I think a lot of people applying to do independent alignment research do live in expensive areas like SFBay but are on the younger side and don’t have kids and are willing to share a cramped apartment with roommates etc. Basically, the same kind of people who might alternatively choose to go to grad school despite equally pathetically low stipends.
When I was applying for my first independent alignment research grant in 2020, by contrast, I had daycare expenses and a mortgage and so on. I made a massive spreadsheet and calculated that I needed $150k/yr to make it work, so that’s what I asked for. This was a substantial pay cut from my industry job, and I still felt weird / guilty / something-or-other because I had the strong impression that I was asking for like 3-5× more money than were most people applying for the same kind of grant. But whenever I brought that up explicitly to the people in the field who were helping me with grant-applications etc., they all took great pains to assure me that it was fine—I should ask for an amount that would work for my situation, and funders can always say no, but anyway they’re probably paying more attention to the project quality than the cost at these scales. (And anyway, those same funders are also probably donating to nonprofits with comparable or higher cost-per-employee.) Anyway, I did find a funder! :) :)
I still felt weird / guilty / something-or-other because I had the strong impression that I was asking for like 3-5× more money than were most people applying for the same kind of grant. But whenever I brought that up explicitly to the people in the field who were helping me with grant-applications etc., they all took great pains to assure me that it was fine
Good to hear you got funding at that rate, and that this is explicitly considered good-and-normal! That was the vibe I got (including from my own grant getting funded), and was part of why I was surprised in the first place.
I think a lot of people applying to do independent alignment research do live in expensive areas like SFBay but are on the younger side and don’t have kids and are willing to share a cramped apartment with roommates etc. Basically, the same kind of people who might alternatively choose to go to grad school despite equally pathetically low stipends.
When I was applying for my first independent alignment research grant in 2020, by contrast, I had daycare expenses and a mortgage and so on. I made a massive spreadsheet and calculated that I needed $150k/yr to make it work, so that’s what I asked for. This was a substantial pay cut from my industry job, and I still felt weird / guilty / something-or-other because I had the strong impression that I was asking for like 3-5× more money than were most people applying for the same kind of grant. But whenever I brought that up explicitly to the people in the field who were helping me with grant-applications etc., they all took great pains to assure me that it was fine—I should ask for an amount that would work for my situation, and funders can always say no, but anyway they’re probably paying more attention to the project quality than the cost at these scales. (And anyway, those same funders are also probably donating to nonprofits with comparable or higher cost-per-employee.) Anyway, I did find a funder! :) :)
Good to hear you got funding at that rate, and that this is explicitly considered good-and-normal! That was the vibe I got (including from my own grant getting funded), and was part of why I was surprised in the first place.