I used to think the same, but I recently changed my mind, for reasons similar to Zachâs
Some quick thoughts:
Significant additional spare money
I agree money is great, but I think moving to a HCOL area will often increase the amount of money you can earn/âsave for most people, by giving you higher-earning jobs opportunties. Even if youâre doing self-funded research, the amount of money you can influence will likely increase enough by moving to a HCOL area to compensate your higher costs. Itâs much easier to help people give more and give better if theyâre wealthy.
I agree that the above often doesnât apply if you work in a field with a capped low salary, where living in a HCOL area would cause financial distress
only go to two or fewer EA events per month
This is a lot of events, 10-20 per year. Similarly âoften barely talkingâ to others in a coworking space imho doesnât mean that there isnât a lot of valuable talking happening per year in absolute terms.
elitism
Hot take: I think elitism can be as much of an asset as it is an issue image-wise. Lots of fancy enterprises proudly boast their âtalent densityâ
How can they claim to care about cost-effectiveness if they spend all their time in the most expensive parts of the country?
Because that way they can influence more resources to go towards solving the most important issues of our time
Basically:
I think people can earn and donate much more in HCOL areas, compensating the higher costs
I think people can have a ton of impact by influencing the actions of EAs and non-EAs around them, and in HCOL areas those are 1. more likely to find EA useful, 2. have more resources (both money and career-wise) to dedicate to it
I think youâre downplaying the influence of âonly <2 events per monthâ or only a few conversations per week at a coworking space
I used to think the same, but I recently changed my mind, for reasons similar to Zachâs
Some quick thoughts:
I agree money is great, but I think moving to a HCOL area will often increase the amount of money you can earn/âsave for most people, by giving you higher-earning jobs opportunties. Even if youâre doing self-funded research, the amount of money you can influence will likely increase enough by moving to a HCOL area to compensate your higher costs. Itâs much easier to help people give more and give better if theyâre wealthy.
I agree that the above often doesnât apply if you work in a field with a capped low salary, where living in a HCOL area would cause financial distress
This is a lot of events, 10-20 per year. Similarly âoften barely talkingâ to others in a coworking space imho doesnât mean that there isnât a lot of valuable talking happening per year in absolute terms.
Hot take: I think elitism can be as much of an asset as it is an issue image-wise. Lots of fancy enterprises proudly boast their âtalent densityâ
Because that way they can influence more resources to go towards solving the most important issues of our time
Basically:
I think people can earn and donate much more in HCOL areas, compensating the higher costs
I think people can have a ton of impact by influencing the actions of EAs and non-EAs around them, and in HCOL areas those are 1. more likely to find EA useful, 2. have more resources (both money and career-wise) to dedicate to it
I think youâre downplaying the influence of âonly <2 events per monthâ or only a few conversations per week at a coworking space