In the comment that originated this thread, titotal made a good point about the need for counterfactual analysis. I think this factor is relatively weak for something like AI safety, where the EA contribution is very distinct. But it is a much bigger issue for things like mistreating interns or sexual misconduct, because I am not aware of any serious evidence that EA has these problems at higher than expected* rates.
* there is some subtly here with what the correct comparison is—e.g. are we controlling for demographics? polyamory? - but I have never seen any such statistical analysis with or without such controls.
In the comment that originated this thread, titotal made a good point about the need for counterfactual analysis. I think this factor is relatively weak for something like AI safety, where the EA contribution is very distinct. But it is a much bigger issue for things like mistreating interns or sexual misconduct, because I am not aware of any serious evidence that EA has these problems at higher than expected* rates.
* there is some subtly here with what the correct comparison is—e.g. are we controlling for demographics? polyamory? - but I have never seen any such statistical analysis with or without such controls.