The Rationalist Conspiracy

This website focuses on original content, or content that would otherwise be non-Googleable. However, I am making an exception for Ben Todd’s excellent essay, “Why you should focus more on talent gaps, not funding gaps“, both because of how critically important it is and how thorough and well-written it is. The main focus of Ben’s essay is that solving problems is most often limited by human capital (which Ben calls “talent”, although it’s much broader than the word “talent” might normally imply) and social capital (combining talented people into a team that works well), not by funding. I agree with almost everything he says, and I’ve tried to write up bits and pieces of the arguments Ben makes before, but he really does a much better job. The essay is targeted at effective altruists, but I think it’s a must-read even for people who wouldn’t consider themselves EAs.