Could you describe a realistic scenario in which you think I’d act meaningfully different from an altruistic person in a way that would make me a worse employee/coworker?
So the problem with this is that I don’t know you. That said, here is my best shot:
You work hard, you attain a position of power and influence. Eventually, you realize that you have sort of been promoted to incompetence, or perhaps merely that you are probably no longer the best person to be having your particular position. But it’s a tricky question, and nobody is in a good position to realize that this is the case, or to call you out on it. You decide to do nothing.
In this example, as perhaps in others, capabilities really matter. For example, people have previously mentioned offering Terence Tao a few million to work on AI alignment, and his motivations there presumably wouldn’t matter, just the results.
“You shouldn’t fund/patronise me or support my research” is probably a recommendation I’d be loathe to make.
(Excluding cases where I’m already funded well enough that marginal funding is not that helpful.)
Selflessly rejecting all funding because I’m not the best bet for this particular project is probably something that I’d be unwilling to do.
(But in practice, I expect that probabilistic reasoning would recommend funding me anyways. I think having enough confidence to justify not funding a plausible pathway is unlikely before it’s too late.)
But yeah, I think this is an example of where selfishness would be an issue.
In all fairness, I expect most people would be very reluctant to recommend that resources be directed away from the causes or organisations that give them status.
Having an aversion to “selfishness” might overcome this, but more likely it would just make them invent reasons why their organisation/area really is very important.
So the problem with this is that I don’t know you. That said, here is my best shot:
In this example, as perhaps in others, capabilities really matter. For example, people have previously mentioned offering Terence Tao a few million to work on AI alignment, and his motivations there presumably wouldn’t matter, just the results.
That sounds fair.
“You shouldn’t fund/patronise me or support my research” is probably a recommendation I’d be loathe to make. (Excluding cases where I’m already funded well enough that marginal funding is not that helpful.)
Selflessly rejecting all funding because I’m not the best bet for this particular project is probably something that I’d be unwilling to do.
(But in practice, I expect that probabilistic reasoning would recommend funding me anyways. I think having enough confidence to justify not funding a plausible pathway is unlikely before it’s too late.)
But yeah, I think this is an example of where selfishness would be an issue.
Thanks for the reply!
In all fairness, I expect most people would be very reluctant to recommend that resources be directed away from the causes or organisations that give them status.
Having an aversion to “selfishness” might overcome this, but more likely it would just make them invent reasons why their organisation/area really is very important.