Research history

Current published edition

The Question of Questions

As recorded by 2026-10-27T08:31:31.000Z. This is a dated public record of drafts, changes, sources and review declarations. A page, checksum or merged pull request does not establish a scientific result or independent review.

Edition: edition:2026-10-27-initial
Edition checksum: 63af9ab52aa86652f81ea1fac0b7c40aaad46cd8623865918d41ec347f9b2cd3
Projection checksum: 08a373e3b85d7ed44d36bc472444b5773f7cbd1dde11f60e0053b3ba4884b65c
Period: 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z inclusive to 2026-10-27T08:31:31.000Z exclusive.
Starting baseline: Unknown before the recorded capture. Present states are not backdated to January.

JSON retains the complete pinned edition. CSV covers every recorded event in this edition; view filters do not change either download.

Recorded activity and qualification

43Stable records
45Subject versions
43Recorded events
0Review declarations
0Subjects with qualifying source review
0Peer-reviewed manuscripts
0Qualifying research results
1Editorial correction artifacts
2Changed claim subjects
23Open problems
0Partially resolved problems
0Solved problems
0Problems under review
0Unresolved challenges

Qualification follows the exact recorded public declarations. The ledger cannot establish identity, independence, source reading or truth by itself. Editorial corrections, proposed methods and software checks are separate from qualifying research results.

Coverage and limits

40 source entries are covered by this edition. Claim-level records cover only their selected wording and context; they do not qualify a whole manuscript. Source-derived case labels describe the published summaries, not Charitology fieldwork or charity ratings.

This initial capture establishes current draft coverage, not a known January baseline or an earlier status history.
The one PR-backed artifact is an editorial correction to two claim subjects; it is not a scientific result, independent review or problem resolution.
Source-derived case descriptions and manuscript bylines do not establish performed Charitology fieldwork or documented complete human authorship.
Public GitHub observations describe only the named objects at their recorded inspection time. An empty returned review list is not proof about reviews elsewhere.

Entry links open the present site. The separate pinned source text retains this edition’s exact archived bytes.

The Question of Questions · Research problem · version 1

Source review: draftProblem: open

problem:the-question-of-questions

No current qualifying whole-entry source/framing review is recorded.

Effective problem state: open
Last recorded state: open
Current support: baseline
Last recorded disposition: No scientific disposition is recorded.

Qualification follows the exact recorded public declarations. The ledger cannot establish identity, independence, source reading or truth by itself.

Versions and exact subjects

Version entries 1–1

Version 1: The Question of Questions

Current subject in this edition

Subject checksum: 04bc6511dbed2c14d6dfd2586007a3bfc2f2024f87250e04e252df17bff2b841
Version checksum: 17b20e2d14c5ca44d2a48f55ed42f27359dba5be93e5b8ea214e1a09ff3aa682
Authorship declaration: unknown; completeness unknown.

bounty

Unfunded. The Question Bounties program will attach prizes once it is funded.

conditions

[
  {
    "collection": "conditions",
    "id": "missing-profession"
  }
]

number

progress

A published value-of-information estimate for each open problem, updated as problems are solved.

statement

How should the field decide which open problem to work on first?

Exact archived Markdown body

Inert source text, including its original formatting. It is not executed as page markup.

## Why it matters

Research money is limited too. The first problems solved should be the ones whose answers would change the most decisions.

## Where to start

For each problem, estimate how much money would move if it were solved and how likely a solution is in the next five years. Publish the estimates and let the [Forecasting Platform](/tools/forecasting-platform/) test them.

