I think your observations about a Western feel to most of EA is important. Being born in a Western country myself I can see that everything from the choice of music on podcasts to perhaps more importantly the philosophers and ideologies referenced is very Western-centric. I think there are many other philosophical traditions and historical communities we can draw inspiration from beyond Europe—it is not like EA is the first attempt at doing the most good in the world (I have some familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism and they have fairly strong opinions on everything from machine consciousness to how to help the most people most effectively). I like how many EA organizations use the concept of Ikigai, for example, but think we can do more. I think it is important both for talent like yourself, but also for engaging effectively on global AI policy, animal welfare in the global south and of course global health and poverty alleviation efforts. I also think there might be lessons worth highlighting on podcasts, in talks etc. from the many current EA-associated organizations interacting with stakeholders across a variety of cultures—given their success it feels like they must have found ways to be culturally sensitive and accommodating non-Western viewpoints. Perhaps we simply just do not highlight this part of EA enough and instead focus on intellectually interesting meta ideas which are a bit more distance from EAs “contact surface” across the globe. Sorry for the rant, I hope this comment might be useful!
So, I am Chinese and have lived in the west for about half of my life, and I think I can contribute a few very personal vantage points.
The Western centric-ness is less about what music the podcast plays or even what intellectual traditions the movement draws its intellectual roots from. It’s more about the personality and social dynamics. I’ll summarise what makes blending into the community challenging for me. And I’ll be very blunt here
While EAs on average has more intellectual humility than the average person, the white and male overrepresented crowd strikes me as argumentative, overly confident, likes talking far more than listening, and listen to respond rather to understand. It makes talking to them exhausting
Given the lack of boundary between personal and professional life in EA, it’s much harder to progress your professional standing if you don’t enjoy the social activities typical of the white EA crowd. Gossips, opportunities and networking happens in these activities. It’s a problem for immigrants in general but much more so when “professional <> personal line is extremely blurred in EA”. It can be as simple as not enjoying hiking / house parties or not knowing what D&D is and not interested in it. Or it can be more controversial ones like not interested in being vegan due to enjoying food from your country of origin.
Thanks that is super helpful and I think also super action-relevant. I can right away myself go to EA events keeping in mind:
To make sure I am listening proportionally (e.g. in a crowd of 4, not talking more than ~25% of the time, allowing time for silence/others to say something)
To make sure I spend some of the time I am talking to ask questions about the non-EA passions of those I am talking to—perhaps they love some activity I always have been curious about/wanting to learn
Thanks a lot for pushing back on my comment—I realize my phrasing above was clumsy/wrong—I should have written something more like “Being born in a Western country myself, the below observations are probably missing the mark but hopefully they can start a conversation to help make more people feel like they belong in EA.”
I’m not pushing back on your comment, nor do I think there’s anything wrong with it! In fact, I’m very appreciative of your effort to making a difference.
It’s just very interesting that what other people think is the problem and what actually impacts me are fundamentally different. I used to not want to believe that personal experience presents a significant barrier to mutual understanding, but being embedded in a crowd so different from myself really changed my mind on that cosmopolitan pipe dream.
The many subtle ways homogenous groups exclude outsiders are not unique to EA, it’s just amplified by the aforementioned unique dynamics and perhaps also higher level of neurodiversity. I’ve yet to see good, systematic solutions to this type of problems other than time and more exposure. I’m also much more concerned about other dimensions of homogeneity, like class, education background, age, or even lack of on the ground, non-EA job experience.
I think your observations about a Western feel to most of EA is important. Being born in a Western country myself I can see that everything from the choice of music on podcasts to perhaps more importantly the philosophers and ideologies referenced is very Western-centric. I think there are many other philosophical traditions and historical communities we can draw inspiration from beyond Europe—it is not like EA is the first attempt at doing the most good in the world (I have some familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism and they have fairly strong opinions on everything from machine consciousness to how to help the most people most effectively). I like how many EA organizations use the concept of Ikigai, for example, but think we can do more. I think it is important both for talent like yourself, but also for engaging effectively on global AI policy, animal welfare in the global south and of course global health and poverty alleviation efforts. I also think there might be lessons worth highlighting on podcasts, in talks etc. from the many current EA-associated organizations interacting with stakeholders across a variety of cultures—given their success it feels like they must have found ways to be culturally sensitive and accommodating non-Western viewpoints. Perhaps we simply just do not highlight this part of EA enough and instead focus on intellectually interesting meta ideas which are a bit more distance from EAs “contact surface” across the globe. Sorry for the rant, I hope this comment might be useful!
So, I am Chinese and have lived in the west for about half of my life, and I think I can contribute a few very personal vantage points.
The Western centric-ness is less about what music the podcast plays or even what intellectual traditions the movement draws its intellectual roots from. It’s more about the personality and social dynamics. I’ll summarise what makes blending into the community challenging for me. And I’ll be very blunt here
While EAs on average has more intellectual humility than the average person, the white and male overrepresented crowd strikes me as argumentative, overly confident, likes talking far more than listening, and listen to respond rather to understand. It makes talking to them exhausting
Given the lack of boundary between personal and professional life in EA, it’s much harder to progress your professional standing if you don’t enjoy the social activities typical of the white EA crowd. Gossips, opportunities and networking happens in these activities. It’s a problem for immigrants in general but much more so when “professional <> personal line is extremely blurred in EA”. It can be as simple as not enjoying hiking / house parties or not knowing what D&D is and not interested in it. Or it can be more controversial ones like not interested in being vegan due to enjoying food from your country of origin.
Thanks that is super helpful and I think also super action-relevant. I can right away myself go to EA events keeping in mind:
To make sure I am listening proportionally (e.g. in a crowd of 4, not talking more than ~25% of the time, allowing time for silence/others to say something)
To make sure I spend some of the time I am talking to ask questions about the non-EA passions of those I am talking to—perhaps they love some activity I always have been curious about/wanting to learn
Thanks a lot for pushing back on my comment—I realize my phrasing above was clumsy/wrong—I should have written something more like “Being born in a Western country myself, the below observations are probably missing the mark but hopefully they can start a conversation to help make more people feel like they belong in EA.”
I’m not pushing back on your comment, nor do I think there’s anything wrong with it! In fact, I’m very appreciative of your effort to making a difference.
It’s just very interesting that what other people think is the problem and what actually impacts me are fundamentally different. I used to not want to believe that personal experience presents a significant barrier to mutual understanding, but being embedded in a crowd so different from myself really changed my mind on that cosmopolitan pipe dream.
The many subtle ways homogenous groups exclude outsiders are not unique to EA, it’s just amplified by the aforementioned unique dynamics and perhaps also higher level of neurodiversity. I’ve yet to see good, systematic solutions to this type of problems other than time and more exposure. I’m also much more concerned about other dimensions of homogeneity, like class, education background, age, or even lack of on the ground, non-EA job experience.