For context, I’m definitely in the social cluster of powerful EAs, though don’t have much actual power myself except inside my org (and my ability to try to persuade other EAs by writing posts etc); I arguably had more power when I was actively grantmaking on the EAIF but I no longer do this.
Can you clarify this statement? I’m confused about a couple of things:
Why is only “arguable” that you had more power when you were an active grantmaker?
Do you mean you don’t have much power, or that you don’t use much power?
Why is only “arguable” that you had more power when you were an active grantmaker?
I removed “arguable” from my comment. I intended to communicate that even when I was an EAIF grantmaker, that didn’t clearly mean I had “that much” power—e.g. other fund managers reviewed my recommended grant decisions, and I moved less than a million dollars, which is a very small fraction of total EA spending.
Do you mean you don’t have much power, or that you don’t use much power?
I mean that I don’t have much discretionary power (except inside Redwood). I can’t unilaterally make many choices about e.g. EA resource allocation. Most of my influence comes via arguing that other people should do things with discretionary power that they have. If other people decided to stop listening to me or funding me, I wouldn’t have much recourse.
It sounds to me that what you’re saying is that you don’t have any formal power over non-Redwood decisions, and most of your power comes from your ability to influence people. Furthermore, this power can be taken away from you without you having any choice in the matter. That seems fair enough. But then you seem to believe that this means you don’t actually have much power? That seems wrong to me. Am I misunderstanding something?
Can you clarify this statement? I’m confused about a couple of things:
Why is only “arguable” that you had more power when you were an active grantmaker?
Do you mean you don’t have much power, or that you don’t use much power?
I removed “arguable” from my comment. I intended to communicate that even when I was an EAIF grantmaker, that didn’t clearly mean I had “that much” power—e.g. other fund managers reviewed my recommended grant decisions, and I moved less than a million dollars, which is a very small fraction of total EA spending.
I mean that I don’t have much discretionary power (except inside Redwood). I can’t unilaterally make many choices about e.g. EA resource allocation. Most of my influence comes via arguing that other people should do things with discretionary power that they have. If other people decided to stop listening to me or funding me, I wouldn’t have much recourse.
I appreciate the clarification!
It sounds to me that what you’re saying is that you don’t have any formal power over non-Redwood decisions, and most of your power comes from your ability to influence people. Furthermore, this power can be taken away from you without you having any choice in the matter. That seems fair enough. But then you seem to believe that this means you don’t actually have much power? That seems wrong to me. Am I misunderstanding something?