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Ben Snodin

@bensnodin

I lead the Existential Security team (previously known as the General Longtermism team) at Rethink Priorities. We are currently focused on helping launch entrepreneurial projects that reduce existential risk.

www.bensnodin.com
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About Me

I lead the Existential Security team (previously known as the General Longtermism team) at Rethink Priorities. We are currently focused on helping launch entrepreneurial projects that reduce existential risk. See here for a blog post explaining our team strategy for the year.

My previous work has included nanotechnology strategy research and co-founding EA Pathfinder, which I co-led from April to September 2022. Before joining Rethink Priorities in early 2022 I was a Senior Research Scholar at the Future of Humanity Institute, and before that I completed a PhD in DNA nanotechnology at Oxford University and spent 5 years working in finance as a quantitative analyst.

Projects

Comments

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Ben Snodin

over 1 year ago


Thanks for the thoughtful comments! Re whether the founder in residence approach works -- I do think the story could be quite different for the longtermist space compared to the for-profit space, because there are some significant differences between those two areas (but experiences from the for-profit space do provide info so I think it would be a mistake to ignore those experiences). At this stage it seems worth testing out this model and seeing how well it works in practice here (rather than doing additional theorizing or doing nothing in this area).

I don't have particular names immediately in mind that seem obviously fine to share (though 1+ people have expressed interest over the past few months who seem like they could be great candidates)

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Ben Snodin

over 1 year ago

(sorry for being slow!)

The salary for a fellow at Rethink Priorities is $69,000/yr. We usually have a five month fellowship, so that would be $28,750 in salary. We're fundraising for more partly because we also budget for taxes, travel, equipment, management overhead, and operations. Additionally, we like to have extra money to have the opportunity to keep the fellow on longer and potentially promote them – it’s a shame if the only reason they have to leave is a lack of money on our part