I agree that it’s great that EA values truth-seeking. However, I’m not sure a social community is essential to acting according to this value, since this value could be incorporated on the level of projects and organisations just as well.
For example, consider the scientific method and thinking in a sciency way. Although we can speak of ‘the scientific community’ it’s a community with fairly weak social ties. And most things happen on the level of projects and organisations. These (science) projects and organisations usually heavily incorporate scientific thinking.
For an individual’s experience and choices there are usually many ‘communities’ relevant at the same time, e.g. their colleagues, school-mates, country of residence, people sharing their language etc. However, each of these ‘communities’ have a differently sized impact on their experience and choices. What I’m arguing for is increasing the ‘grasp’ of projects and organisations and decreasing the grasp of the wider EA community.
I agree that it’s great that EA values truth-seeking. However, I’m not sure a social community is essential to acting according to this value, since this value could be incorporated on the level of projects and organisations just as well.
For example, consider the scientific method and thinking in a sciency way. Although we can speak of ‘the scientific community’ it’s a community with fairly weak social ties. And most things happen on the level of projects and organisations. These (science) projects and organisations usually heavily incorporate scientific thinking.
For an individual’s experience and choices there are usually many ‘communities’ relevant at the same time, e.g. their colleagues, school-mates, country of residence, people sharing their language etc. However, each of these ‘communities’ have a differently sized impact on their experience and choices. What I’m arguing for is increasing the ‘grasp’ of projects and organisations and decreasing the grasp of the wider EA community.