I’d add to all this that I’ve experienced some EAs pitching the idea for the first time, and being actively amused at the idea that some people didn’t immediately agree that an evidence-based approach was the best way for them to decide on their career.
I think we don’t lose any of our critique of the way things are by appealing to the way people currently think. A concrete example: the “don’t follow your passion” thing sounds unromantic to most; but if we talk a lot about “meaning”, and how “making a difference” and “being altruistic” tend to make us happier and satisfied with our work, we can win over people through convincing them that we’re simply putting into practice various bits of wisdom that people already tend to take as a given.
Also we probably need to try harder to generally seem emotionally sensitive when talking about why we are EAs: rather than focusing on numbers all the time (which does work for some audiences, of course) we should talk about why we’re altruistic generally, and then it will flow from this that if one cares in a general sense one should care about doing the best thing possible.
Interesting stuff!
I’d add to all this that I’ve experienced some EAs pitching the idea for the first time, and being actively amused at the idea that some people didn’t immediately agree that an evidence-based approach was the best way for them to decide on their career.
I think we don’t lose any of our critique of the way things are by appealing to the way people currently think. A concrete example: the “don’t follow your passion” thing sounds unromantic to most; but if we talk a lot about “meaning”, and how “making a difference” and “being altruistic” tend to make us happier and satisfied with our work, we can win over people through convincing them that we’re simply putting into practice various bits of wisdom that people already tend to take as a given.
Also we probably need to try harder to generally seem emotionally sensitive when talking about why we are EAs: rather than focusing on numbers all the time (which does work for some audiences, of course) we should talk about why we’re altruistic generally, and then it will flow from this that if one cares in a general sense one should care about doing the best thing possible.
I expanded on my ideas here: http://effective-altruism.com/ea/or/overcoming_emotional_resistance_to_effective/