I don’t think Dan’s statement implies the existence of those fairly specific beliefs you must endorse to “count” as an EA. Given that there is no authoritative measure of who is / isn’t an EA, it is more akin to a social identity one can choose to embrace or reject.
It’s common for an individual to decide not to identify with a certain community because of their aversion to a subpart or subgroup of that community. This remains true even where the subgroup is only a minority of the larger community, or the subpart is only a minor-ish portion of the community ideology.
My guess is that public identification as an EA is not a plus for the median established AI safety researcher, so there’s no benefit for someone in that position to adopt an EA identity if they have any significant reservations.
I don’t think Dan’s statement implies the existence of those fairly specific beliefs you must endorse to “count” as an EA. Given that there is no authoritative measure of who is / isn’t an EA, it is more akin to a social identity one can choose to embrace or reject.
It’s common for an individual to decide not to identify with a certain community because of their aversion to a subpart or subgroup of that community. This remains true even where the subgroup is only a minority of the larger community, or the subpart is only a minor-ish portion of the community ideology.
My guess is that public identification as an EA is not a plus for the median established AI safety researcher, so there’s no benefit for someone in that position to adopt an EA identity if they have any significant reservations.