In comparison to the LTFF, I think the average grant is more generically exciting, but less effective altruist focused. (As expected)
Lots of tiny grants (<$10k), $150k is the largest one.
These rapid grant programs really seem great and I look forward to them being scaled up.
That said, the next big bottleneck (which is already a bottleneck) is funding for established groups. These rapid grants get things off the ground, but many will need long-standing support and scale.
Scott seems to have done a pretty strong job researching these groups, and also has had access to a good network of advisors. I guess it’s no surprise; he seems really good at “doing a lot of reading and writing”, and he has an established peer group now.
I’m really curious how/if these projects will be monitored. At some point, I think more personnel would be valuable.
This grant program is kind of a way to “scale up” Astral Codex Ten. Like, instead of hiring people directly, he can fund them this way.
I’m curious if he can scale up 10x or 1000x, we could really use more strong/trusted grantmakers. It’s especially promising if he gets non-EA money. :)
On specific grants:
A few forecasters got grants, including $10k for Nuño Sempere Lopez Hidalgo for work on Metaforecast. $5k for Nathan Young to write forecasting questions.
$17.5k for 1DaySooner/Rethink Priorities to do surveys to advance human challenge trials.
$40k seed money to Spencer Greenberg to “produce rapid replications of high-impact social science papers”. Seems neat, I’m curious how far $40k alone could go though.
A bunch of biosafety grants. I like this topic, seems tractable.
$40k for land value tax work.
$20k for a “Chaotic Evil” prediction market. This will be interesting to watch, hopefully won’t cause net harm.
$50k for the Good Science Project, to “improve science funding in the US”. I think science funding globally is really broken, so this warms my heart.
Lots of other neat things, I suggest just reading directly.
Epistemic status: I feel positive about this, but note I’m kinda biased (I know a few of the people involved, work directly with Nuno, who was funded)
ACX Grants just announced.~$1.5 Million, from a few donors that included Vitalik.
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/acx-grants-results
Quick thoughts:
In comparison to the LTFF, I think the average grant is more generically exciting, but less effective altruist focused. (As expected)
Lots of tiny grants (<$10k), $150k is the largest one.
These rapid grant programs really seem great and I look forward to them being scaled up.
That said, the next big bottleneck (which is already a bottleneck) is funding for established groups. These rapid grants get things off the ground, but many will need long-standing support and scale.
Scott seems to have done a pretty strong job researching these groups, and also has had access to a good network of advisors. I guess it’s no surprise; he seems really good at “doing a lot of reading and writing”, and he has an established peer group now.
I’m really curious how/if these projects will be monitored. At some point, I think more personnel would be valuable.
This grant program is kind of a way to “scale up” Astral Codex Ten. Like, instead of hiring people directly, he can fund them this way.
I’m curious if he can scale up 10x or 1000x, we could really use more strong/trusted grantmakers. It’s especially promising if he gets non-EA money. :)
On specific grants:
A few forecasters got grants, including $10k for Nuño Sempere Lopez Hidalgo for work on Metaforecast. $5k for Nathan Young to write forecasting questions.
$17.5k for 1DaySooner/Rethink Priorities to do surveys to advance human challenge trials.
$40k seed money to Spencer Greenberg to “produce rapid replications of high-impact social science papers”. Seems neat, I’m curious how far $40k alone could go though.
A bunch of biosafety grants. I like this topic, seems tractable.
$40k for land value tax work.
$20k for a “Chaotic Evil” prediction market. This will be interesting to watch, hopefully won’t cause net harm.
$50k for the Good Science Project, to “improve science funding in the US”. I think science funding globally is really broken, so this warms my heart.
Lots of other neat things, I suggest just reading directly.