What’s the best way to talk about EA in brief, casual contexts?
Recently I’ve been doing EA-related writing and copyediting, which means that I’ve had to talk about EA a lot more to strangers and acquaintances, because ‘what do you do for work?’ is a very common ice-breaker question. I always feel kind of awkward and like I’m not doing the worldview justice or explaining it well. I think the heart of the awkwardness is that ‘it’s a movement that wants to do the most good possible/do good effectively’ seem tautologous (does anyone want to do less good than possible?); and because EA is kind of a mixture of philosophy and career choice and charity evaluating and [misc], I basically find it hard to find legible concepts to hang it on.
For context, I used to be doing a PhD in Greek and Roman philosophy—not exactly the most “normal” job- and I found that way easier to explain XD
Related questions: -what’s the best way to talk about EA on your personal social media? -what’s the best way to talk about it if you go viral on Twitter? (this happened to me today) -what’s the best way to talk about it to your parents and older family members? etc.
I think, kind of, ‘templates’ about how to approach these situations risk seeming manipulative and being cringey, as ‘scripts’ always are if you don’t make them your own, but I’d really enjoy reading a post collecting advice from EA community builders, communicators, marketers, content writers...etc on their experiences trying to talk about EA in various contexts, and what tends to make those conversations go well or badly.
(If you’d be interested to produce something like this, I’d be happy to collaborate with you on it)
Here’s an excellent resource for different ways of pitching EA (and sub-parts of EA). Disclaimer—I do not know who is the owner of this remarkable document. I hope sharing it here is acceptable! As far as I know, this is a public document.
My contingently-favorite option:
Effective Altruism is a global movement that spreads practical tools and advice about prioritizing social action to help others the most. We aim that when individuals are about to invest time or money in helping others, they will examine their options and choose the one with the highest impact—whether they are looking to help through donations, career decisions, social entrepreneurship, and so on.
The movement mainly promotes these tools through fellowships, courses, lectures, one-on-one consultations, and discussion groups. It is also a thriving community where we research how we can help others the most, and then do it!
What’s the best way to talk about EA in brief, casual contexts?
Recently I’ve been doing EA-related writing and copyediting, which means that I’ve had to talk about EA a lot more to strangers and acquaintances, because ‘what do you do for work?’ is a very common ice-breaker question. I always feel kind of awkward and like I’m not doing the worldview justice or explaining it well. I think the heart of the awkwardness is that ‘it’s a movement that wants to do the most good possible/do good effectively’ seem tautologous (does anyone want to do less good than possible?); and because EA is kind of a mixture of philosophy and career choice and charity evaluating and [misc], I basically find it hard to find legible concepts to hang it on.
For context, I used to be doing a PhD in Greek and Roman philosophy—not exactly the most “normal” job- and I found that way easier to explain XD
Related questions:
-what’s the best way to talk about EA on your personal social media?
-what’s the best way to talk about it if you go viral on Twitter? (this happened to me today)
-what’s the best way to talk about it to your parents and older family members?
etc.
I think, kind of, ‘templates’ about how to approach these situations risk seeming manipulative and being cringey, as ‘scripts’ always are if you don’t make them your own, but I’d really enjoy reading a post collecting advice from EA community builders, communicators, marketers, content writers...etc on their experiences trying to talk about EA in various contexts, and what tends to make those conversations go well or badly.
(If you’d be interested to produce something like this, I’d be happy to collaborate with you on it)
I think a collection like the one you’re proposing would be an incredibly valuable resource for growing the EA community.
Here’s an excellent resource for different ways of pitching EA (and sub-parts of EA). Disclaimer—I do not know who is the owner of this remarkable document. I hope sharing it here is acceptable! As far as I know, this is a public document.
My contingently-favorite option:
Effective Altruism is a global movement that spreads practical tools and advice about prioritizing social action to help others the most. We aim that when individuals are about to invest time or money in helping others, they will examine their options and choose the one with the highest impact—whether they are looking to help through donations, career decisions, social entrepreneurship, and so on.
The movement mainly promotes these tools through fellowships, courses, lectures, one-on-one consultations, and discussion groups. It is also a thriving community where we research how we can help others the most, and then do it!
Thanks! This looks extremely comprehensive.
This resource is also robust (and beautifully outlined).