This is sort of a loose reply to your essay. (The things I say about “EA” are just my impressions of the movement as a whole.)
I think that EA has aesthetics, it’s just that the (probably not totally conscious) aesthetic value behind them is “lowkeyness” or “minimalism”. The Forum and logo seems simple and minimalistically warm, classy, and functional to me.
Your mention of Christianity focuses more on medieval-derived / Catholic elements. Those lean more “thick” and “nationalistic”. (“Nationalistic” like “building up a people group that has a deeper emotional identity and shared history”, maybe one which can motivate the strongest interpersonal and communitarian bonds). But there are other versions of Christianity, more modern / Protestant / Puritan / desert. Sometimes people are put off by the poor aesthetics of Protestant Christianity, but at some times and in some contexts, people prefer Protestantism over Catholicism, despite its relative aesthetic poverty. I think one set of things that Puritan (and to an extent Protestant), and desert Christianities have in common is self-discipline, work, and frugality. Self-discipline, work, and frugality seem to be a big part of being an EA, or at least in EA as it has been up to now. So maybe in that sense, EA (consciously or not) has exactly the aesthetic it should have.
I think aesthetic lack helps a movement be less “thick” and “nationalistic” and avoiding politics is an EA goal. (EA might like to affect politics, but avoid political identity at the same time.) If you have a “nice looking flag” you might “kill and die” for it. The more developed your identity, the more you feel like you have to engage in “wars” (at least flame wars) over it. I think EA is conflict-averse and wants to avoid politics (maybe it sometimes wants to change politics but not be politically committed? or change politics in the least “stereotypically political” way possible, least “politicized”?). EA favors normative uncertainty and being agnostic about what the good is. So EAs might not want to have more-developed aesthetics, if those aesthetics come with commitments.
I think the EA movement as it is is doing (more or less) the right thing aesthetically. But, the foundational ideas of EA (the things that change people’s lives so that they are altruistic in orientation and have a sense that there is work for them to do and that they have to do it “effectively”, or maybe that cause them to try to expand their moral circles) are ones that might ought to be exported to other cultures, perhaps to a secular culture that is the “thick” version of EA, or to existing more-”thick” cultures, like the various Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. cultures. A “thick EA” might innovate aesthetically and create a unique (secular, I assume) utopian vision in addition to the numerous other aesthetic/futuristic visions that exist. But “thick EA” would be a different thing than the existing “thin EA”.
It seems true that aesthetics provide an extra dimension that can lead to disagreement, conflict, misunderstanding, etc. So I agree that we’d want to be careful about it.
On the other hand that’s kind of why so much of everything is bland today, from architecture to politics. Sometimes you do want to present a bold vision that will alienate some people but perhaps rally even more. In a sense, EA already does this (it rallies a certain kind of person and puts off other kinds), and I think adding a layer of good aesthetics would make it possibly more effective at doing that. But it is a risk.
This is sort of a loose reply to your essay. (The things I say about “EA” are just my impressions of the movement as a whole.)
I think that EA has aesthetics, it’s just that the (probably not totally conscious) aesthetic value behind them is “lowkeyness” or “minimalism”. The Forum and logo seems simple and minimalistically warm, classy, and functional to me.
Your mention of Christianity focuses more on medieval-derived / Catholic elements. Those lean more “thick” and “nationalistic”. (“Nationalistic” like “building up a people group that has a deeper emotional identity and shared history”, maybe one which can motivate the strongest interpersonal and communitarian bonds). But there are other versions of Christianity, more modern / Protestant / Puritan / desert. Sometimes people are put off by the poor aesthetics of Protestant Christianity, but at some times and in some contexts, people prefer Protestantism over Catholicism, despite its relative aesthetic poverty. I think one set of things that Puritan (and to an extent Protestant), and desert Christianities have in common is self-discipline, work, and frugality. Self-discipline, work, and frugality seem to be a big part of being an EA, or at least in EA as it has been up to now. So maybe in that sense, EA (consciously or not) has exactly the aesthetic it should have.
I think aesthetic lack helps a movement be less “thick” and “nationalistic” and avoiding politics is an EA goal. (EA might like to affect politics, but avoid political identity at the same time.) If you have a “nice looking flag” you might “kill and die” for it. The more developed your identity, the more you feel like you have to engage in “wars” (at least flame wars) over it. I think EA is conflict-averse and wants to avoid politics (maybe it sometimes wants to change politics but not be politically committed? or change politics in the least “stereotypically political” way possible, least “politicized”?). EA favors normative uncertainty and being agnostic about what the good is. So EAs might not want to have more-developed aesthetics, if those aesthetics come with commitments.
I think the EA movement as it is is doing (more or less) the right thing aesthetically. But, the foundational ideas of EA (the things that change people’s lives so that they are altruistic in orientation and have a sense that there is work for them to do and that they have to do it “effectively”, or maybe that cause them to try to expand their moral circles) are ones that might ought to be exported to other cultures, perhaps to a secular culture that is the “thick” version of EA, or to existing more-”thick” cultures, like the various Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. cultures. A “thick EA” might innovate aesthetically and create a unique (secular, I assume) utopian vision in addition to the numerous other aesthetic/futuristic visions that exist. But “thick EA” would be a different thing than the existing “thin EA”.
It seems true that aesthetics provide an extra dimension that can lead to disagreement, conflict, misunderstanding, etc. So I agree that we’d want to be careful about it.
On the other hand that’s kind of why so much of everything is bland today, from architecture to politics. Sometimes you do want to present a bold vision that will alienate some people but perhaps rally even more. In a sense, EA already does this (it rallies a certain kind of person and puts off other kinds), and I think adding a layer of good aesthetics would make it possibly more effective at doing that. But it is a risk.