But the investment-like giving opportunities also preserve optionality! This is the sense in which they are investment-like. They can result in more (expected) dollars held in a future year (say a decade from now) by careful thinking people who will be roughly aligned with our values than if we just make financial investments now.
Thanks for the clarification, Owen! I had mis-understood ‘investment-like’ as simply having return compounding characteristics. To truly preserve optionality though, these grants would need to remain flexible (can change cause areas if necessary; so grants to a specific cause area like AI safety wouldn’t necessarily count) and liquid (can be immediately called upon; so Founder’s Pledge future pledges wouldn’t necessarily count). So yes, your example of grants that result “in more (expected) dollars held in a future year (say a decade from now) by careful thinking people who will be roughly aligned with our values” certainly qualifies, but I suspect that’s about it. Still, as long as such grants exist today, I now understand why you say that the optimal giving rate is implausibly (exactly) 0%.
But the investment-like giving opportunities also preserve optionality! This is the sense in which they are investment-like. They can result in more (expected) dollars held in a future year (say a decade from now) by careful thinking people who will be roughly aligned with our values than if we just make financial investments now.
Thanks for the clarification, Owen! I had mis-understood ‘investment-like’ as simply having return compounding characteristics. To truly preserve optionality though, these grants would need to remain flexible (can change cause areas if necessary; so grants to a specific cause area like AI safety wouldn’t necessarily count) and liquid (can be immediately called upon; so Founder’s Pledge future pledges wouldn’t necessarily count). So yes, your example of grants that result “in more (expected) dollars held in a future year (say a decade from now) by careful thinking people who will be roughly aligned with our values” certainly qualifies, but I suspect that’s about it. Still, as long as such grants exist today, I now understand why you say that the optimal giving rate is implausibly (exactly) 0%.