Given that these community events help with learning and career connections the most, how do you feel about opening them up to people who work on EA causes (AI safety for instance) but are not well-versed with the EA landscape? Familiarity with EA ideas—like longtermism, for instance—are a major part of the applications for EAGs and EAGx’s. I think this gatekeeps opportunities from other talented, smart and efficient people who are working on EA causes without being affiliated with EA ideas. For instance, someone working on AI safety research who has not taken any EA courses, attended any EA events, or read any of the books that define EA ideas, but is still interested in finding job opportunities that will help them maximize their impact within their field. Perhaps I’m wrong in thinking that being EA-informed is given more weightage in the selection process, but it comes across as so!
We’re very excited to accept people with experience in EA cause areas to EA Global and EAGx events, and usually weigh this quite a lot when considering an application. A common type of application that we accept is someone who’s working in an EA cause area and is curious to learn more about the community.
It’s true that we ask about engagement with EA, but that isn’t the only thing we consider, far from it.
Given that these community events help with learning and career connections the most, how do you feel about opening them up to people who work on EA causes (AI safety for instance) but are not well-versed with the EA landscape? Familiarity with EA ideas—like longtermism, for instance—are a major part of the applications for EAGs and EAGx’s. I think this gatekeeps opportunities from other talented, smart and efficient people who are working on EA causes without being affiliated with EA ideas. For instance, someone working on AI safety research who has not taken any EA courses, attended any EA events, or read any of the books that define EA ideas, but is still interested in finding job opportunities that will help them maximize their impact within their field. Perhaps I’m wrong in thinking that being EA-informed is given more weightage in the selection process, but it comes across as so!
We’re very excited to accept people with experience in EA cause areas to EA Global and EAGx events, and usually weigh this quite a lot when considering an application. A common type of application that we accept is someone who’s working in an EA cause area and is curious to learn more about the community.
It’s true that we ask about engagement with EA, but that isn’t the only thing we consider, far from it.