I agree with Vilhelm that the counterfactual is very important. Are there community builders who would otherwise have more impact in things like high risk entrepreneurship or AI research? Community building is important, but it might not have the high upside potential that research or entrepreneurship has (unless you recruit the next best researcher or entrepreneur through community building).
Another concern that I sometimes think about is the degree of funding going to community building. I might be wrong but a lot of funding seems to be going to community building projects, which is good, but I do see some other projects not receiving funding. That’s counterfactual again: are there projects that aren’t being funded because those funds go to community building? Or are those projects not being funded because the grant makers think they are bad ideas?
I agree with Vilhelm that the counterfactual is very important. Are there community builders who would otherwise have more impact in things like high risk entrepreneurship or AI research? Community building is important, but it might not have the high upside potential that research or entrepreneurship has (unless you recruit the next best researcher or entrepreneur through community building).
Another concern that I sometimes think about is the degree of funding going to community building. I might be wrong but a lot of funding seems to be going to community building projects, which is good, but I do see some other projects not receiving funding. That’s counterfactual again: are there projects that aren’t being funded because those funds go to community building? Or are those projects not being funded because the grant makers think they are bad ideas?