If we’ve got more ideas than talented people, it seems like being able to prioritize ideas well is very important. Having people work on the best 10% of ideas is much better than having people work on 10% of the ideas that are chosen at random. I think a transparent idea directory could be very valuable for prioritization, because in order to prioritize well, you would like to be able to brainstorm as many possible pros and cons for any given idea as possible.
To put it another way, getting more people involved in prioritization means we can take advantage of a broader array of perspectives. See Givewell on cluster thinking. I think having people brainstorm ways in which a proposal might end up being unexpectedly harmful could be especially valuable.
General thought: I think the quality of ideas is far more important than quantity here.
My impression is that idea production is like pottery in the sense that the best way to get quality is to aim for quantity.
If we’ve got more ideas than talented people, it seems like being able to prioritize ideas well is very important. Having people work on the best 10% of ideas is much better than having people work on 10% of the ideas that are chosen at random. I think a transparent idea directory could be very valuable for prioritization, because in order to prioritize well, you would like to be able to brainstorm as many possible pros and cons for any given idea as possible.
To put it another way, getting more people involved in prioritization means we can take advantage of a broader array of perspectives. See Givewell on cluster thinking. I think having people brainstorm ways in which a proposal might end up being unexpectedly harmful could be especially valuable.
My impression is that idea production is like pottery in the sense that the best way to get quality is to aim for quantity.