99. Outstanding Favor Bounties

(As requested by EvN on the spur of the moment. This will make much more sense if you've read post 22, "Lorxus Favors: An Experiment in Self-Backed Giftlike Macroeconomics", first.)

A Lorxus Favor is a claim to 8 working hours' worth of my time as applied to some task I'd otherwise be mildly averse to and whose fulfillment I'd be indifferent to, which debt is marked by a small silver coin. They look cool and are satisfying to play with and make nice jingling noises, and you probably want one. How might you get one? Usually, it'd be by rendering me or some other coin-bearer some specific good or service, on the spot or reasonably scheduled, or conceivably by paying significantly more money than you really want to. However, I have standing desires that for a long time I've been meaning to put up in print somewhere reasonably public. This is me, finally getting around to doing that.

The following is a list of things I want or need, with bounties denominated in Favors, in whole or in part, in roughly descending order of payout - and thus priority; they are negotiable in advance within reason. (A couple entries are pro-rata rather than lump-sum; those ones are a little awkward to try to fit into the linear order.) I reserve the right to decline an offer of fulfillment, to retract these at any time before actionable plans have been made, and to give the repeatable ones declining marginal payout value as they see repeated fulfillment. Until I have smaller change cast, sub-Favor payouts will have to be in card form. If you need to contact me, check around this site, leave a comment, or go looking for my internet presence... or just check my calling card, if you have one.
  • Get me hired somewhere I'll want to work. Alternatively, find me a funder for a venture I want to start.
    • This would likely be in quantitative finance or AI safety, possibly data science, pure math, or some secret fifth thing.
    • Reward: A Favor, plus 1% of my starting salary above $144k, and an additional 1% of that starting salary above $144k if that job is in Seattle, with no maximum. If this bounty is for a funder, then the monetary aspect is for 2% of the yearly funding above $250k, up to a maximum of $10k.
    • A warm intro leading to a serious conversation with a hiring manager or comparable authority, or which gets me in with a chance through a side door, will be worth at least an eighth-Favor, scaling towards the full bounty to the extent that it seems to me to convert into an actual hiring prospect.
  • Help me move house, if I'm moving house.
    • This might include packing or moving boxes, keeping up my morale, opening doors, keeping track of information, and driving me and my things around. Damaging my belongings, however unintentional, reduces the payout substantially.
    •  Reward: A Favor, plus a reasonable nice meal.
  • Help me cast a new batch of Favors.
    • This also applies to a suitably large batch of the smaller change mentioned in post 27, "Lorxus Favors Etc. (Extra Bits)" - silver halves or eighths; brass tenths; bronze twelfths; even the suggested fancy-looking "I spent a Favor" tokens to drive additional exchange. The assistance will need to be from start to finish, and you'll need to have casting bona fides.
    • Reward: A Favor, payable on actually ending up with a usable batch of objects of reasonably large size.
  • Find me a co-founder or ops/fundraising partner for any organization or startup I might found.
    • This might be for an agent foundations research program, a business, or some other kind of practical and valuable collective effort. Inquire with me if you think you have - or are - a suitable candidate.
    • Reward: A Favor, payable after roughly 3 months of successful collaboration, or an immediate half-Favor.
  • Recover Favor coins from people who should no longer have them.
    • There are three such people. Two of them are in California, and the other is in Illinois. Due to their bad faith, I have already declared the coins that they hold null and void as paramonetary instruments, and for my part, I consider them ownerless. You'll have to promise that the Favors recovered this way never return to their previous possessors, to the best of your ability. I don't need to know about how you get them back; a social approach will likely be best. Inquire with me if this is something you can do.
    • Reward: A half-Favor for each recovered Favor coin.
  • Truly collaborate with me on a piece of math I'm stuck on.
    • This would have to be something I've already got half-complete or more. Categorical latents; helpfulness theory for equivocal principals; characterization of the helicohedron; the extension of my thesis result on profinite distinguishability of 3-manifolds. Math bonafides are a must.
    • Reward: A half-Favor plus co-authorship, payable on publication on arxiv (at least).
  • Help me finish a standing creative project, or get started on a creative project I have yet to truly begin. I likely already have fairly detailed plans for them that have yet to see sufficient work.
    • A few major candidates: Finishing and re-recording a microtonal hymn for Grandma Kim; cutting and sewing a fox-themed hood or stylized flower garland out of waxed canvas, brushed bull, and felt; casting and stonesetting for prototype crowns; building an intricate steel ball rally...
    • Reward: At least a half-Favor, payable on completion.
  • Find me housing that I actually sign for or otherwise move in to.
    • For obvious reasons, the location is restricted to places I will actually want and need to live, but depending on my needs at the moment, it could be for an apartment, a condo, or even a group house.
    • Reward: A half-Favor, payable after living there for a month, conditional on actually liking the living space.
  • Find me any of a handful of relatively rare pieces of clothing, including several Volante pieces, nice hoodies, and fox-coded gear.
    • Inquire with me if you think you have something suitable. I'll know it when I see it.
    • Reward: A quarter-Favor, plus the purchase of that item at agreeable price, both assuming that it's in wearably good condition.
  • Teach me a skill that I need or want, lack, and have a hard time with (or just dislike) trying to pick up.
    • This could be speaking more clearly, pitching, fundraising, interviewing, woodworking, lapidary, coding/SWE skills by hand, sewing, or so many other possibilities.
    • Reward: A Favor per 16 hours of good-faith effort, pro-rated, plus a nice meal every few hours of it as appropriate. The Favor (or fraction thereof) is payable the first time I actually use the skill to my benefit.
  • Body-double me through a dreaded task, until it's done.
    • This might be filling out feedback, packing up belongings, drafting grant/funding applications for research or new organizations, or grading/evaluation.
    • Reward: Four sixtieth-Favor cards per hourlong session; more if you turn out to be a reliable executive-function wingman, or if you become a reliable standing collaborator.
  • Hand me something strange, real, and good that I don't already know about.
    • This could be a concept, a frame, a problem, a puzzle, a simple game, or an object from outside my usual wells. Something toothsome and enriching.
    • Reward: Up to three sixtieth-Favor cards each. 
  • Have a really good conversation with me that moves something important about my life forward in a meaningful way.
    • This one's subjective. Sorry.
    • Reward: A sixtieth-Favor card per 15~60 minutes of conversation at my discretion.

I hope to see attempted completions soon! This is not comprehensive, just what came to mind.

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