Podcast: The Left and Effective Altruism with Habiba Islam

I recently rebooted my interview podcast, The Most Interesting People I Know (found wherever you find podcasts). I focus on EA and left-wing guests, and have been pretty involved in both communities for the last 5 years. Some example guests: Rutger Bregman, Leah Garcés, Lewis Bollard, Spencer Greenberg, Nathan Robinson, Malaika Jabali, Emily Bazelon, David Shor, and Eric Levitz.

I just released a long conversation with Habiba Islam, an 80K career advisor and lefty, about the relationship between EA and the left.

This is not an attempt to paper over differences between the two communities, or pretend that EA is more left-wing than it is. Instead, I tried to give an accurate description of both communities, where they are in hidden agreement, where they actually disagree, and what each can learn from the other.

Habiba is so sharp and thoughtful throughout the conversation. We’re very lucky to have her!

I hope this could be a good reference text as well as an onboarding ramp for leftists who might be open to EA.

I think there’s a real gap in the EA media-verse on the intersection of left-wing politics and EA, and we’re almost certainly missing out on some great people and perspectives who would be into EA if they were presented with the right arguments and framing.

I have no delusions that all leftists would be into EA if they only understood it better, but I think there are tons of bad-faith criticisms and genuine misunderstandings that we could better address. I think we can have a healthier and more productive relationship with the left.

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Crossposted to LessWrong (2 points, 2 comments)