This post is a copy of your (Berkeley Institute for Young Americans) statement on Intergenerational Fairness Day. It’d be worth changing it to a linkpost, as it seems the EA forum is not the primary intended audience for the statement.
I’m presuming posting this on the EA forum is an invitation for consideration and engagement.
Here’s my short summary:
young people face serious risks, including societal/ecosystem collapse
this is largely the fault of neoliberalism, which has created a destabilized and insecure future
social safety nets haven’t adapted to the changing reality
a global crisis is inevitable (or already here)
young people can change this through revolutionary policy change, the policies being matched to a left-progressive policy agenda
young people are in support of this vision, per a global survey
While I may be sympathetic to the left-wing political framing of present day problems, I think it is a mistake of perspective to attribute the vast majority of social problems to neoliberalism or center-right economic theories. It seems incorrect to me to assume that a government that “redistributes resources and power more equitably” and “regulates unfettered capitalism” would necessarily be one that is adept at addressing climate change, or providing gainful employment (as examples). At the extreme, communist countries past and present aren’t particularly bastions of environmental protection or meaningful work. I think other framings are better at understanding how to address these problem culturally.
The post also seeks to claim popular support by referencing a survey.
The survey is not representative. From the survey report:
“Available in eight languages, the survey was deployed in 187 countries between February and May 2021. Global Shapers Hub members, along with Survey Affiliates (with the support of U-Report, UNICEF’s youth engagement platform), distributed the survey among their communities and networks”
“The overrepresentation of Australian and Brazilian responses, in proportion to global population distribution, is noted. This distribution skew is attributable to Global Shapers in Australia and Brazil facilitating country-specific campaigns. Collectively, Australia and Brazil constituted 40% of the total sample size. ”
Perhaps there are valuable things to be learned from the survey, but an accurate global distribution of young peoples preferred policies is not one of them.
You are likely to get more engagement on the forum if you frame this post as a question with openness to critique, rather than a statement of your prescribed cause/solution to a problem.
Enjoy the day of action, and welcome to the forum!
This post is a copy of your (Berkeley Institute for Young Americans) statement on Intergenerational Fairness Day. It’d be worth changing it to a linkpost, as it seems the EA forum is not the primary intended audience for the statement.
I’m presuming posting this on the EA forum is an invitation for consideration and engagement.
Here’s my short summary:
young people face serious risks, including societal/ecosystem collapse
this is largely the fault of neoliberalism, which has created a destabilized and insecure future
social safety nets haven’t adapted to the changing reality
a global crisis is inevitable (or already here)
young people can change this through revolutionary policy change, the policies being matched to a left-progressive policy agenda
young people are in support of this vision, per a global survey
While I may be sympathetic to the left-wing political framing of present day problems, I think it is a mistake of perspective to attribute the vast majority of social problems to neoliberalism or center-right economic theories. It seems incorrect to me to assume that a government that “redistributes resources and power more equitably” and “regulates unfettered capitalism” would necessarily be one that is adept at addressing climate change, or providing gainful employment (as examples). At the extreme, communist countries past and present aren’t particularly bastions of environmental protection or meaningful work. I think other framings are better at understanding how to address these problem culturally.
The post also seeks to claim popular support by referencing a survey. The survey is not representative. From the survey report:
“Available in eight languages, the survey was deployed in 187 countries between February and May 2021. Global Shapers Hub members, along with Survey Affiliates (with the support of U-Report, UNICEF’s youth engagement platform), distributed the survey among their communities and networks”
“The overrepresentation of Australian and Brazilian responses, in proportion to global population distribution, is noted. This distribution skew is attributable to Global Shapers in Australia and Brazil facilitating country-specific campaigns. Collectively, Australia and Brazil constituted 40% of the total sample size. ”
Perhaps there are valuable things to be learned from the survey, but an accurate global distribution of young peoples preferred policies is not one of them.
You are likely to get more engagement on the forum if you frame this post as a question with openness to critique, rather than a statement of your prescribed cause/solution to a problem.
Enjoy the day of action, and welcome to the forum!