For research, at least, it probably depends on the nature of the problem: whether you can just “brute force” it with a sufficient amount of normal science, or if you need rare new insights (which are perhaps unlikely to occur for any given researcher, but are vastly more likely to be found by the very best).
Certainly within philosophy, I think quality trumps quantity by a mile. Median research has very little value. It’s the rare breakthroughs that matter. Presumably funders think the same is true of, e.g., AI safety research.
For research, at least, it probably depends on the nature of the problem: whether you can just “brute force” it with a sufficient amount of normal science, or if you need rare new insights (which are perhaps unlikely to occur for any given researcher, but are vastly more likely to be found by the very best).
Certainly within philosophy, I think quality trumps quantity by a mile. Median research has very little value. It’s the rare breakthroughs that matter. Presumably funders think the same is true of, e.g., AI safety research.