People occasionally come up with plans like “I’ll lead the parade for a while, thereby accumulating high status. Then, I’ll use that high status to counterfactually influence things!”. This is one subcategory of a more general class of plans: “I’ll chase status for a while, then use that status to counterfactually influence things!”. Various versions of this often come from EAs who are planning to get a machine learning PhD or work at one of the big three AI labs.
Even if you need status, it might be easier to just be or become friends with the people who already have status and credentials, and they can lend you their status if they think your plan/idea is good. For example, when you are writing a letter to a politician or founding a new org/startup.
Even if you need status, it might be easier to just be or become friends with the people who already have status and credentials, and they can lend you their status if they think your plan/idea is good. For example, when you are writing a letter to a politician or founding a new org/startup.