DC
Posts 15
Comments208
Topic Contributions2
Ancestor worship also came to mind a la What We Owe The Past, but I wasn't sure if OP had something different in mind than that post.
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ndvguMbcdAMXzTHJG/what-we-owe-the-past
What are specific examples of retrospectivism/retrospectivist causes that you have in mind? Are there things in this category that differ from global health and poverty causes? When you say reparations, what do you mean in particular? When would or wouldn't reducing a global catastrophic risk such as pandemics count as helping one's ancestors via the repair of their descendants?
People were probably just squicked by the shocking gunman example starting the first sentence with no context and auto-downvoted based on vibes, rather than your reasoning. You optimized pretty hard for violent shock value with your first sentence, which could be a good hook for a short story in other contexts but here hijacks the altruistic reader with ambiguously threatening information. I don't personally mind but maybe it's triggering for some. Try using less violent hypotheticals or more realistic ones, maybe
Independent of aprilsun's spat with Ryan, I am incredibly grateful they have dug up and linked SBF's content on Felicifia. I had tried looking for it and failed, including asking people who I thought might know once or twice, and at least partly questioned whether it was an act of imagination on my part or someone else's that he had posted on there. And the interaction where it seems like Ryan persuaded him of earn-to-give is fascinating as a historical matter (and much less importantly, quite the unilateral first strike to establish a sour internet argument).
but with venture capital, this equipment will never be inexpensive
Why do you believe this? How many VCs have you talked to about whether they'd be fine with the lower-cost version you want?
Have you looked into porting the concept of the public benefit corporation from the US to Germany?
Have you asked the grant organizations that you talked to for critical feedback and letting them know you're fine with whatever they say? They would know more than this forum I'm guessing.
Why aren't you trying to make money selling your MRI in rich countries first, then use profits to subsidize a cheaper version for poorer countries? If your product actually works and is good then I don't see why it wouldn't be a good product for everyone. You could consider selling to the US, German, or Ukraine militaries as likely customers to start.
My wild guess, based on limited info, at risk of overconfidence, since you asked for what might be the case, is that you have too idealistic a self-image that is preventing you from participating in the normal market processes that would create a positive and self-sustaining financial feedback loop that would allow you to finance sales to poorer countries. I would guess a priori that you should lean into being profit-driven and focus on establishing any demand at all for the product any way you can before offering it at cost or at a loss to poorer countries.
Do let me know if I am wrong in any way, don't hesitate to correct me!
I'm reminded that I'm two years late on leaving an excorciating comment on the Longtermist Entrepreneurship Project postmortem. I have never been as angry at a post on here as I was at that one. I don't even know where to begin.
humans tend to like super-rich and powerful people even after they become disgraced, that seems false based on informal evidence
I think you fail to empathize with aspects of the nature of power, particularly in that there is a certain fraction of humans who will find cachet in the edgy and criminal. I am not that surprised Lewis may have been unduly affected by being in Sam's orbit and getting front-row seats to such a story. Though for all I know maybe he has accurate insider info, and Sam actually didn't knowingly steal money. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What problems are you thinking of in particular?