dlthomas comments on Thoughts on the Singularity Institute (SI) - Less Wrong

256 Post author: HoldenKarnofsky 11 May 2012 04:31AM

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Comment author: rocurley 10 May 2012 10:55:19PM *  9 points [-]

This likely won't work. Money is fungible, so unless the total donations so earmarked exceeds the planned SI funding for that cause, they won't have to change anything. They're under no obligation to not defund your favorite cause by exactly the amount you donated, thus laundering your donation into the general fund. (Unless I misunderstand the relevant laws?)

EDIT NOTE: The post used to say vast majority; this was changed, but is referenced below.

Comment author: dlthomas 10 May 2012 11:03:45PM 5 points [-]

You have an important point here, but I'm not sure it gets up to "vast majority" before it becomes relevant.

Earmarking $K for X has an effect once $K exceeds the amount of money that would have been spent on X if the $K had not been earmarked. The size of the effect still certainly depends on the difference, and may very well not be large.