I’d be interested to get WIll Crouch or Toby Ord’s views on this—they both persuaded me to go from a floundering altruist concerned about making a difference to someone that thinks broadly and comparatively about how to make the most difference. They both did it pretty quickly—i.e. 10 minutes of conversation. They did it without reference to the work they were doing but with reference to the decisions and issues I was bringing up myself. They didn’t ever once use the words ‘effective altruism’.
The success of this approach ties in well with sales theory: question first talk later. Tailor your message etc. etc.
And from what I’ve seen of evangelism in christianity, you always start with someone’s problems / where they’re at. Then you demonstrate how they could be solved. Let it stew for a bit, then, for some ofthe less sublte forms, create some amazing social / emotional experience.
Having said all this, I’ve been useless at persuading people. I think I get too excited and fail to listen deeply enough. People close to me have been receptive over a long period of time. I think you need to have some solid background altruism to start with if you’re going to be convinced?
I’d be interested to get WIll Crouch or Toby Ord’s views on this—they both persuaded me to go from a floundering altruist concerned about making a difference to someone that thinks broadly and comparatively about how to make the most difference. They both did it pretty quickly—i.e. 10 minutes of conversation. They did it without reference to the work they were doing but with reference to the decisions and issues I was bringing up myself. They didn’t ever once use the words ‘effective altruism’.
The success of this approach ties in well with sales theory: question first talk later. Tailor your message etc. etc.
And from what I’ve seen of evangelism in christianity, you always start with someone’s problems / where they’re at. Then you demonstrate how they could be solved. Let it stew for a bit, then, for some ofthe less sublte forms, create some amazing social / emotional experience.
Having said all this, I’ve been useless at persuading people. I think I get too excited and fail to listen deeply enough. People close to me have been receptive over a long period of time. I think you need to have some solid background altruism to start with if you’re going to be convinced?