The steelman for these programmes is that they’re essentially talent arbitrage. A high-school students earning potential is very little at 18, but just 5 years later it could be a 6 figure sum. If someone’s earning potential is analogous to the amount of impact they could make, and you’reable to change the area they focus on, then you could imagine 50k USD is quite cheap (esp for influencing ones entire career).
The 50k USD here would be to attract the most talented students.
Some criticism of this theory of change:
the programme selects for privileged students who are unlikely to be value aligned with effective altruism
It’s really hard to influence someone’s career
the value of someone’s career is low
the values instilled by the programme are not aligned with doing good (or are actively harmful)
talented Americans are not neglected, and ATLAS is likely to get outcompeted by other status/wealthy corporations
Note: this comment doesn’t necessarily attempt to reflect my opinions. It’s also low effort/and written on mobile.
The steelman for these programmes is that they’re essentially talent arbitrage. A high-school students earning potential is very little at 18, but just 5 years later it could be a 6 figure sum. If someone’s earning potential is analogous to the amount of impact they could make, and you’reable to change the area they focus on, then you could imagine 50k USD is quite cheap (esp for influencing ones entire career).
The 50k USD here would be to attract the most talented students.
Some criticism of this theory of change:
the programme selects for privileged students who are unlikely to be value aligned with effective altruism
It’s really hard to influence someone’s career
the value of someone’s career is low
the values instilled by the programme are not aligned with doing good (or are actively harmful)
talented Americans are not neglected, and ATLAS is likely to get outcompeted by other status/wealthy corporations
Note: this comment doesn’t necessarily attempt to reflect my opinions. It’s also low effort/and written on mobile.