10 million dollars will probably have very small impact on Terry Tao’s decision to work on the problem.
OTOH, setting up an open invitation for all world-class mathematicians/physicists/theoretical computer science to work on AGI safety through some sort of sabbatical system may be very impactful.
Many academics, especially in theoretical areas where funding for even the very best can be scarce, would jump at the opportunity of a no-strings-attached sabbatical. The no-strings-attached is crucial to my mind. Despite LW/Rationalist dogma equating IQ with weirdo-points, the vast majority of brilliant (mathematical) minds are fairly conventional—see Tao, Euler, Gauss.
10 million dollars will probably have very small impact on Terry Tao’s decision to work on the problem.
That might be true for him specifically, but I’m sure there are plenty of world-class researchers who would find $10 million (or even $1 million) highly motivating.
I’m probably too dumb to have an opinion of this matter, but the belief that all super-genius mathematicians care zero about being fabulously wealthy strikes me as unlikely.
This seems noncrazy on reflection.
10 million dollars will probably have very small impact on Terry Tao’s decision to work on the problem.
OTOH, setting up an open invitation for all world-class mathematicians/physicists/theoretical computer science to work on AGI safety through some sort of sabbatical system may be very impactful.
Many academics, especially in theoretical areas where funding for even the very best can be scarce, would jump at the opportunity of a no-strings-attached sabbatical. The no-strings-attached is crucial to my mind. Despite LW/Rationalist dogma equating IQ with weirdo-points, the vast majority of brilliant (mathematical) minds are fairly conventional—see Tao, Euler, Gauss.
EA cause area?
That might be true for him specifically, but I’m sure there are plenty of world-class researchers who would find $10 million (or even $1 million) highly motivating.
I’m probably too dumb to have an opinion of this matter, but the belief that all super-genius mathematicians care zero about being fabulously wealthy strikes me as unlikely.
Read it again, I think you guys agree
simplifies to “I’m sure [...] researchers [...] would find [money] highly motivating”
Ha, I know. I was weighing in, in support, against this claim he was replying to:
10 million dollars will probably have very small impact on Terry Tao’s decision to work on the problem.