Founder effects and strong communal norms towards open discussion in the EA community to which I think most newcomers get pretty heavily inculcated.
This does not reassure me very much, because academia used to have strong openness norms but is quickly losing them or has already lost them almost everywhere, and it seems easy for founders to lose their influence (i.e., be pushed out or aside) these days, especially if they do not belong to one of the SJ-recognized marginalized/oppressed groups (and I think founders of EA mostly do not?).
Cause prioritization and consequentialism are somewhat incongruous with these things, since many of the things that can get people to be unfairly “canceled” are quite small from an EA perspective.
One could say that seeking knowledge and maximizing profits are somewhat incongruous with these things, but that hasn’t stopped academia and corporations from adopting harmful SJ practices.
Heavy influence of and connection to philosophy selects for openness norms as well.
Again it doesn’t seem like openness norms offer enough protection against whatever social dynamics is operating.
Ability and motivation to selectively adopt the best SJ positions without adopting some of its most harmful practices.
Surely people in academia and business also had the motivation to avoid the most harmful practices, but perhaps didn’t have the ability? Why do you think that EA has the ability? I don’t see any evidence, at least from the perspective of someone not privy to private or internal discussions, that any EA person has a good understanding of the social dynamics driving adoption of the harmful practices, or (aside from you and a few others I know who don’t seem to be close to the centers of EA) are even thinking about this topic at all.
This does not reassure me very much, because academia used to have strong openness norms but is quickly losing them or has already lost them almost everywhere, and it seems easy for founders to lose their influence (i.e., be pushed out or aside) these days, especially if they do not belong to one of the SJ-recognized marginalized/oppressed groups (and I think founders of EA mostly do not?).
One could say that seeking knowledge and maximizing profits are somewhat incongruous with these things, but that hasn’t stopped academia and corporations from adopting harmful SJ practices.
Again it doesn’t seem like openness norms offer enough protection against whatever social dynamics is operating.
Surely people in academia and business also had the motivation to avoid the most harmful practices, but perhaps didn’t have the ability? Why do you think that EA has the ability? I don’t see any evidence, at least from the perspective of someone not privy to private or internal discussions, that any EA person has a good understanding of the social dynamics driving adoption of the harmful practices, or (aside from you and a few others I know who don’t seem to be close to the centers of EA) are even thinking about this topic at all.