to those who are. 

Show appreciation deliberately. It is sometimes hard enough to keep your work going when it feels that the world is demotivating you, and then if your peers also seem to be demotivating you it can be a real blow. This doesn't mean we should stop giving feedback—it's essential for improvement—but it helps to be thoughtful about how and when we do it.

Consider maintaining a 3:1 ratio of positive to critical comments across your interactions with others who share your values. Specific compliments work best, but even genuine generic appreciation ("I'm glad you're doing this work") still helps a lot. When you think something positive about someone's work, tell them!

When giving criticism, think about timing and format. Would this critical feedback be just as useful if given privately or publicly? Are they in a position to actually use it right now? If not, consider scheduling the message for later. If you've been told your criticism can come across as harsh in the past, consider having an LLM help you rephrase it more constructively.

Review your career path, but don't constantly second-guess

The rapid pace of change probably warrants more frequent career reviews than usual. But focus on your work for sustained periods, then step back intentionally to reassess. Constant pivoting questions will hurt your current performance and motivation. If you can't stop wondering whether to change direction, you might need to schedule that review sooner rather than later.

Choose your part of the probability distribution

Most thoughtful individuals see wide ranges of possible outcomes ahead of us—in politics, AI development timelines, and potential impacts of AI. When you combine many expert perspectives, those ranges become even wider.

If you're positioned to influence the world for the better in the worlds where AGI is coming in the next few years, please please continue that crucial work!

If that's not your situation, don't abandon valuable contributions just because you can't act on the most urgent scenarios. Consider focusing on:

• Longer timelines where development happens more gradually
• Helping in scenarios where the future remains more similar to our current world
• Improvements that help others in the near term

The above quote from Feynman continues 

But, fortunately, it's been useless for almost forty years now, hasn't it? So I've been wrong about it being useless making bridges and I'm glad those other people had the sense to go ahead.

Maybe you're part of the group of people building bridges right now, i.e. doing things that may not be useful if the world goes very badly in the next few years. But in forty years, I hope we'll look back gratefully at your work during this uncertain time.

Getting support

If you notice things going poorly for you or your organisation, possibly due to worries about the world's trajectory, the community health team might be able to help by listening, brainstorming solutions, or offering resources and advice. You are welcome to reach out. 

We're all navigating uncertainty together. Taking care of ourselves and each other isn't separate from our impact—it's part of how we sustain the work that matters most.