Thanks for sharing this, while I personally believe the shift in focus on AI is justified (I also believe working on animal welfare is more impactful than global poverty), I can definitely sympathize with many of the other concerns you shared and agree with many of them (especially LessWrong lingo taking over, the underreaction to sexism/âracism, and the Nonlinear controversy not being taken seriously enough). While I would completely understand in your situation if you donât want to interact with the community anymore, I just want to share that I believe your voice is really important and I hope you continue to engage with EA! I wouldnât want the movement to discourage anyone who shares its principles (like âletâs use our time and resources to help others the mostâ), but disagrees with how itâs being put into practice, from actively participating.
I donât think people dropped the ball here really, people were struggling honestly to take accusations of bad behaviour seriously without getting into witch hunt dynamics.
Good point, I guess my lasting impression wasnât entirely fair to how things played out. In any case, the most important part of my message is that I hope he doesnât feels discouraged from actively participating in EA.
Thanks for sharing this, while I personally believe the shift in focus on AI is justified (I also believe working on animal welfare is more impactful than global poverty), I can definitely sympathize with many of the other concerns you shared and agree with many of them (especially LessWrong lingo taking over, the underreaction to sexism/âracism, and the Nonlinear controversy not being taken seriously enough). While I would completely understand in your situation if you donât want to interact with the community anymore, I just want to share that I believe your voice is really important and I hope you continue to engage with EA! I wouldnât want the movement to discourage anyone who shares its principles (like âletâs use our time and resources to help others the mostâ), but disagrees with how itâs being put into practice, from actively participating.
My memory is a large number of people to the NL controversy seriously, and the original threads on it were long and full of hostile comments to NL, and only after someone posted a long piece in defence of NL did some sympathy shift back to them. But even then there are like 90-something to 30-something agree votes and 200 karma on Yarrowâs comment saying NL still seem bad: https://ââforum.effectivealtruism.org/ââposts/ââH4DYehKLxZ5NpQdBC/âânonlinear-s-evidence-debunking-false-and-misleading-claims?commentId=7YxPKCW3nCwWn2swb
I donât think people dropped the ball here really, people were struggling honestly to take accusations of bad behaviour seriously without getting into witch hunt dynamics.
Good point, I guess my lasting impression wasnât entirely fair to how things played out. In any case, the most important part of my message is that I hope he doesnât feels discouraged from actively participating in EA.