and this seems to be another case of a major actor in our movement doing something that has massively poor consequences for the public perception of EA unless they can explain why
My only substantive disagreement with this comment (which I upvoted) is that I don’t think FLI is a major actor in EA; they’ve always kind of done their own thing, and haven’t been a core player within the EA community. I view them more as an independent actor with somewhat aligned goals.
I’ve added an edit to the top of my comment to clarify we’re talking about FLI, not FHI (cause X—better EA acronyms). I’ve also tweaked the language around FLI being a “major actor” in the EA space, though I feel there are arguments on the other side, given:
There is an FLI topic on the EA Forum Wiki, which notes funding they received from OpenPhil
one could perhaps be forgiven for viewing them as closely involved in the EA movement directly, though I see they’re probably more independent with some highly aligned goals.
I also want to say, if people from FLI are reading this, I don’t want to be read as attacking any of you directly though I can accept I might be read that way. Emotions are running high on the forum right now, incuding my own, and I would welcome your thoughts either as a reply in this post or as a private message.
Yeah, to be clear I also don’t think EA can just say “nothing to do with us” here, there’s clearly enough overlap and cross-pollination to be relevant. I just think this is significantly different from if this happened with, say, CEA or OpenPhil.
I think something like your modified language is about right.
My only substantive disagreement with this comment (which I upvoted) is that I don’t think FLI is a major actor in EA; they’ve always kind of done their own thing, and haven’t been a core player within the EA community. I view them more as an independent actor with somewhat aligned goals.
I just realized that I had confused them with FHI.
On that note, I just realised nobody has actually written the full name of the organization anywhere on this page!
For anyone who’s confused or unsure: we’re talking about the Future of Life Institute.
Thanks Will, Jason, tim.
I’ve added an edit to the top of my comment to clarify we’re talking about FLI, not FHI (cause X—better EA acronyms). I’ve also tweaked the language around FLI being a “major actor” in the EA space, though I feel there are arguments on the other side, given:
Tegmark being on a recent 80k podcast
The FLI is advertised on the 80k job board
I remember seeing an FLI booth at EAG 2022 London
There is an FLI topic on the EA Forum Wiki, which notes funding they received from OpenPhil
one could perhaps be forgiven for viewing them as closely involved in the EA movement directly, though I see they’re probably more independent with some highly aligned goals.
I also want to say, if people from FLI are reading this, I don’t want to be read as attacking any of you directly though I can accept I might be read that way. Emotions are running high on the forum right now, incuding my own, and I would welcome your thoughts either as a reply in this post or as a private message.
Yeah, to be clear I also don’t think EA can just say “nothing to do with us” here, there’s clearly enough overlap and cross-pollination to be relevant. I just think this is significantly different from if this happened with, say, CEA or OpenPhil.
I think something like your modified language is about right.
I would be helpful for OP to write out something like “Future of Life Institute, run by MIT professor Max Tegmark” in the original post.
Done