That seems like a quite distinct case than what Ben is worrying about—more like a standard commercial interaction, ‘buying’ pandemic prevention. If I buy a pizza, it makes little difference to me if the cashier is deeply aligned with my dietary and health objectives—all I care about is that he got the toppings right. It is not from the benevolence of the pizza guy that we expect our dinner, but from his regard to his own interest. I think grift would be more like a politician writing a speech to cater to EA donors and then voting for exactly the same things they intended to anyway.
This specific story doesn’t seem to describe the greatest model of EA donors or political influence (it doesn’t seem like EA donors are that pliable or comfortable with politics, and the idea probably boils down to lobbying with extra steps or something).
But the thought seems true?
It seems worth imagining that, the minor media cycle around the recent candidate and other spending could create useful interest. For example, it could get sober attention and policy wonks to talk to EAs.
That seems like a quite distinct case than what Ben is worrying about—more like a standard commercial interaction, ‘buying’ pandemic prevention. If I buy a pizza, it makes little difference to me if the cashier is deeply aligned with my dietary and health objectives—all I care about is that he got the toppings right. It is not from the benevolence of the pizza guy that we expect our dinner, but from his regard to his own interest. I think grift would be more like a politician writing a speech to cater to EA donors and then voting for exactly the same things they intended to anyway.
This specific story doesn’t seem to describe the greatest model of EA donors or political influence (it doesn’t seem like EA donors are that pliable or comfortable with politics, and the idea probably boils down to lobbying with extra steps or something).
But the thought seems true?
It seems worth imagining that, the minor media cycle around the recent candidate and other spending could create useful interest. For example, it could get sober attention and policy wonks to talk to EAs.