This post did not convince me that the business was created ‘for EA reasons.’
I think this is uncharitable and I gave small downvote as a result. Given those involved in this business are involved in the EA community and there is at least a plausible story to tell about why this is impactful, you’re essentially claiming accusing the OP of acting in bad faith when there isn’t compelling reason to do so.
And contrary to Forum standards, it was written to persuade, not to inform
I reread this and didn’t notice that it was written to persuade vs inform.
otherwise why would there be no studies listed that found no effect or a negative effect?
But I don’t know any practising doctors in the EA community, so this is definitely the wrong place to advertise
Again, I think it’s bad faith to assume the purpose is simply trying to make money from the participants of this forum. I think it’s fine, good even, for people in the community to tell others what they are doing. Where else is one supposed to make these announcements?
Facebook. Twitter. Your telephone. There are plenty of ways to talk to other EAs.
I think potentially the disagreement is whether the Forum should be a one-stop-shop for everything EA or whether it should be reserved for a particular kind of information about EA. I think the EA Forum should be used for sharing ideas with the EA community and receiving useful feedback. I don’t think this post is a good example of that.
(Also, I definitely didn’t think Aaron was acting in bad faith! He said he was selling a thing to the EA community and I agreed he was selling a thing to the EA community. I have no problem with that, just keep it off the Forum.)
I think the EA Forum should be used for sharing ideas with the EA community and receiving useful feedback. I don’t think this post is a good example of that.
Could you expand a little more about why it’s not a good example of “sharing ideas with the EA community and receiving useful feedback”?
i.e. expand more on how “selling something that you think is a good idea” differs from “sharing something that you think is a good idea”?
This is not an idea, it’s an event that has already been planned. If this post was ‘I think getting world leaders to use psychedelics would improve the long term future’ or ‘How we could decriminalize psychedelics in California’ or even ‘I’m hosting an event—how can I make it more useful?’, I’d be more okay with it.
fwiw, I posted stuff like this about 20 months ago, while still in the “idea” phase, and also received a chilly reception then. (I’ve since removed those posts to avoid Google indexing them.)
I think this is uncharitable and I gave small downvote as a result. Given those involved in this business are involved in the EA community and there is at least a plausible story to tell about why this is impactful, you’re essentially claiming accusing the OP of acting in bad faith when there isn’t compelling reason to do so.
I reread this and didn’t notice that it was written to persuade vs inform.
I’ve been looking at the research of psychedelics for a while—see https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wu9nEXWtvhEnYQTxG/high-time-for-drug-policy-reform-part-1-4-introduction-and and the other three posts in the series. I can’t recall a study claiming psychedelics have no or negative effects. I agree that is potentially suspicious, but it’s in line with my view that they have positive effects and there isn’t much research on this.
Again, I think it’s bad faith to assume the purpose is simply trying to make money from the participants of this forum. I think it’s fine, good even, for people in the community to tell others what they are doing. Where else is one supposed to make these announcements?
Facebook. Twitter. Your telephone. There are plenty of ways to talk to other EAs.
I think potentially the disagreement is whether the Forum should be a one-stop-shop for everything EA or whether it should be reserved for a particular kind of information about EA. I think the EA Forum should be used for sharing ideas with the EA community and receiving useful feedback. I don’t think this post is a good example of that.
(Also, I definitely didn’t think Aaron was acting in bad faith! He said he was selling a thing to the EA community and I agreed he was selling a thing to the EA community. I have no problem with that, just keep it off the Forum.)
Could you expand a little more about why it’s not a good example of “sharing ideas with the EA community and receiving useful feedback”?
i.e. expand more on how “selling something that you think is a good idea” differs from “sharing something that you think is a good idea”?
This is not an idea, it’s an event that has already been planned. If this post was ‘I think getting world leaders to use psychedelics would improve the long term future’ or ‘How we could decriminalize psychedelics in California’ or even ‘I’m hosting an event—how can I make it more useful?’, I’d be more okay with it.
Got it, thanks.
fwiw, I posted stuff like this about 20 months ago, while still in the “idea” phase, and also received a chilly reception then. (I’ve since removed those posts to avoid Google indexing them.)