I don’t see the Schambra piece as particularly vitriolic.
I don’t know where to find good outside critics, but I think there’s still value in internal criticism, as well as doing a good job processing the criticism we have. (I was thinking of creating a wiki page for it, but haven’t got around to it yet).
Some self-centered internal criticism; I don’t know how much this resonates with other people:
I posted some things on LW back in 2011 which were badly received (and which I’m too embarrassed to link to). This was either a problem with me, or the LW community, or more likely both
I spend a lot of time on EA social media when I could be doing more productive stuff
I feel like a standard-issue generic EA—like I’ve internalized all the memes but don’t have huge amounts of unique ideas or abilities to bring to the table
Similarly my mental model of people in the EA movement is that they’re fairly interchangeable, rather than each having their own strengths, weaknesses and personalities
In particular, I haven’t really managed to make friends with anyone I met through EA
I spend a lot of time talking about EA but haven’t actually donated much to charity yet
In the past I’ve felt strong affiliation to an EA subtribe (xrisk), viewing the poverty and animal people as outgroups
Also:
We mostly speak English and are not as ethnically diverse as we could be
One of the central premises of EA, that some charities are so very many times more effective than others, seems pretty bold. I’d like to be able to point to a mountain of evidence to back it up but I’m not sure where this is to be found.
Great topic!
I think you missed this one from Rhys Southan which is lukewarm about EA: Art is a waste of time says EA
I don’t see the Schambra piece as particularly vitriolic.
I don’t know where to find good outside critics, but I think there’s still value in internal criticism, as well as doing a good job processing the criticism we have. (I was thinking of creating a wiki page for it, but haven’t got around to it yet).
Some self-centered internal criticism; I don’t know how much this resonates with other people:
I posted some things on LW back in 2011 which were badly received (and which I’m too embarrassed to link to). This was either a problem with me, or the LW community, or more likely both
I spend a lot of time on EA social media when I could be doing more productive stuff
I feel like a standard-issue generic EA—like I’ve internalized all the memes but don’t have huge amounts of unique ideas or abilities to bring to the table
Similarly my mental model of people in the EA movement is that they’re fairly interchangeable, rather than each having their own strengths, weaknesses and personalities
In particular, I haven’t really managed to make friends with anyone I met through EA
I spend a lot of time talking about EA but haven’t actually donated much to charity yet
In the past I’ve felt strong affiliation to an EA subtribe (xrisk), viewing the poverty and animal people as outgroups
Also:
We mostly speak English and are not as ethnically diverse as we could be
One of the central premises of EA, that some charities are so very many times more effective than others, seems pretty bold. I’d like to be able to point to a mountain of evidence to back it up but I’m not sure where this is to be found.