It seems to me like you’re in favor of unilateral talent trading, that is, that someone should work on a cause he thinks isn’t critical but he has a comparative advantage there, because he believes that this will induce other people to work on his preferred causes. I disagree with this. When someone works on a cause, this also increases the amount of attention and perceived value it is given in the EA community as a whole. As such I expect the primary effect of unilateral talent trading would be to increase the cliquishness of the EA community—people working on what’s popular in the EA community rather than what’s right. Also, what’s commonly considered as EA priorities could differ significantly from the actual average opinion, and unilateral trading would unrightly shift the latter in the direction of the former, especially as the former is more easily gamed by advertising etc.. On the whole, I discourage working on a cause you don’t think is important unless you are confident this won’t decrease the total amount of attention given to your preferred cause. That is, only accept explicit bilateral trades with favorable terms.
It seems to me like you’re in favor of unilateral talent trading, that is, that someone should work on a cause he thinks isn’t critical but he has a comparative advantage there, because he believes that this will induce other people to work on his preferred causes. I disagree with this. When someone works on a cause, this also increases the amount of attention and perceived value it is given in the EA community as a whole. As such I expect the primary effect of unilateral talent trading would be to increase the cliquishness of the EA community—people working on what’s popular in the EA community rather than what’s right. Also, what’s commonly considered as EA priorities could differ significantly from the actual average opinion, and unilateral trading would unrightly shift the latter in the direction of the former, especially as the former is more easily gamed by advertising etc.. On the whole, I discourage working on a cause you don’t think is important unless you are confident this won’t decrease the total amount of attention given to your preferred cause. That is, only accept explicit bilateral trades with favorable terms.