Dustin and Cari at Open Phil may be exceptions, I have zero inside knowledge about them. Assuming you’re right and they’re paragons of EA-ness, which would be quite laudable, I see that as the exception that proves the rule. Maybe they don’t need to give up the reins because they live the values of EA so well, but that isn’t true of most people, and there’s no reason to think that’d be true of most UHNW people.
EA hasn’t pushed Musk and Thiel away nearly strongly enough for me. I know EA isn’t a top down movement, but there are individuals with lots of EA credibility who can and should be making it more clear that what those two are doing isn’t EA.
On my point 2, I’ll admit I don’t have a clear solution in mind. There needs to be a way to ensure there are good people in charge who will apply EA principles toward the organization’s goals, and maybe the funder can have some initial influence. However, I’m highly suspicious of people who got billions and now claim to want to give it away but only if they can control it. Concentration of power is dangerous in every other aspect of society, I think it’s obvious that EA is no exception. If someone truly believes in the principles of EA, then they must be willing to at least dilute their control considerably.
From my basic understanding of Open Phil, it does seem like Dustin & Cari have given up the reins to a large extent? Open Phil has hired lots of staff who are making the granting decisions, although maybe Dustin & Cari have a large influence over the cause areas.
Dustin and Cari at Open Phil may be exceptions, I have zero inside knowledge about them. Assuming you’re right and they’re paragons of EA-ness, which would be quite laudable, I see that as the exception that proves the rule. Maybe they don’t need to give up the reins because they live the values of EA so well, but that isn’t true of most people, and there’s no reason to think that’d be true of most UHNW people.
EA hasn’t pushed Musk and Thiel away nearly strongly enough for me. I know EA isn’t a top down movement, but there are individuals with lots of EA credibility who can and should be making it more clear that what those two are doing isn’t EA.
On my point 2, I’ll admit I don’t have a clear solution in mind. There needs to be a way to ensure there are good people in charge who will apply EA principles toward the organization’s goals, and maybe the funder can have some initial influence. However, I’m highly suspicious of people who got billions and now claim to want to give it away but only if they can control it. Concentration of power is dangerous in every other aspect of society, I think it’s obvious that EA is no exception. If someone truly believes in the principles of EA, then they must be willing to at least dilute their control considerably.
From my basic understanding of Open Phil, it does seem like Dustin & Cari have given up the reins to a large extent? Open Phil has hired lots of staff who are making the granting decisions, although maybe Dustin & Cari have a large influence over the cause areas.
It does indeed. I believe Dustin is on record saying that if he disagreed with Open Phil he would likely defer to their decision