Oh, and maybe you could clarify? Is it that you don’t want to accept funding from institutions? Or is it that you don’t want to go actively looking for funding? How would things work in the world in the world where you were funded and felt good about it?
How would you feel about a model where a foundation offered matching funds instead of a direct grant? Or what if another org hired the research assistant and loaned them out to you for the period so that the money never touched your hands?
I very much don’t want to go actively looking, for reasons that I’ve gestured at a lot in various places, but gifts are always helpful. If institutions (or individuals) want to offer me of their own accord a retrospective grant/gift, or a prospective grant/gift with no strings attached at all (e.g. MacArthur grant style), and do so of their own accord, I’d be happy to accept. If strings were attached I might consider it, but it would have to be very large.
Different orders of magnitude of funds impact me in different ways.
If people want to loan me a research assistant and/or personal assistant and/or an expense account to make things easier, with or without direct funding, I’d welcome that too and would try it out, while noting that it’s hard to find good help that actually pays dividends.
Another thing that worries me is that the whole Covid thing could be over within a few months. I do want to write other stuff anyway, but it’ll be a very different product that might not still be something the person would want to be paying for (or it might be something they want even more, who knows).
How would you feel about someone else putting in an application on your behalf supposing that you wouldn’t have any involvement with writing it, apart from giving permission?
I don’t want any sort of ‘hard sell’ and who knows what I’ll be doing by the time such a process finishes, but if you want to tell someone else ‘hey have you considered giving Zvi a check?’ I’m not exactly going to say no.
Oh, and maybe you could clarify? Is it that you don’t want to accept funding from institutions? Or is it that you don’t want to go actively looking for funding? How would things work in the world in the world where you were funded and felt good about it?
How would you feel about a model where a foundation offered matching funds instead of a direct grant? Or what if another org hired the research assistant and loaned them out to you for the period so that the money never touched your hands?
I very much don’t want to go actively looking, for reasons that I’ve gestured at a lot in various places, but gifts are always helpful. If institutions (or individuals) want to offer me of their own accord a retrospective grant/gift, or a prospective grant/gift with no strings attached at all (e.g. MacArthur grant style), and do so of their own accord, I’d be happy to accept. If strings were attached I might consider it, but it would have to be very large.
Different orders of magnitude of funds impact me in different ways.
If people want to loan me a research assistant and/or personal assistant and/or an expense account to make things easier, with or without direct funding, I’d welcome that too and would try it out, while noting that it’s hard to find good help that actually pays dividends.
Another thing that worries me is that the whole Covid thing could be over within a few months. I do want to write other stuff anyway, but it’ll be a very different product that might not still be something the person would want to be paying for (or it might be something they want even more, who knows).
How would you feel about someone else putting in an application on your behalf supposing that you wouldn’t have any involvement with writing it, apart from giving permission?
I don’t want any sort of ‘hard sell’ and who knows what I’ll be doing by the time such a process finishes, but if you want to tell someone else ‘hey have you considered giving Zvi a check?’ I’m not exactly going to say no.
What if I submitted an intentionally ‘soft sell’ grant application? Think along the lines of what Scott Alexander used to have on his Patreon?
Yeah, sure, so long as it’s clear it’s not promising or committing to anything.