Thank you for this post, looking forward to the other parts of the series! I enjoy this format of explaining how EA came to care about a specific cause area and what shaped the current understanding of the topic. I’d be interested in more “history of [cause area / some aspect of EA culture]” posts.
“If organizations have bad aims, should we seek to worsen their decision-making?”
That depends on the concrete case you have in mind. Consider the case of supplying your enemy with wrong but seemingly right information during a war. This is a case where you actively try to worsen their decision-making. But even in a war there may be some information you want the enemy to have (like: where is a hospital that should not be targeted). In general, you do not just want to “worsen” an opponent’s decision-making, but influence it in a direction that is favorable from your own point of view.
Conversely, if a decision-maker is only somewhat biased from your point of view and has to make a decision based on uncertain information, you may want her to precisely understand the information if the randomness of the decision could otherwise just work in both directions; it may be good if misinterpreting the situation makes her choose in your favor, but it is often much worse if misinterpretation leads to a deviation in the other direction.
This is a really excellent summary/state of play for IIDM. Thanks for writing this up!
Thank you for this post, looking forward to the other parts of the series! I enjoy this format of explaining how EA came to care about a specific cause area and what shaped the current understanding of the topic. I’d be interested in more “history of [cause area / some aspect of EA culture]” posts.
“If organizations have bad aims, should we seek to worsen their decision-making?”
That depends on the concrete case you have in mind. Consider the case of supplying your enemy with wrong but seemingly right information during a war. This is a case where you actively try to worsen their decision-making. But even in a war there may be some information you want the enemy to have (like: where is a hospital that should not be targeted). In general, you do not just want to “worsen” an opponent’s decision-making, but influence it in a direction that is favorable from your own point of view.
Conversely, if a decision-maker is only somewhat biased from your point of view and has to make a decision based on uncertain information, you may want her to precisely understand the information if the randomness of the decision could otherwise just work in both directions; it may be good if misinterpreting the situation makes her choose in your favor, but it is often much worse if misinterpretation leads to a deviation in the other direction.