Thanks for posting, I think you have some great thoughts! I generally agree with the spirit of this post.
I do think it’s worth noting that what people view as “excessive” or “not frugal” is not always in line with reality. For instance, many people find it “excessive” to order a $10 uber to save 30 minutes, but don’t find it excessive to wait until the very last minute to book a train ticket such that the price has increased from $20 to $120. In my view the latter is more excessive. This is just to say that the actual numbers matter, rather than purely the vibes of the spending. But as you say, the vibes matter too for community culture.
If you haven’t already seen them, you might be interested in some other posts on similar issues:
Great point, I thought I could go in more detail but I actually originally intended to make this post a fraction of the length it ended up being already. But that could be a great companion post, maybe a list of specific ways that we could be frugal and a detailed analysis of when it would make sense to spend money in order to save more valuable time and resources. And I appreciate those links will definitely check them out!
Thanks for posting, I think you have some great thoughts! I generally agree with the spirit of this post.
I do think it’s worth noting that what people view as “excessive” or “not frugal” is not always in line with reality. For instance, many people find it “excessive” to order a $10 uber to save 30 minutes, but don’t find it excessive to wait until the very last minute to book a train ticket such that the price has increased from $20 to $120. In my view the latter is more excessive. This is just to say that the actual numbers matter, rather than purely the vibes of the spending. But as you say, the vibes matter too for community culture.
If you haven’t already seen them, you might be interested in some other posts on similar issues:
Free Spending EA Might Be A Problem For Optics and Epistemics
EA and the Current Funding Situation
Bad Omens in Current Community Building
Great point, I thought I could go in more detail but I actually originally intended to make this post a fraction of the length it ended up being already. But that could be a great companion post, maybe a list of specific ways that we could be frugal and a detailed analysis of when it would make sense to spend money in order to save more valuable time and resources. And I appreciate those links will definitely check them out!