It’s an interesting idea. Often the resource fungibility won’t be huge so it may not make much difference, but in some cases it might.
It also seems to assume that it will use fewer total resources than working on both problems less intensively for a longer period. I would guess that it would usually be more efficient to divide resources and work on problems simultaneously, in part due to diminishing returns to investment. E.g. shifting all AI researchers to climate change would greatly hinder AI research but perhaps not contribute much to climate change mitigation, even assuming good personal fit of researchers, since there are already lots of talented people working on the issue.
But I’ve thought about this for less than 5 minutes so it might deserve a deeper dive. I’m not likely to do it, though.
It’s an interesting idea. Often the resource fungibility won’t be huge so it may not make much difference, but in some cases it might.
It also seems to assume that it will use fewer total resources than working on both problems less intensively for a longer period. I would guess that it would usually be more efficient to divide resources and work on problems simultaneously, in part due to diminishing returns to investment. E.g. shifting all AI researchers to climate change would greatly hinder AI research but perhaps not contribute much to climate change mitigation, even assuming good personal fit of researchers, since there are already lots of talented people working on the issue.
But I’ve thought about this for less than 5 minutes so it might deserve a deeper dive. I’m not likely to do it, though.