“Reflections on PauseCon 2026” by Joe Rogero

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. Sign-making and local presentations I made a sign! Or tried to, anyway. I am not very good at making signs yet, but [...] --- Outline: (00:10) A lesson in courage from Washington, DC (01:17) Sign-making and local presentations (02:34) Lobbying workshop (05:34) Meeting Congressional offices (05:39) The talking points (08:11) The meetings (12:03) Social activity (12:31) The protest (14:35) Coda --- First published: April 20th, 2026 Source: --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO . --- Images from the article: Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts , or another podcast app.