Great finding—I was an avid reader of Felicifia but do not recall stumbling upon that particular comment or the associated post. (EmbraceUnity was Edward Miller’s Felicifia username, as can be seen by consulting the archived version of Miller’s website.)
On the ITN framework, it’s also unclear to me whether the version developed by Owen Cotton-Barratt a year or so after Holden’s was influenced by those early GiveWell posts. My tentative speculation (~80%) is that Owen was at least aware of Holden’s writings, but it’s also conceivable that it was an independent discovery. It also seems unlikely to me (90%) that either Owen or Holden had encountered the Felicifia discussion. On the other hand, it’s possible (15%?) that Edward Miller’s framework reached Owen or Holden in some form via informal channels. For example, Toby Ord, who read Felicifia, may have discussed the idea with Owen.
Great finding—I was an avid reader of Felicifia but do not recall stumbling upon that particular comment or the associated post. (EmbraceUnity was Edward Miller’s Felicifia username, as can be seen by consulting the archived version of Miller’s website.)
On the ITN framework, it’s also unclear to me whether the version developed by Owen Cotton-Barratt a year or so after Holden’s was influenced by those early GiveWell posts. My tentative speculation (~80%) is that Owen was at least aware of Holden’s writings, but it’s also conceivable that it was an independent discovery. It also seems unlikely to me (90%) that either Owen or Holden had encountered the Felicifia discussion. On the other hand, it’s possible (15%?) that Edward Miller’s framework reached Owen or Holden in some form via informal channels. For example, Toby Ord, who read Felicifia, may have discussed the idea with Owen.