Phrases like “EA elevates people” are becoming common, but it is very unclear what it means. Nick Bostrom created groundbreaking philosophical ideas. Will MacAskill has written extremely popular books and built communities and movements. Sam Bankman Fried became the richest man under 30 in a matter of months. All of these people have influenced and inspired many EAs because of their actions.
Under any reasonable sense of the word, people are elevating themselves. I think EA is incredibly free from ‘cult of personality’ problems—in fact it’s amazing how quickly people will turn against popular EAs. But in any group, some people are going to get status for doing their work well.
Phrases like “EA elevates people” are becoming common, but it is very unclear what it means. Nick Bostrom created groundbreaking philosophical ideas. Will MacAskill has written extremely popular books and built communities and movements. Sam Bankman Fried became the richest man under 30 in a matter of months. All of these people have influenced and inspired many EAs because of their actions.
Under any reasonable sense of the word, people are elevating themselves. I think EA is incredibly free from ‘cult of personality’ problems—in fact it’s amazing how quickly people will turn against popular EAs. But in any group, some people are going to get status for doing their work well.