I think you are right in the sense that farm animal advocacy and global health have much more room for additional funding.
One reason I’m interested in software patent abolition strategies is that they are neglected by funders. While there a decent amount of funding for incremental software patent reform, there is almost no funding available to significantly reduce the patentability of software.
I’d guess that around $250k/year can support “low hanging fruit” strategies towards advocating for reducing software patentability. I’d expect these efforts to have 1% probability of significantly reducing software patent litigation by, say, 50%. If we think litigation costs around $20 billion a year, then the expected value would about $100 million a year. I’m unsure I’d advocate for funding over $250k/year at this time—I think additional funding would be better spent on animals or global health.
I think you are right in the sense that farm animal advocacy and global health have much more room for additional funding.
One reason I’m interested in software patent abolition strategies is that they are neglected by funders. While there a decent amount of funding for incremental software patent reform, there is almost no funding available to significantly reduce the patentability of software.
I’d guess that around $250k/year can support “low hanging fruit” strategies towards advocating for reducing software patentability. I’d expect these efforts to have 1% probability of significantly reducing software patent litigation by, say, 50%. If we think litigation costs around $20 billion a year, then the expected value would about $100 million a year. I’m unsure I’d advocate for funding over $250k/year at this time—I think additional funding would be better spent on animals or global health.
Givewell has a good overview of software patent reform.