I have a job that I’m passionate about, with a lot of upside, with people who I care about who rely on me, making the Emergents TCG (https://emergentstcg.com/) and associated things. I’m not about to give that up lightly, although there is always a price.
I have not applied for funding, beyond setting up ways to accept gifts (e.g. Twitter tips, Patreon, Substack), which is mainly because people actively wanted to give me small amounts. It doesn’t provide serious funding, or at least it hasn’t yet. Money here does make a motivational difference, but please no one should feel obligated in any way at all (and if it’s a large amount, let’s make sure we use a no-fee method, if necessary PM me).
Part of the problem is that my opportunity costs are very high, and also that I don’t know how to hire assistance well (as I noted in the SFF post). And applying for large amounts of funding when you’re already well off doesn’t feel great. And I worry about the social dynamics and incentives, and worry that the thing where we go around asking each other for grant money isn’t great (again, see SFF post).
Oh, and maybe you could clarify? Is it that you don’t want to accept funding from institutions? Or is it that you don’t want to go actively looking for funding? How would things work in the world in the world where you were funded and felt good about it?
How would you feel about a model where a foundation offered matching funds instead of a direct grant? Or what if another org hired the research assistant and loaned them out to you for the period so that the money never touched your hands?
I very much don’t want to go actively looking, for reasons that I’ve gestured at a lot in various places, but gifts are always helpful. If institutions (or individuals) want to offer me of their own accord a retrospective grant/gift, or a prospective grant/gift with no strings attached at all (e.g. MacArthur grant style), and do so of their own accord, I’d be happy to accept. If strings were attached I might consider it, but it would have to be very large.
Different orders of magnitude of funds impact me in different ways.
If people want to loan me a research assistant and/or personal assistant and/or an expense account to make things easier, with or without direct funding, I’d welcome that too and would try it out, while noting that it’s hard to find good help that actually pays dividends.
Another thing that worries me is that the whole Covid thing could be over within a few months. I do want to write other stuff anyway, but it’ll be a very different product that might not still be something the person would want to be paying for (or it might be something they want even more, who knows).
How would you feel about someone else putting in an application on your behalf supposing that you wouldn’t have any involvement with writing it, apart from giving permission?
I don’t want any sort of ‘hard sell’ and who knows what I’ll be doing by the time such a process finishes, but if you want to tell someone else ‘hey have you considered giving Zvi a check?’ I’m not exactly going to say no.
“I’m not about to give that up lightly, although there is always a price”
Even if your price would be too high, I would be surprised if you couldn’t obtain funding for a research assistant. That might solve: “And applying for large amounts of funding when you’re already well off doesn’t feel great”.
It sounds like if there is an unemployed reader out there with some experience in doing research, there is an opportunity here to make a Patreon account and explicitly solicit donations in a “If I can make $X,000 per month I will spend 40 hours a week doing research on important topical issues and provide the raw data for analysis” kind of way.
Most of us have jobs already, but it only takes one...
I have a job that I’m passionate about, with a lot of upside, with people who I care about who rely on me, making the Emergents TCG (https://emergentstcg.com/) and associated things. I’m not about to give that up lightly, although there is always a price.
I have not applied for funding, beyond setting up ways to accept gifts (e.g. Twitter tips, Patreon, Substack), which is mainly because people actively wanted to give me small amounts. It doesn’t provide serious funding, or at least it hasn’t yet. Money here does make a motivational difference, but please no one should feel obligated in any way at all (and if it’s a large amount, let’s make sure we use a no-fee method, if necessary PM me).
Part of the problem is that my opportunity costs are very high, and also that I don’t know how to hire assistance well (as I noted in the SFF post). And applying for large amounts of funding when you’re already well off doesn’t feel great. And I worry about the social dynamics and incentives, and worry that the thing where we go around asking each other for grant money isn’t great (again, see SFF post).
Oh, and maybe you could clarify? Is it that you don’t want to accept funding from institutions? Or is it that you don’t want to go actively looking for funding? How would things work in the world in the world where you were funded and felt good about it?
How would you feel about a model where a foundation offered matching funds instead of a direct grant? Or what if another org hired the research assistant and loaned them out to you for the period so that the money never touched your hands?
I very much don’t want to go actively looking, for reasons that I’ve gestured at a lot in various places, but gifts are always helpful. If institutions (or individuals) want to offer me of their own accord a retrospective grant/gift, or a prospective grant/gift with no strings attached at all (e.g. MacArthur grant style), and do so of their own accord, I’d be happy to accept. If strings were attached I might consider it, but it would have to be very large.
Different orders of magnitude of funds impact me in different ways.
If people want to loan me a research assistant and/or personal assistant and/or an expense account to make things easier, with or without direct funding, I’d welcome that too and would try it out, while noting that it’s hard to find good help that actually pays dividends.
Another thing that worries me is that the whole Covid thing could be over within a few months. I do want to write other stuff anyway, but it’ll be a very different product that might not still be something the person would want to be paying for (or it might be something they want even more, who knows).
How would you feel about someone else putting in an application on your behalf supposing that you wouldn’t have any involvement with writing it, apart from giving permission?
I don’t want any sort of ‘hard sell’ and who knows what I’ll be doing by the time such a process finishes, but if you want to tell someone else ‘hey have you considered giving Zvi a check?’ I’m not exactly going to say no.
What if I submitted an intentionally ‘soft sell’ grant application? Think along the lines of what Scott Alexander used to have on his Patreon?
Yeah, sure, so long as it’s clear it’s not promising or committing to anything.
“I’m not about to give that up lightly, although there is always a price”
Even if your price would be too high, I would be surprised if you couldn’t obtain funding for a research assistant. That might solve: “And applying for large amounts of funding when you’re already well off doesn’t feel great”.
It sounds like if there is an unemployed reader out there with some experience in doing research, there is an opportunity here to make a Patreon account and explicitly solicit donations in a “If I can make $X,000 per month I will spend 40 hours a week doing research on important topical issues and provide the raw data for analysis” kind of way.
Most of us have jobs already, but it only takes one...