I think this has turned out really well Max. I like that this project looks set to aid with movement growth while improving the movement’s intellectual quality, because the content is high-quality and representative of current EA priorities. Maybe the latter is the larger benefit, and probably it will help everyone to feel more confident in accelerating the movement growth over time, and so I hope we can find more ways to have a similar effect!
What current EA priorities are according to the CEA is at odds with what many others think EA’s current priorities are. It appears the CEA, by putting more emphasis on x-risk reduction, is smuggling what they think EA’s current (proportional distribution) of priorities should be into a message about what EA’s current priorities actually are, in a way undermining the perspective of thousands of effective altruists. So the idea that this handbook will increase the movement’s intellectual quality is based on definitions of quality and representation for EA many effective altruists don’t share. I think this and future editions of the EA Handbook should be regarded as the community as drafts from the CEA until they carry out a project of getting as broad and substantial a swathe of feedback from important community actors as they can. This doesn’t have to be a program of populist democracy where each self-identified effective altruist gets a vote. But the CEA could run the EA Handbook by EA organizations which are just as crucial to effective altruism as the CEA which don’t have the phrase ‘effective altruism’ in their name, like ACE, Givewell, or any other organizations which are cause-specific but are community pillars nonetheless.
I think this has turned out really well Max. I like that this project looks set to aid with movement growth while improving the movement’s intellectual quality, because the content is high-quality and representative of current EA priorities. Maybe the latter is the larger benefit, and probably it will help everyone to feel more confident in accelerating the movement growth over time, and so I hope we can find more ways to have a similar effect!
What current EA priorities are according to the CEA is at odds with what many others think EA’s current priorities are. It appears the CEA, by putting more emphasis on x-risk reduction, is smuggling what they think EA’s current (proportional distribution) of priorities should be into a message about what EA’s current priorities actually are, in a way undermining the perspective of thousands of effective altruists. So the idea that this handbook will increase the movement’s intellectual quality is based on definitions of quality and representation for EA many effective altruists don’t share. I think this and future editions of the EA Handbook should be regarded as the community as drafts from the CEA until they carry out a project of getting as broad and substantial a swathe of feedback from important community actors as they can. This doesn’t have to be a program of populist democracy where each self-identified effective altruist gets a vote. But the CEA could run the EA Handbook by EA organizations which are just as crucial to effective altruism as the CEA which don’t have the phrase ‘effective altruism’ in their name, like ACE, Givewell, or any other organizations which are cause-specific but are community pillars nonetheless.