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TheOtherDave comments on Optimal Employment - Less Wrong
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The thinking presumably is that money can be donated to approved causes, and hence people here are allowed to not think of making money as "selfish".
...to which the reply is: approval (status) can be converted into money, and for some people, that may be the most efficient route given their motivation psychology.
Status can also be "donated to" (that is, used in the service of) a cause.
So can time/labor, but....
And yet --
Sure, for the right sort of people, a direct donation of status can be effective (maybe even optimally so), just like there are some people who should actually work at SIAI.
Probably not the case for typical academic high-status, however. Perhaps the endorsement of Andrew Wiles or Stephen Hawking would be worth more than either of them could actually afford to donate; but your typical leader-of-a-subfield would probably be more effective by donating money from their atypically-high academic salary.
Also note that the status of people like Thiel and Kurzweil is itself intimately connected to the money they've made.