Most ideas for solving problems are bad, so your prior should be that if you have an idea, and it’s not being tried, probably the idea is bad;
A key thing here is to be able to accurately judge whether the idea would be harmful if tried or not. “Prior is bad idea != EV is negative”. If the idea is a random research direction, probably won’t hurt anyone if you try it. On the other hand, for example, certain kinds of community coordination attempts deplete a common resource and interfere with other attempts, so the fact no one else is acting is a reason to hesitate.
Going to people who you think maybe ought to be acting and asking them why they’re not doing a thing is probably a thing that should be encouraged and welcomed? I expect in most cases the answer will be “lack of time” rather than anything more substantial.
Good comment!!
A key thing here is to be able to accurately judge whether the idea would be harmful if tried or not. “Prior is bad idea != EV is negative”. If the idea is a random research direction, probably won’t hurt anyone if you try it. On the other hand, for example, certain kinds of community coordination attempts deplete a common resource and interfere with other attempts, so the fact no one else is acting is a reason to hesitate.
Going to people who you think maybe ought to be acting and asking them why they’re not doing a thing is probably a thing that should be encouraged and welcomed? I expect in most cases the answer will be “lack of time” rather than anything more substantial.