I agree (and have formerly resembled this type...) This is quite embedded in a lot of nonprofit culture. Part of it is what motivates the individual and their personality, part of it is the concept of supporters’ money. ‘Would the person who gave you £5 a month want you to be spending your money on that?’ In practice this leads to counterproductive underspending. I remember waiting weeks to get maybe £100 worth of extra memory so I could crunch numbers at a reasonable speed without crashing the computer. The concept of taxpayers’ money works similarly.
There’s probably a good forum post in there somewhere about how the psychology of charity affects perceptions of EA...
I agree (and have formerly resembled this type...) This is quite embedded in a lot of nonprofit culture. Part of it is what motivates the individual and their personality, part of it is the concept of supporters’ money. ‘Would the person who gave you £5 a month want you to be spending your money on that?’ In practice this leads to counterproductive underspending. I remember waiting weeks to get maybe £100 worth of extra memory so I could crunch numbers at a reasonable speed without crashing the computer. The concept of taxpayers’ money works similarly.
There’s probably a good forum post in there somewhere about how the psychology of charity affects perceptions of EA...