If Big Tech finds these kinds of salaries cost-effective to solve their problems, I would consider it a strong argument in favor of this project.
I imagine Elon Musk could like this project given that he believes in small effective teams of geniuses.
I’d say “polymaths” is a good label for people I’d expect to make progress like Yudkowsky, Bostrom, Hanson and von Neumann.
Edit: This may be fame-selection (engineers don’t often get credit, particularly in teams) or self-selection (interest in math+society).
The Manhattan and Enigma projects seem like examples where this kind of strategy just worked out. Some consideration that come to mind:
There could be selection effects.
From what I can find, members of these teams weren’t lured in by a lot of money. However, the salience of the AI threat in society is tiny, compared to that of WWII and large incentives could compensate that.
I’ve read money can sometimes decrease intrinsic motivation, that drives exploration & inventions, however these findings are being rebutted by newer studies. Apart from that, my guess would be that getting those teams together is the key part and if large money can facilitate that, great.
A wild idea that might help in case a similar phenomenon works in the sub-population of geniuses & which could make this project more appealing to donors: Limit a portion of these salaries, so that the recipients could only use them for socially beneficial uses.
If Big Tech finds these kinds of salaries cost-effective to solve their problems, I would consider it a strong argument in favor of this project.
I imagine Elon Musk could like this project given that he believes in small effective teams of geniuses.
I’d say “polymaths” is a good label for people I’d expect to make progress like Yudkowsky, Bostrom, Hanson and von Neumann.
Edit: This may be fame-selection (engineers don’t often get credit, particularly in teams) or self-selection (interest in math+society).
The Manhattan and Enigma projects seem like examples where this kind of strategy just worked out. Some consideration that come to mind:
There could be selection effects.
From what I can find, members of these teams weren’t lured in by a lot of money. However, the salience of the AI threat in society is tiny, compared to that of WWII and large incentives could compensate that.
I’ve read money can sometimes decrease intrinsic motivation, that drives exploration & inventions, however these findings are being rebutted by newer studies. Apart from that, my guess would be that getting those teams together is the key part and if large money can facilitate that, great.
A wild idea that might help in case a similar phenomenon works in the sub-population of geniuses & which could make this project more appealing to donors: Limit a portion of these salaries, so that the recipients could only use them for socially beneficial uses.