I would like to see a strong argument for the risk of “replaceability” as a significant factor in potentially curtailing someone’s counterfactual impact in what might otherwise be a high-impact job. This central idea is that the “second choice” applicant, after the person who was chosen, might have done just as well, or near just as well as the “first choice” applicant, making the counterfactual impact of the first small. I would want an analysis of the cascading impact argument: that you “free up” the second choice applicant to do other impactful work, who then “frees up” someone else, etc., and this stream of “freeing up value” mostly addresses the “replaceability concern.
I second this. Mostly because I have doubts about the 80,000 hours cause area. I love their podcast, but I suspect they get a bit shielded from criticism in a way other cause areas aren’t by virtue of being such a core EA organization. A more extensive and critical inquiry into “replaceability” would be welcome, whatever the conclusion.
I would like to see a strong argument for the risk of “replaceability” as a significant factor in potentially curtailing someone’s counterfactual impact in what might otherwise be a high-impact job. This central idea is that the “second choice” applicant, after the person who was chosen, might have done just as well, or near just as well as the “first choice” applicant, making the counterfactual impact of the first small. I would want an analysis of the cascading impact argument: that you “free up” the second choice applicant to do other impactful work, who then “frees up” someone else, etc., and this stream of “freeing up value” mostly addresses the “replaceability concern.
I second this. Mostly because I have doubts about the 80,000 hours cause area. I love their podcast, but I suspect they get a bit shielded from criticism in a way other cause areas aren’t by virtue of being such a core EA organization. A more extensive and critical inquiry into “replaceability” would be welcome, whatever the conclusion.