That would be only relevant if Kaj had said "I expect to save the world" instead of "Ideally, I'd like to save the world". I read the latter as specifying something like "all existential risks are averted and the world gets much more awesome" as an optimization target, not as something that he wants to (let alone expects to be able to) do completely and singlehandedly. And as an optimization target, it makes good sense. Why aim for imperfection? The target is the measure of utility, not a proposed action or plan on its own. (Possibly relevant: Trying to Try.)
(One thing I see about that paragraph that could be legitimately disputed is the jump from specifying the optimization target to "One way to do that involves contributing academic research, which raises the question of what's the most effective way of doing that" without establishing that academic research is itself the best way (or at least a good way) for a very smart person to optimize the aforementioned goal. That itself would be an interesting discussion, but I think in this post it is taken as an assumption. (See also this comment.))
I read the latter as specifying something like "all existential risks are averted and the world gets much more awesome" as an optimization target, not as something that he wants to (let alone expects to be able to) do completely and singlehandedly.
There is no "singlehandedly", individual decisions control actions of many people.
Ideally, I'd like to save the world. One way to do that involves contributing academic research, which raises the question of what's the most effective way of doing that.
The traditional wisdom says if you want to do research, you should get a job in a university. But for the most part the system seems to be set up so that you first spend a long time working for someone else and research their ideas, after which you can lead your own group, but then most of your time will be spent on applying for grants and other administrative trivia rather than actually researching the interesting stuff. Also, in Finland at least, all professors need to also spend time doing teaching, so that's another time sink.
I suspect I would have more time to actually dedicate on research, and I could get doing it quicker, if I took a part-time job and did the research in my spare time. E.g. the recommended rates for a freelance journalist in Finland would allow me to spend a week each month doing work and three weeks doing research, of course assuming that I can pull off the freelance journalism part.
What (dis)advantages does this have compared to the traditional model?
Some advantages:
Some disadvantages:
EDIT: Note that while I certainly do appreciate comments specific to my situation, I posted this over at LW and not Discussion because I was hoping the discussion would also be useful for others who might be considering an academic path. So feel free to also provide commentary that's US-specific, say.