Thank you for this. These are very interesting points. I have two (lightly held) qualms with this that I’m not sure obtain.
I suspect in the status quo, highly engaged, productive EAs who do work like yours do have a certain amount of influence over funding decisions. It certainly seems like most Future Fund regrantors fit into this pool. Obviously I don’t mean to imply everyone has the influence they deserve, but I do think this is meaningful when we consider the current state of EA vs a potential new system.
I worry this attitude also plays into some potentially harmful dynamics, where each EA feels like they have ownership over and responsibility for the entirety of EA. This may fuel things like a community organizer feeling the weight of every EA controversy on their own shoulders (I don’t know what was at play in that specific case) or an enthusiastic but naive 15 year old who feels that they deserve to make funding decisions because they have a forums account. Perhaps there could be some sort of demarcation between people who are actually making this trade with a willing counterparty(ies) from anyone who is currently working an EA job or otherwise associated.
Again, just the thoughts that came to mind, both tentative.
Thank you for this. These are very interesting points. I have two (lightly held) qualms with this that I’m not sure obtain.
I suspect in the status quo, highly engaged, productive EAs who do work like yours do have a certain amount of influence over funding decisions. It certainly seems like most Future Fund regrantors fit into this pool. Obviously I don’t mean to imply everyone has the influence they deserve, but I do think this is meaningful when we consider the current state of EA vs a potential new system.
I worry this attitude also plays into some potentially harmful dynamics, where each EA feels like they have ownership over and responsibility for the entirety of EA. This may fuel things like a community organizer feeling the weight of every EA controversy on their own shoulders (I don’t know what was at play in that specific case) or an enthusiastic but naive 15 year old who feels that they deserve to make funding decisions because they have a forums account. Perhaps there could be some sort of demarcation between people who are actually making this trade with a willing counterparty(ies) from anyone who is currently working an EA job or otherwise associated.
Again, just the thoughts that came to mind, both tentative.