If too few EAs go into more bespoke roles, then one reason could be risk-aversion. Rightly or wrongly, they may view those paths as more insecure and risky (for them personally; though I expect personal and altruistic risk correlate to a fair degree). If so, then one possibility is that EA funders and institutions/orgs should try to make them less risky or otherwise more appealing (there may already be some such projects).
In recent years, EA has put less emphasis on self-sacrifice, arguing that we can’t expect people to live on very little. There may be a parallel to risk—that we can’t expect people to take on more risk than they’re comfortable with, but instead must make the risky paths more appealing.
I like this chain of reasoning. I’m trying to think of concrete examples, and it seems a bit hard to come up with clear ones, but I think this might just be a function of the bespoke-ness.
Thanks, this is an interesting analogy.
If too few EAs go into more bespoke roles, then one reason could be risk-aversion. Rightly or wrongly, they may view those paths as more insecure and risky (for them personally; though I expect personal and altruistic risk correlate to a fair degree). If so, then one possibility is that EA funders and institutions/orgs should try to make them less risky or otherwise more appealing (there may already be some such projects).
In recent years, EA has put less emphasis on self-sacrifice, arguing that we can’t expect people to live on very little. There may be a parallel to risk—that we can’t expect people to take on more risk than they’re comfortable with, but instead must make the risky paths more appealing.
I like this chain of reasoning. I’m trying to think of concrete examples, and it seems a bit hard to come up with clear ones, but I think this might just be a function of the bespoke-ness.