I thoroughly endorse this message, and say that as someone who does meta work full time (some of it as few steps from direct impact as possible, like directly fundraising for GiveWell charities in the here and now, but some of it several risky steps away, like the exact EA chapter push that Peter refers to). In particular, I endorse the suggestion of always keeping up some level of donations to the direct charities that you ultimately care about. (And, with characteristic nobility, I’m saying that against my own interest, as it decreases my chance of being able to hire people/eat/do other good stuff.)
You already know that I think this from my comments on your initial draft, but to repeat some of them here:
On our EA chapter push specifically, it’s very reasonable to be nervous about some of the steps in the chain, and I am too.
I agree that “some meta-projects may have the highest impact in expectation”, but think that applies to only a few carefully chosen ones. It’s not a case of “the meta the better”, and there’s not unlimited room for worthwhile meta-projects to keep expanding.
I think it’s still too strong to say that “to understand the meta-impact that meta-work has, it’s important to have opinions on which [object-level cause] is best” (my emphasis).
Anything which works towards building the EA movement or recruiting self-identified EAs who plan to do good for the rest of their lives (even if it’s certain to succeed in these aims) inherits many failure points and speculative steps in its pathway to ultimate impact. I still think this work is sometimes worthwhile, but it’s important to be conscious of this weakness.
Can confirm. When I try it with a British accent, I notice my voice sounds faked and pretentious. When I just remove the “r” from the end of “better” while using my normal accent I sound like any character of the Martin Scorsese film The Departed. This is fun. I might talk like this all the time now.
I thoroughly endorse this message, and say that as someone who does meta work full time (some of it as few steps from direct impact as possible, like directly fundraising for GiveWell charities in the here and now, but some of it several risky steps away, like the exact EA chapter push that Peter refers to). In particular, I endorse the suggestion of always keeping up some level of donations to the direct charities that you ultimately care about. (And, with characteristic nobility, I’m saying that against my own interest, as it decreases my chance of being able to hire people/eat/do other good stuff.)
You already know that I think this from my comments on your initial draft, but to repeat some of them here:
On our EA chapter push specifically, it’s very reasonable to be nervous about some of the steps in the chain, and I am too.
I agree that “some meta-projects may have the highest impact in expectation”, but think that applies to only a few carefully chosen ones. It’s not a case of “the meta the better”, and there’s not unlimited room for worthwhile meta-projects to keep expanding.
I think it’s still too strong to say that “to understand the meta-impact that meta-work has, it’s important to have opinions on which [object-level cause] is best” (my emphasis).
Anything which works towards building the EA movement or recruiting self-identified EAs who plan to do good for the rest of their lives (even if it’s certain to succeed in these aims) inherits many failure points and speculative steps in its pathway to ultimate impact. I still think this work is sometimes worthwhile, but it’s important to be conscious of this weakness.
I think you mean “the more meta the better”.
It works as a pun in nonrhotic (e.g., some British) accents.
Can confirm. When I try it with a British accent, I notice my voice sounds faked and pretentious. When I just remove the “r” from the end of “better” while using my normal accent I sound like any character of the Martin Scorsese film The Departed. This is fun. I might talk like this all the time now.
US east coast (Boston etc) is also traditionally nonrhotic.
Hence Evan’s example of The Departed, which is my model of what Bostonians sound like. ;)