I like your attempt to draw a distinction between two different ways to view community building, however some parts of the table appear strange.
When people say that they want EA to stay weird, they mean that they want people exploring all kinds of crazy cause areas instead of just sticking the main ones (in tension with your definition of cause-first).
Also: one the central arguments for leaning more towards EA being small and weird is that you end up with a community more driven by principle because a) slower growth makes it easier for new members to absorb knowledge from more experienced ones vs. from people who don’t really understand the philosophy very well themselves yet b) lower expectations for growth make it easier to focus on people with whom the philosophy really resonates vs. marginally influencing people who aren’t that keen on it.
Another point, there’s two different ways to build a member first community:
The first is to try to build a welcoming community that best meets the needs of everyone who has an interest in the community.
The second it to build a community that focuses on the needs of the core members and relies on them to drive impact.
These two different definitions will lead to two different types of community.
To build the first you’d want to engage in broach outreach with diverse messaging. With the second, it would be more about finding the kinds of people who most resonate with your principles. With the first you try to meet people where they are, with the second you’re more interested in people who will deeply adopt your principles. With the first, you want engagement with as many people as possible, with the second you want enagement to be as deep as possible.
When people say that they want EA to stay weird, they mean that they want people exploring all kinds of crazy cause areas instead of just sticking the main ones (in tension with your definition of cause-first).
I think this is an important point, and I may be doing a motte and bailey here which I don’t fully understand. Under what I imagine as a “cause-first” movement strategy, you’d definitely want more people engaging in the cause-prioritization effort. However, I think I characterize it as more top-down than it needs to be.
Also: one the central arguments for leaning more towards EA being small and weird is that you end up with a community more driven by principle because a) slower growth makes it easier for new members to absorb knowledge from more experienced ones vs. from people who don’t really understand the philosophy very well themselves yet b) lower expectations for growth make it easier to focus on people with whom the philosophy really resonates vs. marginally influencing people who aren’t that keen on it.
I guess a lot of the strange causes people explored weren’t chosen in a top down manner. Rather someone just decided to start a project and seek funding for it.
This is probably changing now that Rethink is incubating new orgs and Charity Entrepreneurship is thinking further afield, but regardless I expect most people who want EA to be weird want people doing this kind of exploration.
I like your attempt to draw a distinction between two different ways to view community building, however some parts of the table appear strange.
When people say that they want EA to stay weird, they mean that they want people exploring all kinds of crazy cause areas instead of just sticking the main ones (in tension with your definition of cause-first).
Also: one the central arguments for leaning more towards EA being small and weird is that you end up with a community more driven by principle because a) slower growth makes it easier for new members to absorb knowledge from more experienced ones vs. from people who don’t really understand the philosophy very well themselves yet b) lower expectations for growth make it easier to focus on people with whom the philosophy really resonates vs. marginally influencing people who aren’t that keen on it.
Another point, there’s two different ways to build a member first community:
The first is to try to build a welcoming community that best meets the needs of everyone who has an interest in the community.
The second it to build a community that focuses on the needs of the core members and relies on them to drive impact.
These two different definitions will lead to two different types of community.
To build the first you’d want to engage in broach outreach with diverse messaging. With the second, it would be more about finding the kinds of people who most resonate with your principles. With the first you try to meet people where they are, with the second you’re more interested in people who will deeply adopt your principles. With the first, you want engagement with as many people as possible, with the second you want enagement to be as deep as possible.
I think this is an important point, and I may be doing a motte and bailey here which I don’t fully understand. Under what I imagine as a “cause-first” movement strategy, you’d definitely want more people engaging in the cause-prioritization effort. However, I think I characterize it as more top-down than it needs to be.
This feels true to me.
I guess a lot of the strange causes people explored weren’t chosen in a top down manner. Rather someone just decided to start a project and seek funding for it.
This is probably changing now that Rethink is incubating new orgs and Charity Entrepreneurship is thinking further afield, but regardless I expect most people who want EA to be weird want people doing this kind of exploration.