One thing that strikes me as interesting when I think about my own experience and my impression of the people around me is that it can be hard to tell what my own reasons are when I might distance myself from EA. I might describe myself as EA adjacent and this could be some combination of:
Seeing the ‘typical’ EA as someone who is much more hardcore and believes in all of it.
Some part of my brain is always unconsciously tracking status.
I am worried about the impact it will have on my ability to get jobs in the future.
I might be more persuasive or likeable to the person in front of me if I distance myself from EA.
And as humans often do, I might just tell myself a story that is more flattering than what is actually happening. I might tell myself that this is a very strategic choice to persuade this person to care about AI Safety, or for my long-term career prospects, or to protect my organisation from future scandals, and EA being a low(ish) status in some circles right now might be doing the heavy lifting.
One thing that strikes me as interesting when I think about my own experience and my impression of the people around me is that it can be hard to tell what my own reasons are when I might distance myself from EA. I might describe myself as EA adjacent and this could be some combination of:
Seeing the ‘typical’ EA as someone who is much more hardcore and believes in all of it.
Some part of my brain is always unconsciously tracking status.
I am worried about the impact it will have on my ability to get jobs in the future.
I might be more persuasive or likeable to the person in front of me if I distance myself from EA.
And as humans often do, I might just tell myself a story that is more flattering than what is actually happening. I might tell myself that this is a very strategic choice to persuade this person to care about AI Safety, or for my long-term career prospects, or to protect my organisation from future scandals, and EA being a low(ish) status in some circles right now might be doing the heavy lifting.