Since some folks have read this as me being against illegibility - I really wasn't arguing that, as much as saying we should help those who work in such illegible jobs to hopefully have a more legible career track record.
This does seem to be the challenge, no? considering how difficult counterfactuals are...
Would thay have made it regardless of funding? what if applying for a grant for X kept someone doing X long past the time they realised it wasn't a good idea? etc.
Maybe the existence of track records makes everyone much more conservative, and less open to illegible talent. But then we just come back to "random funding", which I grow more and more sympathetic to each day.
Well, sort of. The point is even if you do illegible things (which is fine), you don't have a result you can point to as yours. And the lack of attribution is what I'm pointing to, not legibility per se. Venture for instance is also quite illegible in its investments, though the outcomes are highly measurable.
Since some folks have read this as me being against illegibility - I really wasn't arguing that, as much as saying we should help those who work in such illegible jobs to hopefully have a more legible career track record.
"measured any way you like"
This does seem to be the challenge, no? considering how difficult counterfactuals are...
Would thay have made it regardless of funding? what if applying for a grant for X kept someone doing X long past the time they realised it wasn't a good idea? etc.
Maybe the existence of track records makes everyone much more conservative, and less open to illegible talent. But then we just come back to "random funding", which I grow more and more sympathetic to each day.
Well, sort of. The point is even if you do illegible things (which is fine), you don't have a result you can point to as yours. And the lack of attribution is what I'm pointing to, not legibility per se. Venture for instance is also quite illegible in its investments, though the outcomes are highly measurable.