One challenge here is that many systematic changes take time and so some desirable changes might take long enough that we’d only be able to implement them past the point where it would be useful.
That seems true for most things EAs fund apart from direct service delivery interventions such as distributing malaria nets.
I.e. it is a valid consideration but it is not a justification to work on surgical instead of systemic interventions in areas where all interventions are operating uncertainly over multi-year indirect theories of change (the majority of what EAs do outside GiveWell-style GHD work).
One challenge here is that many systematic changes take time and so some desirable changes might take long enough that we’d only be able to implement them past the point where it would be useful.
That seems true for most things EAs fund apart from direct service delivery interventions such as distributing malaria nets.
I.e. it is a valid consideration but it is not a justification to work on surgical instead of systemic interventions in areas where all interventions are operating uncertainly over multi-year indirect theories of change (the majority of what EAs do outside GiveWell-style GHD work).
Well, there’s also direct work on AI safety and governance.