I don’t want to get into debates around object-level criticisms this early but I keep being puzzled by this assertion: ”This resulted in a community and organizations inspired by his ideas—not -- governed by him. It’s a handful of organizations with distinct leaders and a handful of individuals with their own interpretations of his and other people’s work.”
There was also a similar quote elsewhere: ”But Will is not the CEO of EA! He’s a philosopher who writes books about EA and has received a bunch of funding to do PR stuff.”
I don’t think this conception of “people loosely connected together in various ways” really captures the correct level of accountability here. There is a legal entity named Effective Ventures, which is the umbrella organisation of CEA, 80000 Hours, GWWC etc. and Will is the president of Effective Ventures as well as CEA. The people in the community volunteer their time and credibility by referring these organisations(and their literature) to their social circles. Many also do donate money to these organisations.
I refuse to have a verdict on FTX related criticisms until the dust settles, and most of the non-FTX related criticisms seem unreasonable to me, but this argument of “no one is the leader of EA really” strikes me as quite odd. I suspect CEA might even be the official copyright owner for “Effective Altruism” brand as I don’t see any organisation that has “Effective Altruism” in its name despite not being approved by CEA. Please inform me on this if I’m wrong. EA is much more centralised than “Socialism” or “Feminism”.
I like your comment- thank you. I am really confused by the opposite view. I don’t quite understand where Will as governor of EA comes from. There are influential organizations and thinkers in EA for sure but ownership and ultimate responsibility particularly cosmic responsibility for bad actors feels very different… I think something is obviously going on here which is important and once things are less awful we should try and dissect calmly, kindly, and deliberately.
I don’t want to get into debates around object-level criticisms this early but I keep being puzzled by this assertion:
”This resulted in a community and organizations inspired by his ideas—not -- governed by him. It’s a handful of organizations with distinct leaders and a handful of individuals with their own interpretations of his and other people’s work.”
There was also a similar quote elsewhere:
”But Will is not the CEO of EA! He’s a philosopher who writes books about EA and has received a bunch of funding to do PR stuff.”
I don’t think this conception of “people loosely connected together in various ways” really captures the correct level of accountability here. There is a legal entity named Effective Ventures, which is the umbrella organisation of CEA, 80000 Hours, GWWC etc. and Will is the president of Effective Ventures as well as CEA. The people in the community volunteer their time and credibility by referring these organisations(and their literature) to their social circles. Many also do donate money to these organisations.
I refuse to have a verdict on FTX related criticisms until the dust settles, and most of the non-FTX related criticisms seem unreasonable to me, but this argument of “no one is the leader of EA really” strikes me as quite odd.
I suspect CEA might even be the official copyright owner for “Effective Altruism” brand as I don’t see any organisation that has “Effective Altruism” in its name despite not being approved by CEA.Please inform me on this if I’m wrong. EA is much more centralised than “Socialism” or “Feminism”.Correction: No one owns “Effective Altruism” as a trademark. More detailed information here.
I like your comment- thank you. I am really confused by the opposite view. I don’t quite understand where Will as governor of EA comes from. There are influential organizations and thinkers in EA for sure but ownership and ultimate responsibility particularly cosmic responsibility for bad actors feels very different… I think something is obviously going on here which is important and once things are less awful we should try and dissect calmly, kindly, and deliberately.