Protip: if you find yourself with a slow computer, fix that situation asap.
Note to onlookers that we at Rethink Priorities will pay up to $2000 for people to upgrade their computers and that we view this as very important! And if you work with us for more than a year, you can keep your new computer forever.
I realize that this policy may not be a great fit for interns / fellows though, so perhaps I will think about how we can approach that.
I think we should maybe just send a new mid-end chromebook + high-end headsets with builtin mic + other computing supplies to all interns as soon as they start (or maybe before), no questions asked. Maybe consider higher end equipment for interns who are working on more compute-intensive stuff and/or if they or their managers asked for it.
For some of the intern projects (most notably on the survey team?), more computing power is needed, but since so much of RP work involves Google docs + looking stuff up fast on the internet + Slack/Google Meet comms, the primary technological bottlenecks that we should try to solve is really fast browsing/typing/videocall latency and quality, which chromebooks and headsets should be sufficient for.
(For logistical reasons I’m assuming that the easiest thing to do is to let the interns keep the chromebook and relevant accessories)
Note to onlookers that we at Rethink Priorities will pay up to $2000 for people to upgrade their computers and that we view this as very important! And if you work with us for more than a year, you can keep your new computer forever.
I realize that this policy may not be a great fit for interns / fellows though, so perhaps I will think about how we can approach that.
I think we should maybe just send a new mid-end chromebook + high-end headsets with builtin mic + other computing supplies to all interns as soon as they start (or maybe before), no questions asked. Maybe consider higher end equipment for interns who are working on more compute-intensive stuff and/or if they or their managers asked for it.
For some of the intern projects (most notably on the survey team?), more computing power is needed, but since so much of RP work involves Google docs + looking stuff up fast on the internet + Slack/Google Meet comms, the primary technological bottlenecks that we should try to solve is really fast browsing/typing/videocall latency and quality, which chromebooks and headsets should be sufficient for.
(For logistical reasons I’m assuming that the easiest thing to do is to let the interns keep the chromebook and relevant accessories)