It was the MIRI Summer Fellows in 2015. For full disclosure it was not about EA, and I came off it being turned off by EA aesthetics. But it was where I first heard about the movement, and it was crucial for my involvement in the long term.
It’s hard to pinpoint but I think it’s somehting along the lines of a) the messaging didn’t match my perceived self-image (“I am not an altruist”), b) they seemed weirdly fanatical (“donating 10% of my money seems crazy weird”) and c) I was not impressed with the people I interacted with (concretely the people from eg the rationality community seemed comparatively more thoughful and to be working on cooler things).
I am unsure of whether I would have changed my mind had I interacted more with the community at that time—I think the quality of discussion has improved a lot since then.
> How did it end up being crucial for your long-term engagement?
After the MIRI Summer Fellows I started organizing a community in Spain (primarily about rationality, though some of the other people involved were self-identifying Effective Altruists and we also organized events about that. I also participated in several more Rationality and Effective Altruism events.
I kept talking to Effective Altruists regularly, and eventually became convinced that they were working on cool things and that it was a community I wanted to be a part of.
Retreats are awesome!
It was the MIRI Summer Fellows in 2015. For full disclosure it was not about EA, and I came off it being turned off by EA aesthetics. But it was where I first heard about the movement, and it was crucial for my involvement in the long term.
Ah, interesting! Two questions:
Why did you end up being turned off by EA?
How did it end up being crucial for your long-term engagement?
It’s hard to pinpoint but I think it’s somehting along the lines of a) the messaging didn’t match my perceived self-image (“I am not an altruist”), b) they seemed weirdly fanatical (“donating 10% of my money seems crazy weird”) and c) I was not impressed with the people I interacted with (concretely the people from eg the rationality community seemed comparatively more thoughful and to be working on cooler things).
I am unsure of whether I would have changed my mind had I interacted more with the community at that time—I think the quality of discussion has improved a lot since then.
> How did it end up being crucial for your long-term engagement?
After the MIRI Summer Fellows I started organizing a community in Spain (primarily about rationality, though some of the other people involved were self-identifying Effective Altruists and we also organized events about that. I also participated in several more Rationality and Effective Altruism events.
I kept talking to Effective Altruists regularly, and eventually became convinced that they were working on cool things and that it was a community I wanted to be a part of.