If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
Question about EA and CFAR. I think I've heard some people express sentiments that CFAR might be a good place for EAs to donate, due to the whole "raising the sanity waterline" thing.
On its face, this seems silly to me. From the outside view, CFAR just looks like a small self-help organization, though probably better than most such organizations, and it seems unlikely that it'll affect any significant portion of the population.
I think CFAR is great; I went to minicamp, and I think it probably improved my life, although I suspect I'm not as enthusiastic about it as most people who went. But if I were to give CFAR any money, it would be because it helps me and people I know, not because I think it's actually likely to have a large impact on the world.
Are there people around here who believe CFAR is actually likely to have a large impact on the world? Could you explain your reasoning why?
What does the size of the organization matter?
Roughly speaking, if the value of sending a person to CFAR is the same, regardless of whether a hundred people go or a million go. If you are paying for a scholarship today, the benefit is largely about the effect on that person, regardless of future students. What is the alternative charity? If you spend to save a life, that's just one person, too.
Here are two reasons why scale could matter. One is room for funding. If you think CFAR will never get big, then it will never consume that much money. So it wouldn'...