I think it would be good to differentiate things that are instrumental to doing EA and things that are doing EA.
Ex.: Attending events and reading books is instrumental. Working and donating money is directly EA.
I would count those separately. Engagement in the community is just instrumental to the goal of EA movement building. If we entengle both in our discussions, we might end up with people attending a bunch of events and reading a lot online, but without ever producing value (for example).
Although maybe it does produce value in itself, because they can do movement building themselves and become better voters for example. And focusing a lot on engagement might turn EA into a robust superorganism-like entity. If that’s the argument, then that’s fine I guess.
I agree that the distinction is often relevant. In this case, I wanted to leave the question very open-ended to encourage more answers. (I also expected people to provide details that would allow me to see how much of their engagement was “instrumental” vs. “direct”.)
I think it would be good to differentiate things that are instrumental to doing EA and things that are doing EA.
Ex.: Attending events and reading books is instrumental. Working and donating money is directly EA.
I would count those separately. Engagement in the community is just instrumental to the goal of EA movement building. If we entengle both in our discussions, we might end up with people attending a bunch of events and reading a lot online, but without ever producing value (for example).
Although maybe it does produce value in itself, because they can do movement building themselves and become better voters for example. And focusing a lot on engagement might turn EA into a robust superorganism-like entity. If that’s the argument, then that’s fine I guess.
Somewhat related: The community’s conception of value drifting is sometimes too narrow.
I agree that the distinction is often relevant. In this case, I wanted to leave the question very open-ended to encourage more answers. (I also expected people to provide details that would allow me to see how much of their engagement was “instrumental” vs. “direct”.)