Interesting. I wonder: many people say they aren’t motivated by money, but how many of them have seriously considered what they could do with it other than personal consumption? And how many have actually been offered a lot of money—to do something different to what they would otherwise do, that isn’t immoral or illegal—and turned it down? What if it was a hundred million, or a billion dollars? Or, what if the time commitment was lower—say 6 months, or 3 months?
Good point. And yes, it seems likely that they’d change their research, but I don’t think that motivation and curiosity are as transferable. Still on net not a bad idea, but I’m still skeptical it would be this easy.
True. But maybe the limiting factor is just the consideration of such ideas as a possibility? When I was growing up, I wanted to be a scientist, liked space-themed Sci-Fi, and cared about many issues in the world (e.g. climate change, human rights); but I didn’t care about having or wanting money (in fact I mostly thought it was crass), or really think much about it as a means to achieving ends relating to my interests. It wasn’t until reading about (proto-)EA ideas that it clicked.
Interesting. I wonder: many people say they aren’t motivated by money, but how many of them have seriously considered what they could do with it other than personal consumption? And how many have actually been offered a lot of money—to do something different to what they would otherwise do, that isn’t immoral or illegal—and turned it down? What if it was a hundred million, or a billion dollars? Or, what if the time commitment was lower—say 6 months, or 3 months?
Good point. And yes, it seems likely that they’d change their research, but I don’t think that motivation and curiosity are as transferable. Still on net not a bad idea, but I’m still skeptical it would be this easy.
If top mathematicians had an EA mindset towards money, they would most likely not be publishing pure math papers.
True. But maybe the limiting factor is just the consideration of such ideas as a possibility? When I was growing up, I wanted to be a scientist, liked space-themed Sci-Fi, and cared about many issues in the world (e.g. climate change, human rights); but I didn’t care about having or wanting money (in fact I mostly thought it was crass), or really think much about it as a means to achieving ends relating to my interests. It wasn’t until reading about (proto-)EA ideas that it clicked.