āName a person that inspires youā was an Icebreaker question that recently came up in a group setting. Somebody named a person in the EA community who is showcasing a lot of altruistic qualities like working long hours in their EA-aligned job while being frugal, donating a lot, being vegan etc.. I noticed that I strongly felt resistance to this and, on reflection, saw that I admire this altruistic person a lot while not being at all inspired by them at the same time. On the contrary, I feel like a failure as I canāt imagine myself ever living up to these ideals, although I would like to do so.
Before meeting any people in the EA community outside my small local group, my views of engaged people were formed by reading EA forum posts and other writings. Through these, my impression was of a community of near-heroes that were interesting but that I would never be able to be part of. Only when I went to the first EAG conference did I meet people who excelled in some part of their activities, but they also told me about where they failed and where the needs in the community were. This was the first time that I saw that I could contribute directly.
Since then, Iāve become wary of communications that highlight the importance of many altruistic actions in the community. While I see that this can be inspiring for some people, I personally have felt and still feel the pressure of expectation from this way of communicating. It is not that I disagree. It is that I start comparing myself to an ideal and contrast it with my personal daily failings in not being the perfect being I would like to be.
So while for some people, a hero with moral clarity and the willpower to work according to their principles is inspiring, for me, itās more the antihero I can relate to. A person who is unsure, flawed, and very human but still has the ability to reflect, grow and do some good in the world. An example could be Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, where the protagonist experiences the meaninglessness of reality before seeing the possibilities and freedom to change. In the EA community, the 80k podcast episode on Having a successful career with anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome would be an example, although I had more private conversations with people who shared their struggles that resonated even more.
In the opening talk of EAGxBerlin, I tried sharing my own struggles and received some positive feedback. However, Iāve been worrying if Iāve been humble bragging.
The conclusion is that what is inspiring for some could be off-putting for others and that communicating about different kinds of altruistic approaches could be helpful in reaching a broad audience of people who could decide to dedicate more of their resources to altruistic actions.
Thanks for the thoughtful text, Patrick. I agree with your sentiment of being impressed, but not inspired by people who live a life that I feel unable to achieve, and needing other, more relatable āheroesā to look up to. I especially like your conclusion: communication about altruistic action is hard, and we need a broad spectrum of examples to showcase the way that people engage with EA.
Heroes vs. Antiheroes in EA
āName a person that inspires youā was an Icebreaker question that recently came up in a group setting. Somebody named a person in the EA community who is showcasing a lot of altruistic qualities like working long hours in their EA-aligned job while being frugal, donating a lot, being vegan etc.. I noticed that I strongly felt resistance to this and, on reflection, saw that I admire this altruistic person a lot while not being at all inspired by them at the same time. On the contrary, I feel like a failure as I canāt imagine myself ever living up to these ideals, although I would like to do so.
Before meeting any people in the EA community outside my small local group, my views of engaged people were formed by reading EA forum posts and other writings. Through these, my impression was of a community of near-heroes that were interesting but that I would never be able to be part of. Only when I went to the first EAG conference did I meet people who excelled in some part of their activities, but they also told me about where they failed and where the needs in the community were. This was the first time that I saw that I could contribute directly.
Since then, Iāve become wary of communications that highlight the importance of many altruistic actions in the community. While I see that this can be inspiring for some people, I personally have felt and still feel the pressure of expectation from this way of communicating. It is not that I disagree. It is that I start comparing myself to an ideal and contrast it with my personal daily failings in not being the perfect being I would like to be.
So while for some people, a hero with moral clarity and the willpower to work according to their principles is inspiring, for me, itās more the antihero I can relate to. A person who is unsure, flawed, and very human but still has the ability to reflect, grow and do some good in the world. An example could be Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, where the protagonist experiences the meaninglessness of reality before seeing the possibilities and freedom to change. In the EA community, the 80k podcast episode on Having a successful career with anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome would be an example, although I had more private conversations with people who shared their struggles that resonated even more.
In the opening talk of EAGxBerlin, I tried sharing my own struggles and received some positive feedback. However, Iāve been worrying if Iāve been humble bragging.
The conclusion is that what is inspiring for some could be off-putting for others and that communicating about different kinds of altruistic approaches could be helpful in reaching a broad audience of people who could decide to dedicate more of their resources to altruistic actions.
Thanks for the thoughtful text, Patrick. I agree with your sentiment of being impressed, but not inspired by people who live a life that I feel unable to achieve, and needing other, more relatable āheroesā to look up to.
I especially like your conclusion: communication about altruistic action is hard, and we need a broad spectrum of examples to showcase the way that people engage with EA.