This points to another feature of the landscape model: entrepreneurs are locally situated by their existing background knowledge, and this is part of what lets them do what they do. Attempts to “move” them are likely to both meet with resistance and be ultimately counterproductive.… So what we need is much more granular cause prioritization, ideally right down to the size of a problem that can be worked on by an individual or team.
Or maybe we just need to work with people who are actually cause neutral?
It’s true that often entrepreneurs aren’t cause-neutral. They’re may be working in an area because it interests them, or they care about it.
But often they’re more constrained by what they can do. Typically that’s where they start from, and then they look for things that they can fix in that area.
The second problem is, I think, more fundamental. We can try and convince people to be more cause-neutral (although the fewer population-level changes we need to make, the better!), but it’s just hard, per-individual work to move expertise and knowledge.
Or maybe we just need to work with people who are actually cause neutral?
It’s true that often entrepreneurs aren’t cause-neutral. They’re may be working in an area because it interests them, or they care about it.
But often they’re more constrained by what they can do. Typically that’s where they start from, and then they look for things that they can fix in that area.
The second problem is, I think, more fundamental. We can try and convince people to be more cause-neutral (although the fewer population-level changes we need to make, the better!), but it’s just hard, per-individual work to move expertise and knowledge.