I agree with this, and try (sometimes awkwardly) not to put the phrase “effective altruist” in materials whose intended audience is the general public, much as I do with the acronyms GWWC and 80k.
My worry though is that people will use “effective altruists” as a phrase to describe people in our movement unless we give them a better one to use. Other than “aspiring effective altruist”, which I have used occasionally when talking with journalists, I don’t find any of the others ‘sticky’ enough.
I would love to hear suggestions from others on a short memorable phrase that we can use to describe ourselves collectively and as individuals, because I worry that otherwise “effective altruists” will end up being used.
How pithy do thousands of us really need be? This is a serious question. I’m aware that the Centre of Effective Altruism is trying to manage the public image of effective altruism out of Oxford, so they care about terminology, what with the power of a few words can have, and such. However, is there a risk in how creative the rest of us in how we refer to ourselves, with another sensible phrase aside from ‘effective altruist’? I don’t know how much of how effective altruism is perceived by the outside public is generated what most of us do uncoordinated across social media, in public, for presentations, etc.
EBA? (Evidence based altruistim—no identifier as it’s aspirational as mentioned)Like EBM..while this.particular suggestion may be poor, I’d like to try and see if there’s a word that puts humility at the heart of it. I think it will be appealing and accurate- rationality, evidence and caring about other people as much as yourself all have roots in humility?
I find EA difficult, as it defines others as either stupid or selfish and sounds exclusive and.elitist to non academic types, and think under promising with overdelivery has many benefits. It draws a parallel with evidence based movements, which seek to overturn people’s God complex and over riding belief in ad hoc.guesswork, shower inspiration, social proofing, and emotional intuition, as well as the motivational vices that lead there?
How about “pragmatic altruist”? It conveys the idea we want to do good but we approach it rationally rather than emotionally. Also it conveys the idea we want people to do things that are reasonable (like donating 10% of their income) rather than things that most people wouldn’t consider to be reasonable (like donating everything except a minimal subsistence wage).
Young people “determined to make a difference” I think captures the grit of those who intend to become EAs, but haven’t necessarily already started. I think it sounds kinda catchy, myself. “Ambitious to make their mark in the world” is another one that I think makes EA seem aspirational and part of a leading a successful life, even if the grammar isn’t perfect (try correcting the grammar and it sounds really lame!).
Neil, I agree with your sentiment that declarative phrase “effective altruist” is an ideal/abstraction. No mortal can be true (100%) effective altruist. Term “effective altruist” will confuse most people. It also infers ideology “effective altruism”.
I feel that translating declarative abstract meaning into operational average-person words shall help better sustain common sense of what we want to do. Take popular key words, having altruistic flavors, such as voluntarism, charity, giving, etc., and decorate them with qualifiers that imply a degree of effectiveness relatively to an average person cognition. For example, phrases like Charity Wise, Giving It Right, Smart Givers, Giving With Wisdom, etc.
Evan, your suggestion of usability testing makes sense to me. I just don’t have enough energy or experience to undertake such work alone. Can you help in setting up a test activity/project?
Yeah, I did. I’ll send you a message to your private email address you shared with me. Sorry I didn’t respond in a timely fashion. I’ve been swamped the last few days.
I agree with this, and try (sometimes awkwardly) not to put the phrase “effective altruist” in materials whose intended audience is the general public, much as I do with the acronyms GWWC and 80k.
My worry though is that people will use “effective altruists” as a phrase to describe people in our movement unless we give them a better one to use. Other than “aspiring effective altruist”, which I have used occasionally when talking with journalists, I don’t find any of the others ‘sticky’ enough.
I would love to hear suggestions from others on a short memorable phrase that we can use to describe ourselves collectively and as individuals, because I worry that otherwise “effective altruists” will end up being used.
“Effectiveness-minded altruist” has the right meaning, but it’s not very pithy.
“Do-bester” might have the inverse problem.
How pithy do thousands of us really need be? This is a serious question. I’m aware that the Centre of Effective Altruism is trying to manage the public image of effective altruism out of Oxford, so they care about terminology, what with the power of a few words can have, and such. However, is there a risk in how creative the rest of us in how we refer to ourselves, with another sensible phrase aside from ‘effective altruist’? I don’t know how much of how effective altruism is perceived by the outside public is generated what most of us do uncoordinated across social media, in public, for presentations, etc.
EBA? (Evidence based altruistim—no identifier as it’s aspirational as mentioned)Like EBM..while this.particular suggestion may be poor, I’d like to try and see if there’s a word that puts humility at the heart of it. I think it will be appealing and accurate- rationality, evidence and caring about other people as much as yourself all have roots in humility? I find EA difficult, as it defines others as either stupid or selfish and sounds exclusive and.elitist to non academic types, and think under promising with overdelivery has many benefits. It draws a parallel with evidence based movements, which seek to overturn people’s God complex and over riding belief in ad hoc.guesswork, shower inspiration, social proofing, and emotional intuition, as well as the motivational vices that lead there?
Yeah, I feel better about identifying as ‘evidence-based’ than ‘effective’ actually.
Everyone wants to be ‘evidence based’ - no one wants to be ‘prior probability informed’. #foreveralone
The only bit of your beliefs that you’re able to share is the evidence, not the prior belief. So I think it works.
Prior Probability Informed Altruism isn’t exactly catchy either.
How about “pragmatic altruist”? It conveys the idea we want to do good but we approach it rationally rather than emotionally. Also it conveys the idea we want people to do things that are reasonable (like donating 10% of their income) rather than things that most people wouldn’t consider to be reasonable (like donating everything except a minimal subsistence wage).
Pragmatic altruist suggests someone who tempers their altruism.
One possibility is “good-seeker”, although it may be insufficiently descriptive.
Young people “determined to make a difference” I think captures the grit of those who intend to become EAs, but haven’t necessarily already started. I think it sounds kinda catchy, myself. “Ambitious to make their mark in the world” is another one that I think makes EA seem aspirational and part of a leading a successful life, even if the grammar isn’t perfect (try correcting the grammar and it sounds really lame!).
Neil, I agree with your sentiment that declarative phrase “effective altruist” is an ideal/abstraction. No mortal can be true (100%) effective altruist. Term “effective altruist” will confuse most people. It also infers ideology “effective altruism”.
I feel that translating declarative abstract meaning into operational average-person words shall help better sustain common sense of what we want to do. Take popular key words, having altruistic flavors, such as voluntarism, charity, giving, etc., and decorate them with qualifiers that imply a degree of effectiveness relatively to an average person cognition. For example, phrases like Charity Wise, Giving It Right, Smart Givers, Giving With Wisdom, etc.
I don’t know how really usable you might intend those examples to be, but they could be tested out to see what if we ourselves like using them.
Evan, your suggestion of usability testing makes sense to me. I just don’t have enough energy or experience to undertake such work alone. Can you help in setting up a test activity/project?
Yeah, okay. Send me a private message about it, and we can discuss what either of us have in mind.
I sent 2 days ago a private message to your mail box at this forum. Did you receive it?
Yeah, I did. I’ll send you a message to your private email address you shared with me. Sorry I didn’t respond in a timely fashion. I’ve been swamped the last few days.