I personally like Will’s writing and I think he’s a good speaker. But I do find it weird that millions were spent on promoting WWOTF.[1] I find that weird on its own (how can you be so confident it’s impactful?), but even more so when comparing WWOTF to The Precipice which is in my opinion (and from my impression many others’ opinion as well) a much better and more impactful book. I don’t know if Ben shares these thoughts or if he has any others.
Edit to add: I vaguely remember seeing a source other than Torres. But as long as I can’t find it you can disregard this comment. I do think promoting the book was/is a lot more likely to be net positive than net negative, I’m still even promoting the book myself. It’s just the amount of money I’m concerned about compared to other causes. But as long as I don’t have a figure, I can’t comment.
Just to be clear, I think marketing spending for a book is pretty reasonable. I think WWOTF was not a very good book, since it was really quite confused about AI Risk and described a methodology that I think basically no one adheres to and as such gave a lot of people a mistaken impression of how the longtermist part of the EA community actually thinks, but I think if I was in Will’s shoes and thought it was a really important book and contribution, I think spending a substantial amount of money on marketing seems pretty reasonable to me.
It’s not clear where they take the information about an “enormous promotional budget of roughly $10 million” from. Not saying that it is untrue, but also unclear why Torres would have this information.
The implication is also, that the promotional spending came out of EA pockets. But part of it might also be promotional spending by the book publisher.
ETA: I found another article by Torres that discusses the claim in a bit more detail.
MacAskill, meanwhile, has more money at his fingertips than most of us make in a lifetime. Left unmentioned during his “Daily Show” appearance: he hired several PR firms to promote his book, one of which was paid $12,000 per month, according to someone with direct knowledge of the matter. MacAskill’s team, this person tells me, even floated a total promotional budget ceiling of $10 million — a staggering number — thanks partly to financial support from the tech multibillionaire Dustin Moskovitz, cofounder of Facebook and a major funder of EA.
I don’t believe the $10m claim. Indeed, I don’t even see how it would be possible to spend that much without buying a Super Bowl ad. At $12k a month, you would have to hire nearly 140 PR firms for 6 months to add up to $10m. Perhaps someone added an extra zero or two . . .
Thanks Jeroen that’s a fair point I think it was weird too.
Even if the wrong book was plugged though, it doesn’t feel like a net harm activity though, and surely doesn’t negate his good writing and speaking? I’m sure we’ll hear more!
I personally like Will’s writing and I think he’s a good speaker. But I do find it weird that millions were spent on promoting WWOTF.[1]I find that weird on its own (how can you be so confident it’s impactful?), but even more so when comparing WWOTF to The Precipice which is in my opinion (and from my impression many others’ opinion as well) a much better and more impactful book. I don’t know if Ben shares these thoughts or if he has any others.Edit to add: I vaguely remember seeing a source other than Torres. But as long as I can’t find it you can disregard this comment. I do think promoting the book was/is a lot more likely to be net positive than net negative, I’m still even promoting the book myself. It’s just the amount of money I’m concerned about compared to other causes. But as long as I don’t have a figure, I can’t comment.
Can’t find the source for this, so correct me if I’m wrong!
Just to be clear, I think marketing spending for a book is pretty reasonable. I think WWOTF was not a very good book, since it was really quite confused about AI Risk and described a methodology that I think basically no one adheres to and as such gave a lot of people a mistaken impression of how the longtermist part of the EA community actually thinks, but I think if I was in Will’s shoes and thought it was a really important book and contribution, I think spending a substantial amount of money on marketing seems pretty reasonable to me.
The only source for this claim I’ve ever found was Emile P. Torres’s article What “longtermism” gets wrong about climate change.
It’s not clear where they take the information about an “enormous promotional budget of roughly $10 million” from. Not saying that it is untrue, but also unclear why Torres would have this information.
The implication is also, that the promotional spending came out of EA pockets. But part of it might also be promotional spending by the book publisher.
ETA: I found another article by Torres that discusses the claim in a bit more detail.
That “floated” is so weasely!
I don’t believe the $10m claim. Indeed, I don’t even see how it would be possible to spend that much without buying a Super Bowl ad. At $12k a month, you would have to hire nearly 140 PR firms for 6 months to add up to $10m. Perhaps someone added an extra zero or two . . .
Thanks Jeroen that’s a fair point I think it was weird too.
Even if the wrong book was plugged though, it doesn’t feel like a net harm activity though, and surely doesn’t negate his good writing and speaking? I’m sure we’ll hear more!