Yeah, I agree neglectedness is less important but it does capture something important; I think eg climate change is both important and tractable but not neglected. In my head, “importance” is about “how much would a perfectly rational world direct at this?” while “neglected” is “how far are we from that world?”.
Also agreed that the lack of external funding is an update that forecasting (as currently conceived) has more hype than real utility. I tend to think this is because of the narrowness of how forecasting is currently framed, though (see my comments on tractability above)
That’s a great resource I wasn’t aware of, thanks (did you make it?). I do think that OpenPhil has spent a commendable amount of money on forecasting to date (though: nowhere near half Animal Welfare, more like a tenth). But I think this has been done very unsystematically, with no dedicated grantmaker. My understanding it was like, a side project of Luke Muehlhauser for a long time; when I reached out in Jan ’23 he said they were not making new forecasting grants until they filled this role. Even if it took a year, I’m glad this program is now launched!
I think your point 1 is a good starting point but I would add “in percentage terms compared to all other potential causes” and you have to be in the top 1% of that for EA to consider the cause neglected.
3. I didn’t make it. It is great though. I was talking about on a yearly basis in the last couple years. That said, I made the comment off memory so I could be wrong.
Yeah, I agree neglectedness is less important but it does capture something important; I think eg climate change is both important and tractable but not neglected. In my head, “importance” is about “how much would a perfectly rational world direct at this?” while “neglected” is “how far are we from that world?”.
Also agreed that the lack of external funding is an update that forecasting (as currently conceived) has more hype than real utility. I tend to think this is because of the narrowness of how forecasting is currently framed, though (see my comments on tractability above)
That’s a great resource I wasn’t aware of, thanks (did you make it?). I do think that OpenPhil has spent a commendable amount of money on forecasting to date (though: nowhere near half Animal Welfare, more like a tenth). But I think this has been done very unsystematically, with no dedicated grantmaker. My understanding it was like, a side project of Luke Muehlhauser for a long time; when I reached out in Jan ’23 he said they were not making new forecasting grants until they filled this role. Even if it took a year, I’m glad this program is now launched!
I think your point 1 is a good starting point but I would add “in percentage terms compared to all other potential causes” and you have to be in the top 1% of that for EA to consider the cause neglected.
3. I didn’t make it. It is great though. I was talking about on a yearly basis in the last couple years. That said, I made the comment off memory so I could be wrong.