I generally expect that broad-focus organizations with a lot of resources and multiple constituencies will end up spending a LOT of their resources on internal status struggles. Given what little I’ve seen about SI’s skill and expertise at managing the internal politics of such an arrangement, I would expect the current staff to be promptly displaced by more skillful politicians if they went down this road, and the projects of interest to that staff to end up with even fewer resources than they have now.
Given what little I’ve seen about SI’s skill and expertise at managing the internal politics of such an arrangement, I would expect the current staff to be promptly displaced by more skillful politicians if they went down this road, and the projects of interest to that staff to end up with even fewer resources than they have now.
I think this has already happened to some extent. Reflective people who have good epistemic habits but who don’t get shit done have had their influence over SingInst policy taken away while lots of influence has been granted to people like Luke and Louie who get lots of shit done and who make the organization look a lot prettier but whose epistemic habits are, in my eyes, relatively suspect.
You’re probably correct. The current staff would have the same problem of establishing legitimacy they have now but within the context of the larger organisation.
I generally expect that broad-focus organizations with a lot of resources and multiple constituencies will end up spending a LOT of their resources on internal status struggles. Given what little I’ve seen about SI’s skill and expertise at managing the internal politics of such an arrangement, I would expect the current staff to be promptly displaced by more skillful politicians if they went down this road, and the projects of interest to that staff to end up with even fewer resources than they have now.
I think this has already happened to some extent. Reflective people who have good epistemic habits but who don’t get shit done have had their influence over SingInst policy taken away while lots of influence has been granted to people like Luke and Louie who get lots of shit done and who make the organization look a lot prettier but whose epistemic habits are, in my eyes, relatively suspect.
Could you expand a bit more on why you think the epistemic habits are suspect compared to previous staffers?
I think there’s an important lesson here about the relative importance of being able to get shit done versus good epistemic habits.
Are you talking about guys like e.g. Steve Rayhawk or Peter de Blanc?
You’re probably correct. The current staff would have the same problem of establishing legitimacy they have now but within the context of the larger organisation.