Reasonably determining whether an anthropogenic x-risk related intervention is net-positive or net-negative is often much more difficult[1] than identifying the intervention as potentially high-impact. With less than 2 minutes to think, one can usually do the latter but not the former. People in EA can easily be unconsciously optimizing for impact (which tends to be much easier and aligned with maximizing status & power) while believing they’re optimizing for EV. Using the term “impact” to mean “EV” can exacerbate this problem.
Reasonably determining whether an anthropogenic x-risk related intervention is net-positive or net-negative is often much more difficult[1] than identifying the intervention as potentially high-impact. With less than 2 minutes to think, one can usually do the latter but not the former. People in EA can easily be unconsciously optimizing for impact (which tends to be much easier and aligned with maximizing status & power) while believing they’re optimizing for EV. Using the term “impact” to mean “EV” can exacerbate this problem.
Due to an abundance of crucial considerations.