Is the map/territory distinction central to your point? I get the impression that you’re mostly expressing the opinion that the LTFF has too high a bar or idiosyncratic (or too narrow) research taste. (I’d imagine that grantmakers are trying to do what’s best on impact grounds.)
The feedback loops in grantmaking aren’t great. There’s a tendency for everyone to assume that because you control so much money, you must know what you’re doing. (I talked to an ex-grantmaker who said that even after noticing and articulating this tendency, he continued to see it operating in himself.) And people who want to get a grant will be extra deferential:
once you become a philanthropist, you never again tell a bad joke… everyone wants to be on your good side. And I think that can be a very toxic environment…
Is the map/territory distinction central to your point? I get the impression that you’re mostly expressing the opinion that the LTFF has too high a bar or idiosyncratic (or too narrow) research taste. (I’d imagine that grantmakers are trying to do what’s best on impact grounds.)
The feedback loops in grantmaking aren’t great. There’s a tendency for everyone to assume that because you control so much money, you must know what you’re doing. (I talked to an ex-grantmaker who said that even after noticing and articulating this tendency, he continued to see it operating in himself.) And people who want to get a grant will be extra deferential:
source
So I think it’s important to be extra self-skeptical if you’re working as a grantmaker.