Pinned source capture

src/content/problems/the-question-of-questions.md · whole entry
ede500c280d2fdcab428a47393cdc21f76ab6091e74b272662d3c30344e4b931 · 762 UTF-8 bytes · commit 8df2d0ddbc6d91b9841c6bbb94dbde1fc7c00137

Exact version fields and declaration references

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  "adapterVersion": "research-content-v1",
  "authorship": {
    "actorIds": [],
    "complete": false,
    "refs": [],
    "state": "unknown"
  },
  "hash": "17b20e2d14c5ca44d2a48f55ed42f27359dba5be93e5b8ea214e1a09ff3aa682",
  "id": "version:problem-the-question-of-questions-v1",
  "previousId": null,
  "recordId": "problem:the-question-of-questions",
  "sources": [
    {
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      "sourceId": "source:current-problems-the-question-of-questions"
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  ],
  "subject": {
    "body": "\n## Why it matters\n\nResearch money is limited too. The first problems solved should be the ones whose answers would change the most decisions.\n\n## Where to start\n\nFor each problem, estimate how much money would move if it were solved and how likely a solution is in the next five years. Publish the estimates and let the [Forecasting Platform](/tools/forecasting-platform/) test them.\n",
    "collection": "problems",
    "frontmatter": {
      "bounty": "Unfunded. The Question Bounties program will attach prizes once it is funded.",
      "conditions": [
        {
          "collection": "conditions",
          "id": "missing-profession"
        }
      ],
      "number": 23,
      "progress": "A published value-of-information estimate for each open problem, updated as problems are solved.",
      "sources": [],
      "statement": "How should the field decide which open problem to work on first?",
      "title": "The Question of Questions"
    },
    "type": "entry"
  },
  "subjectHash": "04bc6511dbed2c14d6dfd2586007a3bfc2f2024f87250e04e252df17bff2b841",
  "version": 1
}

Timeline in recorded order

Public occurrence time and ledger recording time are different. A coverage baseline records what was present at capture; it does not invent an earlier history.

Events 1–1

Coverage baseline

Recorded order: 36; sequence 1 for this record.
Public occurrence: Undated / no earlier occurrence asserted · undated
Recorded in ledger: 2026-10-27T08:31:31.000Z

Initial capture of current source wording; no earlier independent review or historical event time is asserted.

Observed baseline: version 1; problem open.

Exact event fields

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  "actorIds": [],
  "hash": "92efe80b12606da23290407b6c585b4927c11e947a81c3863e2e83b7e7c931c6",
  "id": "event:problem-the-question-of-questions-1",
  "initialProblemState": "open",
  "observationIds": [],
  "occurredAt": null,
  "ordinal": 36,
  "previousHash": null,
  "previousId": null,
  "reason": "Initial capture of current source wording; no earlier independent review or historical event time is asserted.",
  "recordId": "problem:the-question-of-questions",
  "recordedAt": "2026-10-27T08:31:31.000Z",
  "refs": [],
  "sequence": 1,
  "timeBasis": "undated",
  "type": "baseline",
  "version": {
    "recordId": "problem:the-question-of-questions",
    "subjectHash": "04bc6511dbed2c14d6dfd2586007a3bfc2f2024f87250e04e252df17bff2b841",
    "version": 1
  }
}

Review declarations

No public review declaration is recorded for this subject in this edition.

Dated public metadata observations

These observations record only the displayed metadata at inspection. A merge, closed issue or empty review list does not establish research or independent review.

github-pull-request · 2026-10-27T08:20:16.587Z

Observed public object

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  "draft": false,
  "head": "3653d41717a86db2933b02664d7026a329350a66",
  "mergeCommit": "8df2d0ddbc6d91b9841c6bbb94dbde1fc7c00137",
  "mergedAt": "2026-10-27T08:10:57.000Z",
  "number": 15,
  "state": "closed"
}

be39e645f9291ea3931584665b011df77bfa8340e4d32f36562eb526f8e62396

github-pull-request · 2026-10-27T08:20:16.587Z

Observed public object

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  "mergedAt": "2026-10-26T05:24:43.000Z",
  "number": 3,
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}

1ec26b57bd6ef466311b11958d47e9d144ec150ea5689838ae8036eb363aacbf

github-review-list · 2026-10-27T08:20:16.587Z

Observed public object

{
  "prNumber": 3,
  "reviewIds": []
}

3b7b719dbdd25b9937ba6c640f7234921611db30818b5675db41b9fa3534d926

github-issue · 2026-10-27T08:20:16.587Z

Observed public object

{
  "commentCount": 0,
  "number": 1,
  "state": "open"
}

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