You know, there's quite a few people who have invested a huge portion of their lives in working on things like x-risk charities. They did this even though, with their skills & intellect, they can early significantly more money by e.g. not working in a charity.
I'm just saying, I don't think it's wise to simply sweep all of these people's hard work and efforts under the rug of "procrastation" and "they're somehow making money from this".
They have the image of all of history's doomsayers to overcome. Just because it's science-doom doesn't make it different. Most people are concerned about immediate risks because it's the best average-case strategy, even if it can cause catastrophic errors.
I only want to discount about half of it. It's true about the money, but some people prefer their rewards in the form of social status, and that too is an economic decision. I appreciate that this sounds cynical.
Not to disagree, but there are also a multitude of other incentives that can be straightforwardly aligned with the goal somebody purports to target. "Doing something meaningful" (or simply of personal interest) is a surprisingly strong motivator for people, who I think generally find life has little meaning.
Social status is also itself a powerful tool for effecting change, and so could be sought without desiring it for its own end (although whether or not this corrupts, were a person to aim for this, I do not know, nor cannot guess at the incidence of success for people with this motive)
I'm just saying, I don't think it's wise to simply sweep all of these people's hard work and efforts under the rug of "procrastation" and "they're somehow making money from this".