I agree that there are multiple types of basic research we might want to see, and maybe not all of them are getting done. I therefore actually put a somewhat decent effect size on traditional academic grants from places like FLI, even though most of its grants aren’t useful, because it seems like a way to actually get engineers to work on problems we haven’t thought of yet. This is the grant-disbursing process as an active ingredient, not just as filler. I am skeptical if this effect size is bigger on the margin than just increasing CHAI’s funding, but presumably we want some amount of diversification.
Thank you. Can you point me to a page on FLI’s latest grants? What I found was from a few years back. Is there another organizations whose grants are worthy of attention?
I actually haven’t heard anything out of them in the last few years either. My knowledge of grantmaking organizations is limited—I think similar organizations like Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, or the Long-Term Future Fund, tend to be less about academic grantmaking and more about funding individuals and existing organizations (not that this isn’t also valuable).
I agree that there are multiple types of basic research we might want to see, and maybe not all of them are getting done. I therefore actually put a somewhat decent effect size on traditional academic grants from places like FLI, even though most of its grants aren’t useful, because it seems like a way to actually get engineers to work on problems we haven’t thought of yet. This is the grant-disbursing process as an active ingredient, not just as filler. I am skeptical if this effect size is bigger on the margin than just increasing CHAI’s funding, but presumably we want some amount of diversification.
Thank you. Can you point me to a page on FLI’s latest grants? What I found was from a few years back. Is there another organizations whose grants are worthy of attention?
I actually haven’t heard anything out of them in the last few years either. My knowledge of grantmaking organizations is limited—I think similar organizations like Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, or the Long-Term Future Fund, tend to be less about academic grantmaking and more about funding individuals and existing organizations (not that this isn’t also valuable).
Right on time, turns out there’s more grants—but now I’m not sure if these are academic-style or not (I guess we might see the recipients later). https://futureoflife.org/fli-announces-grants-program-for-existential-risk-reduction/?fbclid=IwAR3_pMQ0tDd_EOg_RShlLY8i71nGFliu0YH8kzbc7fClACEgxIo2uK6gPW8&cn-reloaded=1