My perspective (which may not differ too much from yoursâjust thinking out loud, Shortform-style):
I try to avoid using âeffective altruistâ as a noun for what I think of as âmembers of the EA communityâ or âpeople interested in effective giving/âworkâ, because I want the movement to feel very open to people who arenât ready to label themselves in that way.*
For example:
I like thinking of EA Global as âa conference for people who share a small set of common principles and do a wide variety of different things that they believe to be aligned with those principlesâ, rather than âa conference for people who think of themselves as effective altruistsâ. If you come to our conference regularly, I default to seeing you as a member of our community unless you tell me otherwise, but I donât default to seeing you as an âeffective altruistâ.
If you have strong and well-researched views on global health and development, Iâd love to have you at my EA meetup even if youâre not very interested in the EA movement.
I support anyone who wants to identify themselves as an effective altruist, and Iâm comfortable referring to myself as such, but I donât feel any desire to push people toward adopting that term if their inclination is to answer âare you an EA?â by talking about their values and goals, rather than their group affiliation.
*Thereâs also the tricky bit where calling oneself âeffectiveâ could be taken to indicate that youâre relatively confident that youâre having a lot of impact compared to your available resources, which many people in the community arenât, especially if they focus on more exploratory work/âcause areas.
I donât think having people label themselves with a nounââChristianâ, âdancerâ, âstudentâânecessarily makes other people uncomfortable associating with them. I donât think itâs wrong for people who arenât Christians to attend church, but I also donât think nobody referring to themselves as Christians would be a useful way to make people more comfortable at church. If youâre worried about people being uncomfortable at EAG, I think the name âEAâ is the least likely to be causing the problem.
I donât think thereâs anything necessary or inevitable about it! My sentiments reflect things Iâve seen other people say (e.g. âI donât know if I count as an âeffective altruistâ, Iâm new here/âdonât have belief Xâ), but how people feel about this and other identity questions is (of course) all over the map. And as I said, I have no problem with anyone referring to themselves as an effective altruistâI just donât have a problem with the opposite, either.
To use the church analogy: If some people at a church call themselves âChristiansâ, others âSouthern Baptistsâ, others âreligious seekersâ, others âspiritualâ, and still others âagnostic/âuncertainâ, I wouldnât expect that to make things less comfortable for newcomers. (Though attending Unitarian church as a kid might have left me biased in this area!)
I agree that there are many reasons someone might feel uncomfortable at a conference or community event, and I think we both see the particular question of when to use âeffective altruistâ is just one tiny facet of community cohesion.
My perspective (which may not differ too much from yoursâjust thinking out loud, Shortform-style):
I try to avoid using âeffective altruistâ as a noun for what I think of as âmembers of the EA communityâ or âpeople interested in effective giving/âworkâ, because I want the movement to feel very open to people who arenât ready to label themselves in that way.*
For example:
I like thinking of EA Global as âa conference for people who share a small set of common principles and do a wide variety of different things that they believe to be aligned with those principlesâ, rather than âa conference for people who think of themselves as effective altruistsâ. If you come to our conference regularly, I default to seeing you as a member of our community unless you tell me otherwise, but I donât default to seeing you as an âeffective altruistâ.
If you have strong and well-researched views on global health and development, Iâd love to have you at my EA meetup even if youâre not very interested in the EA movement.
I support anyone who wants to identify themselves as an effective altruist, and Iâm comfortable referring to myself as such, but I donât feel any desire to push people toward adopting that term if their inclination is to answer âare you an EA?â by talking about their values and goals, rather than their group affiliation.
*Thereâs also the tricky bit where calling oneself âeffectiveâ could be taken to indicate that youâre relatively confident that youâre having a lot of impact compared to your available resources, which many people in the community arenât, especially if they focus on more exploratory work/âcause areas.
I donât think having people label themselves with a nounââChristianâ, âdancerâ, âstudentâânecessarily makes other people uncomfortable associating with them. I donât think itâs wrong for people who arenât Christians to attend church, but I also donât think nobody referring to themselves as Christians would be a useful way to make people more comfortable at church. If youâre worried about people being uncomfortable at EAG, I think the name âEAâ is the least likely to be causing the problem.
I donât think thereâs anything necessary or inevitable about it! My sentiments reflect things Iâve seen other people say (e.g. âI donât know if I count as an âeffective altruistâ, Iâm new here/âdonât have belief Xâ), but how people feel about this and other identity questions is (of course) all over the map. And as I said, I have no problem with anyone referring to themselves as an effective altruistâI just donât have a problem with the opposite, either.
To use the church analogy: If some people at a church call themselves âChristiansâ, others âSouthern Baptistsâ, others âreligious seekersâ, others âspiritualâ, and still others âagnostic/âuncertainâ, I wouldnât expect that to make things less comfortable for newcomers. (Though attending Unitarian church as a kid might have left me biased in this area!)
I agree that there are many reasons someone might feel uncomfortable at a conference or community event, and I think we both see the particular question of when to use âeffective altruistâ is just one tiny facet of community cohesion.