“Metaculus − 70k, Ozzie Gooen − 70k, Jacob Lagerros − 27k. These are small companies that need funding; why are you acting as grant-givers here rather than as special interest investors?”
I’m not sure why you think all of these are companies. Metaculus is a company, but the other two aren’t.
Personally, I think it would be pretty neat if this group (or a similar one) were to later set up the legal infrastructure to properly invest in groups where that would make sense. But this would take quite a bit of time (both fixed costs and marginal costs), and if there are only a few groups per year (one, in this case, I believe) is probably not worth it.
I’m not sure why you think all of these are companies. Metaculus is a company, but the other two aren’t.
Personally, I think it would be pretty neat if this group (or a similar one) were to later set up the legal infrastructure to properly invest in groups where that would make sense. But this would take quite a bit of time (both fixed costs and marginal costs), and if there are only a few groups per year (one, in this case, I believe) is probably not worth it.