A few of us have experience working in politics and could conceivably accomplish some good by being an influencer in Trump’s White House. Others of us have the ability to pitch Thiel on stuff. Since Thiel has sway in the Trump transition, this means we could conceivably get an EA or two into positions of influence in the Trump administration.
I’m not sure that it would be a good idea to actually do this, but I’m mentioning it because it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility to actually do it, and it could plausibly be highly effective. Here are some of the questions we’d need to answer:
If we had an EA inside the Trump administration, would it do more good than if they stayed in their current position instead? This depends partly on what they’re currently doing and partly on how likely we estimate they could actually make a difference in policy. My intuition is that if we expect Trump’s policies to be very bad, then even a small influence could translate into a large amount of good.
Who would be best suited for this, if we decided we wanted to try it? I’m not sure of what would count as experienced enough to do something like this. There are a few people at Effective Altruism Policy Analytics, and I believe there are a couple of people that have experience with lobbying in DC.
Who would make the pitch to Thiel?
What would the pitch consist of? We’d need to know exactly what parts of EA Thiel cares most about, and then we’d need to stress those aspects.
How likely would Thiel be swayed by such a pitch? If he endorsed Trump because he wanted influence in the administration, then I believe Thiel would be fully on board with this idea. But if he endorsed Trump because he actually believes Trump’s positions are good, then I can see where he would hate this idea.
Would Thiel be able to get the EA in a position high enough to actually influence policy? How high up would the position have to be in order for it to be influential? How influential are mid-level staffers?
I don’t know the answer to these questions. I don’t know if this is even a workable idea. I certainly would hate to convince an EA to drop their current work for this if it doesn’t turn out to be an influential position. But it seems possible that this could be a high-value opportunity, so I’m bringing it to everyone here.
I think this is the link for applying for a position in Trump’s administration. Trump has 4,000 positions to fill over just a few weeks, and lots of people will be reluctant to work for him. So you probably have as good a shot as anyone if you’ve been building career capital. You’ll probably have to pretend you support him—consider it a 4-year ideological turing test.
This is a good idea and it doesn’t change much from president to president. The big thing with politics like this is just getting your foot in the door.
Thiel will have the president’s ear on technical issues, he said, though he will not have a formal position and will stay in DC. It might be a good chance to get someone in the OSTP, as one opportunity.
A few of us have experience working in politics and could conceivably accomplish some good by being an influencer in Trump’s White House. Others of us have the ability to pitch Thiel on stuff. Since Thiel has sway in the Trump transition, this means we could conceivably get an EA or two into positions of influence in the Trump administration.
I’m not sure that it would be a good idea to actually do this, but I’m mentioning it because it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility to actually do it, and it could plausibly be highly effective. Here are some of the questions we’d need to answer:
If we had an EA inside the Trump administration, would it do more good than if they stayed in their current position instead? This depends partly on what they’re currently doing and partly on how likely we estimate they could actually make a difference in policy. My intuition is that if we expect Trump’s policies to be very bad, then even a small influence could translate into a large amount of good.
Who would be best suited for this, if we decided we wanted to try it? I’m not sure of what would count as experienced enough to do something like this. There are a few people at Effective Altruism Policy Analytics, and I believe there are a couple of people that have experience with lobbying in DC.
Who would make the pitch to Thiel?
What would the pitch consist of? We’d need to know exactly what parts of EA Thiel cares most about, and then we’d need to stress those aspects.
How likely would Thiel be swayed by such a pitch? If he endorsed Trump because he wanted influence in the administration, then I believe Thiel would be fully on board with this idea. But if he endorsed Trump because he actually believes Trump’s positions are good, then I can see where he would hate this idea.
Would Thiel be able to get the EA in a position high enough to actually influence policy? How high up would the position have to be in order for it to be influential? How influential are mid-level staffers?
I don’t know the answer to these questions. I don’t know if this is even a workable idea. I certainly would hate to convince an EA to drop their current work for this if it doesn’t turn out to be an influential position. But it seems possible that this could be a high-value opportunity, so I’m bringing it to everyone here.
I think this is the link for applying for a position in Trump’s administration. Trump has 4,000 positions to fill over just a few weeks, and lots of people will be reluctant to work for him. So you probably have as good a shot as anyone if you’ve been building career capital. You’ll probably have to pretend you support him—consider it a 4-year ideological turing test.
This is a good idea and it doesn’t change much from president to president. The big thing with politics like this is just getting your foot in the door.
Thiel will have the president’s ear on technical issues, he said, though he will not have a formal position and will stay in DC. It might be a good chance to get someone in the OSTP, as one opportunity.