What cultural and structural features do you think might contribute to the perceived decline in a just-do-it attitude?
(this is just personal anecdote, so it shouldn’t be interpreted with too much confidence. Like all anecdotes, it may not generalize)
I only started to discover EA in 2020, so I think it is reasonable to say that I am of the newer “EA generation.” There are a few things that I’ve vaguely noticed within myself when I’ve thought of starting projects. Some are social/prestige/reputational things, some are financial stability things, and some are related to lack of skills. I’ll phrase these as “things my brain tells me, whether I agree with them or not:”
There are organizations with fairly wide-ranging remits that already exist, so I probably don’t need to start Project X, because they have more connections/expertise/context and are more well-placed to start it.
I don’t have the skill/knowledge/experience to do Project X well. The people in the EA community have really high standards, so I probably wouldn’t get clients for my consulting firm or funding for my charity if I am only able to do it fairly well, because they would want me to do it extremely well.
I don’t want to start something and have it fizzle out, because people in this relatively tight-knit/interconnected community would all see me fail, and then it would be really hard for me to do anything else in EA.
I don’t have anything prestigious to show. I didn’t start and sell my own company, I didn’t attend Yale, I didn’t work at McKinsey. I’m not able to signal impressiveness, and lacking some kind of signaling people won’t pay attention to me.
I don’t want to pursue an opportunity that only has finding guaranteed for 6-12 months. If I had several years of living expenses available then I could pursue more risky paths, but if finding a job might take between NUM1 and NUM2 months and I have less than NUM2 months of living expenses available, then pursuing risky paths seems too risky.
I’m not immediately seeing how any of this contributes to a decline in a just-do-it attitude?
Michael_PJ seems to be talking about what happens when people see problems within EA (”...who not only identify problems in the world...who feel like an idea is neglected...I always feel a bit sad when I see “EA should …” posts”).
I don’t think this applies to your first two bullets, where you seem to be talking about newer people thinking the existing people are doing a much better job than they could.
And your last three bullets seem to apply ~equally to both older and newer people (unless by bullet four you actually mean something closer to my previous sentence).
(this is just personal anecdote, so it shouldn’t be interpreted with too much confidence. Like all anecdotes, it may not generalize)
I only started to discover EA in 2020, so I think it is reasonable to say that I am of the newer “EA generation.” There are a few things that I’ve vaguely noticed within myself when I’ve thought of starting projects. Some are social/prestige/reputational things, some are financial stability things, and some are related to lack of skills. I’ll phrase these as “things my brain tells me, whether I agree with them or not:”
There are organizations with fairly wide-ranging remits that already exist, so I probably don’t need to start Project X, because they have more connections/expertise/context and are more well-placed to start it.
I don’t have the skill/knowledge/experience to do Project X well. The people in the EA community have really high standards, so I probably wouldn’t get clients for my consulting firm or funding for my charity if I am only able to do it fairly well, because they would want me to do it extremely well.
I don’t want to start something and have it fizzle out, because people in this relatively tight-knit/interconnected community would all see me fail, and then it would be really hard for me to do anything else in EA.
I don’t have anything prestigious to show. I didn’t start and sell my own company, I didn’t attend Yale, I didn’t work at McKinsey. I’m not able to signal impressiveness, and lacking some kind of signaling people won’t pay attention to me.
I don’t want to pursue an opportunity that only has finding guaranteed for 6-12 months. If I had several years of living expenses available then I could pursue more risky paths, but if finding a job might take between NUM1 and NUM2 months and I have less than NUM2 months of living expenses available, then pursuing risky paths seems too risky.
I would love the community to be more supportive in ways that would help with that. Things I would like:
Accept that new projects may be not that great, encourage them to grow and maybe even chip in as well as criticising.
Accept and even celebrate failure.
Even more incubator style things. I love what CE does here.
I’m not immediately seeing how any of this contributes to a decline in a just-do-it attitude?
Michael_PJ seems to be talking about what happens when people see problems within EA (”...who not only identify problems in the world...who feel like an idea is neglected...I always feel a bit sad when I see “EA should …” posts”).
I don’t think this applies to your first two bullets, where you seem to be talking about newer people thinking the existing people are doing a much better job than they could.
And your last three bullets seem to apply ~equally to both older and newer people (unless by bullet four you actually mean something closer to my previous sentence).