In the end, I think it is still very likely she would nonetheless feel somewhat judged. Because even if every person she meets at EA Global tries to nudge her only very gently (“Oh, that’s interesting! So why did you decide to work on cancer? Have you considered pandemic preparedness? Do you think cancer is more impactful?”), those repeating comments can accumulate into a strong feeling of unease.
I like this example! It captures something I can more easily imagine happening (regularly) in the community.
One proposal for how to avoid this collective action problem would be for people to ask the same sorts of questions, no matter what area someone works on (assuming they don’t know enough to have more detailed/specific questions).
For example, instead of:
Have you considered X?
Do you think your thing, Y, is more impactful than X?
You’d have questions like:
What led you to work on Y?
And then, if they say something about impact, “Were there any other paths you considered? How did you choose Y in the end?”
What should someone not involved in Y know about it?
What are your goals for this work? How is it going so far?
What are your goals for this event? (If it’s a major event and not e.g. a dinner party)
These should work about equally well for people in most fields, and I think that “discussing the value/promise of an area” conversations will typically go better than “discussing whether a new area ‘beats’ another area by various imperfect measures”. We still have to take the second step at some point as a community, but I’d rather leave that to funders, job-seekers, and Forum commentators.
I think the EA community should be more welcoming to people who want to operate in areas we don’t consider particularly promising, even if they don’t present convincing arguments for their decisions.
Depends on the context.
Plenty of people in the EA space are doing their own thing (disconnected from standard paths) but still provide interesting commentary, ask good questions, etc. I have no idea what some Forum users do for work, but I don’t feel the need to ask. If they’re a good fit for the culture and the community seems better for their presence, I’m happy.
The difficulty comes when certain decisions have to be made — whose work to fund, which people are likely to get a lot of benefit from EA Global, etc. At that point, you need solid evidence or a strong argument that your work is likely to have a big impact.
In casual settings, the former “vibe” seems better — but sometimes, I think that people who thrive in casual spaces get frustrated when they “hit a wall” in the latter situations (not getting into a conference, not getting a grant, etc.)
In the end, EA can’t really incorporate an area without having a good reason to do so. I’d be satisfied if we could split “social EA” from “business EA” in terms of how much evidence and justification people are asked for, but we should be transparent about the difference between enjoying the community and looking for career or charity support.
I like your suggestions for questions one could ask a stranger at an EA event!
About “social EA” vs. “business EA”, I think I’d make a slightly different distinction. If you ask for someone else’s (or some org’s) time or money, then of course you need to come up with good explanations for why the thing you are offering (whether it is your employment or some project) is worthwhile. It’s not even a unique feature of EA. But, if you are just doing your own thing and not asking for anyone’s time or money, and just want to enjoy the company of other EAs, then this is the case where I think the EA community should be more welcoming and be happy to just let you be.
I like this example! It captures something I can more easily imagine happening (regularly) in the community.
One proposal for how to avoid this collective action problem would be for people to ask the same sorts of questions, no matter what area someone works on (assuming they don’t know enough to have more detailed/specific questions).
For example, instead of:
Have you considered X?
Do you think your thing, Y, is more impactful than X?
You’d have questions like:
What led you to work on Y?
And then, if they say something about impact, “Were there any other paths you considered? How did you choose Y in the end?”
What should someone not involved in Y know about it?
What are your goals for this work? How is it going so far?
What are your goals for this event? (If it’s a major event and not e.g. a dinner party)
These should work about equally well for people in most fields, and I think that “discussing the value/promise of an area” conversations will typically go better than “discussing whether a new area ‘beats’ another area by various imperfect measures”. We still have to take the second step at some point as a community, but I’d rather leave that to funders, job-seekers, and Forum commentators.
Depends on the context.
Plenty of people in the EA space are doing their own thing (disconnected from standard paths) but still provide interesting commentary, ask good questions, etc. I have no idea what some Forum users do for work, but I don’t feel the need to ask. If they’re a good fit for the culture and the community seems better for their presence, I’m happy.
The difficulty comes when certain decisions have to be made — whose work to fund, which people are likely to get a lot of benefit from EA Global, etc. At that point, you need solid evidence or a strong argument that your work is likely to have a big impact.
In casual settings, the former “vibe” seems better — but sometimes, I think that people who thrive in casual spaces get frustrated when they “hit a wall” in the latter situations (not getting into a conference, not getting a grant, etc.)
In the end, EA can’t really incorporate an area without having a good reason to do so. I’d be satisfied if we could split “social EA” from “business EA” in terms of how much evidence and justification people are asked for, but we should be transparent about the difference between enjoying the community and looking for career or charity support.
I like your suggestions for questions one could ask a stranger at an EA event!
About “social EA” vs. “business EA”, I think I’d make a slightly different distinction. If you ask for someone else’s (or some org’s) time or money, then of course you need to come up with good explanations for why the thing you are offering (whether it is your employment or some project) is worthwhile. It’s not even a unique feature of EA. But, if you are just doing your own thing and not asking for anyone’s time or money, and just want to enjoy the company of other EAs, then this is the case where I think the EA community should be more welcoming and be happy to just let you be.