Many people find the Forum anxiety inducing because of the high amount of criticism. So, in the spirit of Giving Season, I’m going to give some positive feedback and shout-outs for the Forum in 2023 (from my PoV). So, without further ado, I present the 🎄✨🏆 totally-not-serious-worth-no-internet-points-JWS-2023-Forum-Awards: 🏆✨🎄[1]
Best Forum Post I read this year:
10 years of Earning to Give by @AGB: A clear, grounded, and moving look at what it actually means to ‘Earn to Give’. In particular, the ‘Why engage?’ section really resonated with me.
Third Wave Effective Altruism by @Ben_West: A short post, but one that came at exactly the right time. I think this is a really important topic for EA to be thinking about right now and look forward to more posts inspired by it next year.
@titotal - I really value titotal’s contributions to the Forum. Even though I sometimes disagree I always learn a lot by thinking about where and why I do so, and I hope they stick around so I can continue to learn from them.
@Holly_Elmore - Similarly to Titotal, while I don’t always agree with Holly she just makes really solid points that always positively add to the discussion. Often she’s able to clearly find the crux of a debate and ask the key questions.
@Ivy Mazzola - Whenever I’ve seen Ivy post on the Forum, even on heated topics, she always approaches them with integrity and grace that I really wanted to give recognition to.
@David Mathers - When David discusses ideas in the Forum he consistently does so in a good faith and truth-seeking way that really shows engagement on the Forum at its best.
Non-Forum EA Poasters of the Year:
David Thorstad (on his blog) - I’ve really appreciated David’s blog this year. I don’t always agree, and you can find me in the comments pushing back sometimes, I’ve found his content high quality overall, especially on Existential Risk and the Time of Perils.
Agustín (on Twitter) - Agus has been really fighting the good fighting in the Twitter trenches recently, on all sorts of topics (though sadly on the terrible state of AI discourse). Somehow he manages to translate complicated EA ideas clearly, convincingly, and remain calm in the face of less-than-charitable interlocutors.
Nathan Young (on Twitter) - Nathan’s commitment to honest exploration of his beliefs, dialogue with those who disagree, and finding mechanisms of belief resolution has been constantly inspiring.
Congrats to the winners! Feel free to give them more plaudits in the comments or just shout out your own Forum favourites from this year! I wish everyone who’s reading this every success in the year to come and I look forward to reading more good content on the Forum in 2024!
Thanks for saying nice things about me! For the record, I also think David Thorstad’s contributions are very valuable (whether or not his views are ultimately correct).
Many people find the Forum anxiety inducing because of the high amount of criticism. So, in the spirit of Giving Season, I’m going to give some positive feedback and shout-outs for the Forum in 2023 (from my PoV). So, without further ado, I present the 🎄✨🏆 totally-not-serious-worth-no-internet-points-JWS-2023-Forum-Awards: 🏆✨🎄[1]
Best Forum Post I read this year:
10 years of Earning to Give by @AGB: A clear, grounded, and moving look at what it actually means to ‘Earn to Give’. In particular, the ‘Why engage?’ section really resonated with me.
Honourable Mentions:
Why I’m still going out to bat for the EA movement post FTX by @Gemma Paterson: This post was a reflection on EAs tough year which was similar to my own journey, but was also able to make a case for why EA is worth fighting for.
Third Wave Effective Altruism by @Ben_West: A short post, but one that came at exactly the right time. I think this is a really important topic for EA to be thinking about right now and look forward to more posts inspired by it next year.
The Seeker’s Game – Vignettes from the Bay by @Yulia: I really enjoyed both the human perspective of this post, and the style with which it was written.
Best Sequence I read this year:
The CURVE Sequence: Causes and Uncertainty: Rethinking Value in Expectation from Rethink Priorities: This sequence was utterly brilliant. All its posts are well-written and led to good discussion from the community. I particularly want to shout out Arvo’s piece that stress-tested what EV from x-risk looks like under specific assumptions.
EA Forum Posters of the Year:
@titotal - I really value titotal’s contributions to the Forum. Even though I sometimes disagree I always learn a lot by thinking about where and why I do so, and I hope they stick around so I can continue to learn from them.
@Holly_Elmore - Similarly to Titotal, while I don’t always agree with Holly she just makes really solid points that always positively add to the discussion. Often she’s able to clearly find the crux of a debate and ask the key questions.
@Ivy Mazzola - Whenever I’ve seen Ivy post on the Forum, even on heated topics, she always approaches them with integrity and grace that I really wanted to give recognition to.
@David Mathers - When David discusses ideas in the Forum he consistently does so in a good faith and truth-seeking way that really shows engagement on the Forum at its best.
Non-Forum EA Poasters of the Year:
David Thorstad (on his blog) - I’ve really appreciated David’s blog this year. I don’t always agree, and you can find me in the comments pushing back sometimes, I’ve found his content high quality overall, especially on Existential Risk and the Time of Perils.
Agustín (on Twitter) - Agus has been really fighting the good fighting in the Twitter trenches recently, on all sorts of topics (though sadly on the terrible state of AI discourse). Somehow he manages to translate complicated EA ideas clearly, convincingly, and remain calm in the face of less-than-charitable interlocutors.
Nathan Young (on Twitter) - Nathan’s commitment to honest exploration of his beliefs, dialogue with those who disagree, and finding mechanisms of belief resolution has been constantly inspiring.
Congrats to the winners! Feel free to give them more plaudits in the comments or just shout out your own Forum favourites from this year! I wish everyone who’s reading this every success in the year to come and I look forward to reading more good content on the Forum in 2024!
Note that all of the award categories and choices are arbitrary, this is an intensely vibes-based post
Thanks for saying nice things about me! For the record, I also think David Thorstad’s contributions are very valuable (whether or not his views are ultimately correct).
This is a lovely idea. Bravo!