Yeah, I’ve not spent loads of time trying to think through the details. I’m reluctant to do so unless there’s interest from ‘central EA’ on this.
As ubuntu’s comments elsewhere made clear, it’s quite hard for someone to replicate various existing community structures, e.g. the conferences, even though no one has a literal monopoly on them, because they are still natural monopolies. If you’re thinking “I can’t imagine a funder supporting a new version of X if X already exists”, then that’s a good sign it is a central structure (and maybe should have democratic elements). There are lots of philosophy conferences, but that doesn’t take away from the value of having a central one.
Also, you make the point “well, but would reformed-EA be worth doing if the main funder wouldn’t support it?”. Let’s leave that as an open question. But I do want to highlight a tension between that thought and the claim that “EA is not that centralised”. If how EA operates depends (very) substantially on one what a single funder thinks, we should presumably conclude EA is very centralised. Of course, it’s then a further question of whether or not that’s good and what, if anything, should be done by various individuals about it.
Yes, I think the proposal effectively highlights that EA is significantly more centralized than some claim.
My guess is that you would have to add a claim like “Funders should not fund ‘central convening and coordinating’ functions except as consistent with the community’s will” to get anywhere with your proposal as currently sketched. That’s a negative norm, less demanding than an affirmative claim to funding. But I haven’t exhaustively explored the possibilities either.
My own view is that a member-led organization is probably viable and a good idea, but has to be realistic about what functions it could assume.
Well, you’re not going to fund stuff if you don’t like what the organisation is planning to do. That’s generally true.
I don’t mind the idea of donors funding a members’ society. This happens all the time, right? It’s just the leaders have to justify it to the members. It’s also not obvious that, if CEA were a democratic society, it would counterfactually lose funding. You might gain some and lose others. I’m not sure I would personally fund ‘reformed-CEA’ but I would be more willing to do so.
Yeah, I’ve not spent loads of time trying to think through the details. I’m reluctant to do so unless there’s interest from ‘central EA’ on this.
As ubuntu’s comments elsewhere made clear, it’s quite hard for someone to replicate various existing community structures, e.g. the conferences, even though no one has a literal monopoly on them, because they are still natural monopolies. If you’re thinking “I can’t imagine a funder supporting a new version of X if X already exists”, then that’s a good sign it is a central structure (and maybe should have democratic elements). There are lots of philosophy conferences, but that doesn’t take away from the value of having a central one.
Also, you make the point “well, but would reformed-EA be worth doing if the main funder wouldn’t support it?”. Let’s leave that as an open question. But I do want to highlight a tension between that thought and the claim that “EA is not that centralised”. If how EA operates depends (very) substantially on one what a single funder thinks, we should presumably conclude EA is very centralised. Of course, it’s then a further question of whether or not that’s good and what, if anything, should be done by various individuals about it.
Yes, I think the proposal effectively highlights that EA is significantly more centralized than some claim.
My guess is that you would have to add a claim like “Funders should not fund ‘central convening and coordinating’ functions except as consistent with the community’s will” to get anywhere with your proposal as currently sketched. That’s a negative norm, less demanding than an affirmative claim to funding. But I haven’t exhaustively explored the possibilities either.
My own view is that a member-led organization is probably viable and a good idea, but has to be realistic about what functions it could assume.
Well, you’re not going to fund stuff if you don’t like what the organisation is planning to do. That’s generally true.
I don’t mind the idea of donors funding a members’ society. This happens all the time, right? It’s just the leaders have to justify it to the members. It’s also not obvious that, if CEA were a democratic society, it would counterfactually lose funding. You might gain some and lose others. I’m not sure I would personally fund ‘reformed-CEA’ but I would be more willing to do so.