I think it’s very plausible that EA Funds, or LTFF specifically, should rebrand to remove “EA” from the name. I think it’d be a bit of a loss because I view us as trying to do something fully central to what I believe to be the core of EA: trying to make the best decisions we can given the limited resources we have. But communication of what “EA” means to different people have been at best mixed, and it’s understandable if other people take a different position (eg if they believe that EA is about making high-quality decisions about altruistic activities with uniformly high rigor and transparency).
And this isn’t really a question with a truth of the matter. Words are made by men, etc.
So plausibly we should move away from that brand, for this and several other reasons.
IMO if EA funds isn’t representative of EA, I’m not sure what is. I think the different funds do a good job of accurately representing the broad diversity of viewpoints and approaches within the community, and I would personally be very sad if EA funds dropped the EA branding.
IMO if EA funds isn’t representative of EA, I’m not sure what is.
I think there’s a consistent view where EA is about doing careful, thoughtful, analysis with uniformly and transparently high rigor, to communicate that analyses transparently and legibly, and to (almost) always make decisions entirely according to such analyses as well as strong empirical evidence. Under that view GiveWell, and for that matter, JPAL, is much more representative of what EA ought to be about, than what at least LTFF tries to do in practice.
I don’t know how popular the view I described above is. But I definitely have sympathy towards it.
I think it’s very plausible that EA Funds, or LTFF specifically, should rebrand to remove “EA” from the name. I think it’d be a bit of a loss because I view us as trying to do something fully central to what I believe to be the core of EA: trying to make the best decisions we can given the limited resources we have. But communication of what “EA” means to different people have been at best mixed, and it’s understandable if other people take a different position (eg if they believe that EA is about making high-quality decisions about altruistic activities with uniformly high rigor and transparency).
And this isn’t really a question with a truth of the matter. Words are made by men, etc.
So plausibly we should move away from that brand, for this and several other reasons.
IMO if EA funds isn’t representative of EA, I’m not sure what is. I think the different funds do a good job of accurately representing the broad diversity of viewpoints and approaches within the community, and I would personally be very sad if EA funds dropped the EA branding.
Thanks. I appreciate your kind words.
I think there’s a consistent view where EA is about doing careful, thoughtful, analysis with uniformly and transparently high rigor, to communicate that analyses transparently and legibly, and to (almost) always make decisions entirely according to such analyses as well as strong empirical evidence. Under that view GiveWell, and for that matter, JPAL, is much more representative of what EA ought to be about, than what at least LTFF tries to do in practice.
I don’t know how popular the view I described above is. But I definitely have sympathy towards it.