This is really great to see. Obviously, Open Phil and EA Infra have funded awesome projects, but it's true that having so many important decisions made by a small number of grant makers at those orgs can lead to group biases and echo chambers that may lead them to neglect other high-potential opportunities. I'd be curious to to see how a more decentralized group of less committed (in terms of time) grant makers fairs against a few full-time grant makers, but of course it's not a competition. Ultimately, we're all winners here, and more diversity and extra perspectives is almost universally a good thing.
This is extremely well-written. Thank you for sharing this and I hope you write more!
I particularly loved this line: "The success of the smallpox vaccine helps contribute to the success of the Apollo Program, not necessarily due to direct scientific lineage, but simply because each success reinforces the meta-meme of newness." That really hits home for me.
Oh wow! I didn't know that! That makes their work even more impressive! 🙏