I like this breakdown a lot. Another related reason for deferring less and building your own inside view is for figuring out your career within a field.
Choosing research questions, deciding which roles and orgs to apply to, finding role models and plotting a career trajectory, and proposing new projects can be parts of your job in just about any field, and it’ll be hard to do them well if you’re constantly deferring to experts. On niche topics, it’s even difficult to learn who the experts are and what they believe.
Personally I’ve deferred to 80,000 Hours on which high-level cause areas offer the highest potential for impact. But after spending a few months to years learning about a single cause area, I feel much less clueless about the field and have a real inside view.
I like this breakdown a lot. Another related reason for deferring less and building your own inside view is for figuring out your career within a field.
Choosing research questions, deciding which roles and orgs to apply to, finding role models and plotting a career trajectory, and proposing new projects can be parts of your job in just about any field, and it’ll be hard to do them well if you’re constantly deferring to experts. On niche topics, it’s even difficult to learn who the experts are and what they believe.
Personally I’ve deferred to 80,000 Hours on which high-level cause areas offer the highest potential for impact. But after spending a few months to years learning about a single cause area, I feel much less clueless about the field and have a real inside view.