I’m very sympathetic to some of the signalling benefits of being (or at least appearing to be) frugal.
I just graduated from a uni with a large EA presence, and most of my very-motivated do-gooder friends were outside of EA (either affiliated with a homeless shelter I worked at, grad student union organizing, or various social justice causes on campus). Most of them were seemingly convinced that the EAs on campus weren’t actually interested in doing good, because there was money being spent on sending students to fly abroad for conferences, hosting discussion groups, opening an office/hang out space in our insanely expensive city, etc. Which, to be fair, was a far cry from how the campus homeless shelter I worked at was spending money — we cherished small donations from our fundraising drives, spending it almost exclusively on programs benefitting the guests we served, often just getting together basic bits of clothing and hygiene products.
I tried to explain to my friends the EA argument for spendy-ness (I still believe it is the best way to do good, deep down) but I just couldn’t seem to convince them that it wasn’t a ruse of motivated reasoning. Looking back on it, I’m bummed that some of my most passionate and talented friends, who were already choosing careers based on serving others, were turned off by this. I wish my friends’ first image of EA had even more similar to mine — things like the GWWC pledge and Singer’s famine affluence and morality — as I think that would have sold them on EA in the same way it first sold me on it. But they just saw social gatherings and professional development, and for students who were skipping out on studying and social events to do on-the-ground organizing and volunteering and public service, EA just didn’t seem all that selfless to begin with. I couldn’t really convince them otherwise, and I’m sad about that.
Wow. This is a really great concrete story of the benefit of signaling. Yeah, I find it so fascinating how Effective Altruism has evolved, and I really love all parts of it and think it is a very natural progression which somewhat mirrors my own. It is really unfortunate that not everyone sees this whole context, and I agree worth putting some effort into managing impressions even if it is in a sense a sort of marketing “pacing” which gradually introduces more advanced concepts rather than throwing out some of the crazier sounding bits of EA right off the bat
I’m very sympathetic to some of the signalling benefits of being (or at least appearing to be) frugal.
I just graduated from a uni with a large EA presence, and most of my very-motivated do-gooder friends were outside of EA (either affiliated with a homeless shelter I worked at, grad student union organizing, or various social justice causes on campus). Most of them were seemingly convinced that the EAs on campus weren’t actually interested in doing good, because there was money being spent on sending students to fly abroad for conferences, hosting discussion groups, opening an office/hang out space in our insanely expensive city, etc. Which, to be fair, was a far cry from how the campus homeless shelter I worked at was spending money — we cherished small donations from our fundraising drives, spending it almost exclusively on programs benefitting the guests we served, often just getting together basic bits of clothing and hygiene products.
I tried to explain to my friends the EA argument for spendy-ness (I still believe it is the best way to do good, deep down) but I just couldn’t seem to convince them that it wasn’t a ruse of motivated reasoning. Looking back on it, I’m bummed that some of my most passionate and talented friends, who were already choosing careers based on serving others, were turned off by this. I wish my friends’ first image of EA had even more similar to mine — things like the GWWC pledge and Singer’s famine affluence and morality — as I think that would have sold them on EA in the same way it first sold me on it. But they just saw social gatherings and professional development, and for students who were skipping out on studying and social events to do on-the-ground organizing and volunteering and public service, EA just didn’t seem all that selfless to begin with. I couldn’t really convince them otherwise, and I’m sad about that.
This is really sad to hear. Thank you for sharing.
Wow. This is a really great concrete story of the benefit of signaling. Yeah, I find it so fascinating how Effective Altruism has evolved, and I really love all parts of it and think it is a very natural progression which somewhat mirrors my own. It is really unfortunate that not everyone sees this whole context, and I agree worth putting some effort into managing impressions even if it is in a sense a sort of marketing “pacing” which gradually introduces more advanced concepts rather than throwing out some of the crazier sounding bits of EA right off the bat