I think outreach directed at high schoolers feels more ethically questionable to me than outreach directed at students. I roughly think that high-schoolers tend to be significantly more impressionable/vulnerable, especially when talking to people who they consider worthy of respect. Admittedly, this also seems true of college students, albeit to a lesser degree, so I think I’m drawing arbitrary lines in the sand. But it feels different to do it with a minor/somebody still in school.
With all that said, I went to ESPR, and had an incredibly positive experience, that I think has significantly increased my expected lifetime impact! (I first went at 17). But I know people who also had pretty negative experiences (much more with the rationality side than EA, which wasn’t strongly emphasised)
I agree that this point is worth taking seriously. But isn’t the counterfactual simply that the folks are influenced (deliberately, or not) by other sets of ideas/values, and so we might as well make an effort—carefully, thoughtfully, etc—to share ‘our’ values?
I disagree that the counterfactual is comparable. I agree that they will have SOME influences, but I think the magnitude of influence really matters. By default, people aren’t exposed to strong, deliberate influence of the kind described in this post, for any set of ideas/values.
I guess you could argue that living in the West is a process of ambient influence towards Western values?
I think outreach directed at high schoolers feels more ethically questionable to me than outreach directed at students. I roughly think that high-schoolers tend to be significantly more impressionable/vulnerable, especially when talking to people who they consider worthy of respect. Admittedly, this also seems true of college students, albeit to a lesser degree, so I think I’m drawing arbitrary lines in the sand. But it feels different to do it with a minor/somebody still in school.
With all that said, I went to ESPR, and had an incredibly positive experience, that I think has significantly increased my expected lifetime impact! (I first went at 17). But I know people who also had pretty negative experiences (much more with the rationality side than EA, which wasn’t strongly emphasised)
I agree that this point is worth taking seriously. But isn’t the counterfactual simply that the folks are influenced (deliberately, or not) by other sets of ideas/values, and so we might as well make an effort—carefully, thoughtfully, etc—to share ‘our’ values?
I think the set of values commonly ascribed to EA is both more totalizing and a stronger attractor state than most counterfactuals.
I disagree that the counterfactual is comparable. I agree that they will have SOME influences, but I think the magnitude of influence really matters. By default, people aren’t exposed to strong, deliberate influence of the kind described in this post, for any set of ideas/values.
I guess you could argue that living in the West is a process of ambient influence towards Western values?