The core of EA has always been about using our the most of our will and the best of our reason to do the most good we can. So you can be “EA” even if you disagree with many directions the community has decided to go or forgot, and if individual actors, even powerful members, have made choices you disagree with. For a while, I have disagreed strongly with some of decisions by elites in the EA community, but this commitment to a robust community of different, conflicting voices, with a shared commitment to doing good the best we know how, is what we are about.
So, it might not be the easiest to be associated with EA due to the recent SBF news, but I think it’s probably important to show your commitment. And if anyone asks you, it’s not about any one billionaire or group of people, but rather about you and your business’s commitment to a set of principles.
I think this is a good question to think about. I agree it would continue to be great to endorse the principles rather than the movement. I personally have wondered to what extent I personally and our company should endorse EA, because some of its associations are good, and others maybe not so much. I ended up sometimes talking about EA, but mostly talking about the principles and not actively saying the company or I are EA’s. I see a lot of EA aligned companies taking the same approach. This seems like it might be good for both the company, and perhaps also EA, especially if there’s bad news around the company, like with FTX right now.
It might be good for the EA movement for this company to show commitment, but it might be bad for this particular company if it leads to bad PR and negative brand associations. It could be net positive to take a hit on your brand if you continue to help people discover EA, but it’s also a difficult decision to make when you run a company, and it’s hard to find out which weighs heavier: the performance of this company or the influence it has in EA.
The core of EA has always been about using our the most of our will and the best of our reason to do the most good we can. So you can be “EA” even if you disagree with many directions the community has decided to go or forgot, and if individual actors, even powerful members, have made choices you disagree with. For a while, I have disagreed strongly with some of decisions by elites in the EA community, but this commitment to a robust community of different, conflicting voices, with a shared commitment to doing good the best we know how, is what we are about.
So, it might not be the easiest to be associated with EA due to the recent SBF news, but I think it’s probably important to show your commitment. And if anyone asks you, it’s not about any one billionaire or group of people, but rather about you and your business’s commitment to a set of principles.
I think this is a good question to think about. I agree it would continue to be great to endorse the principles rather than the movement. I personally have wondered to what extent I personally and our company should endorse EA, because some of its associations are good, and others maybe not so much. I ended up sometimes talking about EA, but mostly talking about the principles and not actively saying the company or I are EA’s. I see a lot of EA aligned companies taking the same approach. This seems like it might be good for both the company, and perhaps also EA, especially if there’s bad news around the company, like with FTX right now.
It might be good for the EA movement for this company to show commitment, but it might be bad for this particular company if it leads to bad PR and negative brand associations. It could be net positive to take a hit on your brand if you continue to help people discover EA, but it’s also a difficult decision to make when you run a company, and it’s hard to find out which weighs heavier: the performance of this company or the influence it has in EA.