But in practice, I don’t think we come up with answers anymore.
Some people came up with a set of answers, enough of us agree with this set and they’ve been the same answers for long enough that they’re an important part of EA identities, even if they’re less important than the question of how to do the most good.
So I think the relevant empirical claims are baked in to identifying as an EA.
This is sort of getting into the thick EA vs thin EA idea that Ben Todd discussed once, but practically I think almost everyone who identifies as an EA mostly agrees with these areas being amongst top priorities. If you disagree too strongly you would probably not feel like part of the EA movement.
and the answer is “randomista development, animal welfare, extreme pandemic mitigation and AI alignment”
Some people came up with a set of answers, enough of us agree with this set and they’ve been the same answers for long enough that they’re an important part of EA identities
I think some EAs would consider work on other areas like space governance and improving institutional decision-making highly impactful. And some might say that randomista development and animal welfare are less impactful than work on x-risks, even though the community has focussed on them for a long time.
But in practice, I don’t think we come up with answers anymore.
Some people came up with a set of answers, enough of us agree with this set and they’ve been the same answers for long enough that they’re an important part of EA identities, even if they’re less important than the question of how to do the most good.
So I think the relevant empirical claims are baked in to identifying as an EA.
This is sort of getting into the thick EA vs thin EA idea that Ben Todd discussed once, but practically I think almost everyone who identifies as an EA mostly agrees with these areas being amongst top priorities. If you disagree too strongly you would probably not feel like part of the EA movement.
I think some EAs would consider work on other areas like space governance and improving institutional decision-making highly impactful. And some might say that randomista development and animal welfare are less impactful than work on x-risks, even though the community has focussed on them for a long time.