I’ve seen 80,000 Hours say something similar, but I don’t actually think this provides counterfactual impact unless one of the things I listed above is also true.
If you’re hired as a research assistant or programmer and someone else would have done the role equally well otherwise, you wouldn’t have any counterfactual impact. It’s only if the role wouldn’t have been filled otherwise, or the other candidates wouldn’t have taken the initiative to automate others’ work, that you have a counterfactual impact.
I’ve seen 80,000 Hours say something similar, but I don’t actually think this provides counterfactual impact unless one of the things I listed above is also true.
If you’re hired as a research assistant or programmer and someone else would have done the role equally well otherwise, you wouldn’t have any counterfactual impact. It’s only if the role wouldn’t have been filled otherwise, or the other candidates wouldn’t have taken the initiative to automate others’ work, that you have a counterfactual impact.