My conflicts of interest

Incentives influence us all. I try hard to do what I see as the right thing and not let biases creep in. But like everyone I have a set of incentives or structural factors that can influence my thinking. I list some below for transparency.

Conflicts

• Financial including investments and AI.  I have not received money or academic benefits from tech firms or AI firms. I don’t hold any individual stock larger than $5k or have investments that are not in diversified funds like index funds. 
• Science/NIH. I work at NIH and run a research group there. So I have an interest in matters involving NIH. I believe in what NIH does, and I think it’s an excellent institution in many ways. Beyond my own job, I have a major interest in what happens to NIH because of its central role in the US and indeed the worldwide scientific enterprise. I think that has economic benefits for us all. I do talk about ways that government agencies in general can work more efficiently and effectively. I sometimes talk about the NIH budget, but I try to limit discussion of funding only to list facts that I don't see widely discussed amongst scientists. Beyond science funding, I’m also concerned about the independence of government scientists and government science grant-making agencies. This is not about my own position — if NIH is corrupted we'll have bigger problems and I'll find another job — and much more about the state of the US science and biomedical industry, which fundamentally depends on independence of government scientists. Note that I do not participate in any grant decisions, except to serve from time to time in a volunteer role (no extra compensation) as an outside reviewer on study section panels. That role is the same as any American scientist in a university faculty position who reviews submitted grants.
• Other policy issues.  I’ve been a policy analyst on journalism and the political economy of the media industry for Democracy Policy Network, a non-partisan nonprofit organization. I’ve done this in a purely volunteer role, because I care about the state of the journalism industry and its effects on democracy. At times I have advised The Media and Democracy Project, again a non-partisan organization and again in a volunteer role, on media policy and related matters.

Where I come from on values: I believe in equality and fairness for all and I think that requires limiting limiting concentrated power, in the "democracy against domination" sense. I’ve advocated for public funding for journalism because journalism is a public good in the economics sense, and a pillar of democracy.  

This post was inspired by Mike Eisen's.