Who would some natural candidates for receiving funding be? I’ll spare you from having to name yourself and do so for you! But are there actually any others? Maybe not?
Off the top of my mind and without consulting people:
Ruairi Donnelly, Max Carpendale, Kieran Grieg, Andrew McKnight, Oscar Horta
Had he not been hired by ACE: Jacy Anthis
The Foundational Research Institute (FRI) is a project aiming to be similar to the Future of Humanity Institute, except with a more explicitly utilitarian bent, based on the concerns of, e.g,. David Pearce, Brian Tomasik, and the EAs of Basel, Switzerland. They’re in an awkward position where Brian would be a valuable researcher for them, but he considers his peers to be just as valuable and adept researchers, so he’s taken to funding them and their organizations himself through earning to give. I believe he may be the only person doing so for (FRI), and also perhaps Animal Ethics. This seems to me an awkward state of affairs. I don’t know if FRI is even legally incorporated in any country yet, so funding them and/or affiliated researchers might blur the lines between funding individual researchers and institutions. Either way, I believe Mr. Tomasik and his peers would appreciate a chance to discuss direct funding if or when such funding became available.
Thanks, Evan! FRI is an official charity in Switzerland. Donations would help us grow, though we’d probably need a lot of funding ($100K+) before I revised my personal thoughts on earning vs. direct research.
What I don’t see is how FRI could actually change the future. No matter how much research you publish, there’s no reason to predict it will actually influence real decisions which affect real future suffering.
So it is only a theoretical activity (still fun and legitimate, of course).
Off the top of my mind and without consulting people:
Justin Shovelain, Oliver Habryka, Malcolm Ocean, Roxanne Heston, Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg, Steve Rayhawk, Gustavo Rosa, Stephen Frey, Gustavo Bicalho, Steven Kaas, Bastien Stern, Anne Wissemann, and many others.
If they had not received FLI funding:
Kaj Sotala, Katja Grace.
If they needed to transition between institutions/countries:
Most of the core EA community.
I have mentioned it as an option for a while, but personally waited for less conflict of interest to actually post about it (at the moment I’m receiving much less funding than I did before, and am receiving some funding through institutions, I wanted to make clear that my goal is not to have people disliking institutions, but to fix the labor market).
I think the greater point here is that this has not been considered so far because people did not even envision it being an option. But now they will.
If this market can start taking off, encourage each of those persons you mentioned to post an outline of the research they’re pursuing on the Effective Altruism Forum or LessWrong or something. Then, potential funders have somewhere to browse and ask questions about the research proposal(s).
Yeah, let’s do it. If others are rearing to go, I’ll help edit or provide feedback or share links or do whatever I can. Between so many major foundations seeming poised to give more money than the rest of the community combined to all our current favored charities across causes, but them being unlikely to directly fund individuals’ research, now is an ideal time to plant in the minds of 4-to-6 figure-per-year donors new acceptable targets for their donations.
Who would some natural candidates for receiving funding be? I’ll spare you from having to name yourself and do so for you! But are there actually any others? Maybe not?
Off the top of my mind and without consulting people:
Ruairi Donnelly, Max Carpendale, Kieran Grieg, Andrew McKnight, Oscar Horta
Had he not been hired by ACE: Jacy Anthis
The Foundational Research Institute (FRI) is a project aiming to be similar to the Future of Humanity Institute, except with a more explicitly utilitarian bent, based on the concerns of, e.g,. David Pearce, Brian Tomasik, and the EAs of Basel, Switzerland. They’re in an awkward position where Brian would be a valuable researcher for them, but he considers his peers to be just as valuable and adept researchers, so he’s taken to funding them and their organizations himself through earning to give. I believe he may be the only person doing so for (FRI), and also perhaps Animal Ethics. This seems to me an awkward state of affairs. I don’t know if FRI is even legally incorporated in any country yet, so funding them and/or affiliated researchers might blur the lines between funding individual researchers and institutions. Either way, I believe Mr. Tomasik and his peers would appreciate a chance to discuss direct funding if or when such funding became available.
Thanks, Evan! FRI is an official charity in Switzerland. Donations would help us grow, though we’d probably need a lot of funding ($100K+) before I revised my personal thoughts on earning vs. direct research.
I sent 5 euros to you! :)
What I don’t see is how FRI could actually change the future. No matter how much research you publish, there’s no reason to predict it will actually influence real decisions which affect real future suffering.
So it is only a theoretical activity (still fun and legitimate, of course).
Off the top of my mind and without consulting people:
Justin Shovelain, Oliver Habryka, Malcolm Ocean, Roxanne Heston, Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg, Steve Rayhawk, Gustavo Rosa, Stephen Frey, Gustavo Bicalho, Steven Kaas, Bastien Stern, Anne Wissemann, and many others.
If they had not received FLI funding: Kaj Sotala, Katja Grace.
If they needed to transition between institutions/countries: Most of the core EA community.
I have mentioned it as an option for a while, but personally waited for less conflict of interest to actually post about it (at the moment I’m receiving much less funding than I did before, and am receiving some funding through institutions, I wanted to make clear that my goal is not to have people disliking institutions, but to fix the labor market).
I think the greater point here is that this has not been considered so far because people did not even envision it being an option. But now they will.
If this market can start taking off, encourage each of those persons you mentioned to post an outline of the research they’re pursuing on the Effective Altruism Forum or LessWrong or something. Then, potential funders have somewhere to browse and ask questions about the research proposal(s).
Do you want to do this soon? You can help us get it done.
Yeah, let’s do it. If others are rearing to go, I’ll help edit or provide feedback or share links or do whatever I can. Between so many major foundations seeming poised to give more money than the rest of the community combined to all our current favored charities across causes, but them being unlikely to directly fund individuals’ research, now is an ideal time to plant in the minds of 4-to-6 figure-per-year donors new acceptable targets for their donations.