A small battalion of people who generate positive interactions when EA comes up on social media.
I read most of the tweets anyone ever writes that mention EA. Sometimes, I’ll intervene when I see an inaccurate statement from someone who means well and try to offer a cheerful correction. Or I’ll jump into a conversation that’s gone south and make a joke to lighten the mood. As one person, I’m not going to shift the tone of an Internet’s worth of conversations, but...
...well, what if people knew of EA as “the nicest, most helpful people on the internet”? They might hate our ideas, but what if they couldn’t help but admire our honesty, our charitableness, our kindness?
(I’ve seen Kelsey Piper convert multiple people toward EA positions on Tumblr through relentless application of the virtues above, so maybe I just want an organization full of Kelsey Pipers?)
I share this concern. I think this would be very hard to do, and I’d only want to see it happen conditional on there existing enough people with the skills to pull it off. Kelsey Piper exists, which means this kind of work is possible, but I don’t know how well sincerity can be taught.
I think this could be cool, but agree that the people should be pretty good. Perhaps it would work better with 1-3 “ambassadors” who are specifically chosen for being able to do this well, and do it full-time.
I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about random people trying this with lots of important people online, due to the complexity.
A small battalion of people who generate positive interactions when EA comes up on social media.
I read most of the tweets anyone ever writes that mention EA. Sometimes, I’ll intervene when I see an inaccurate statement from someone who means well and try to offer a cheerful correction. Or I’ll jump into a conversation that’s gone south and make a joke to lighten the mood. As one person, I’m not going to shift the tone of an Internet’s worth of conversations, but...
...well, what if people knew of EA as “the nicest, most helpful people on the internet”? They might hate our ideas, but what if they couldn’t help but admire our honesty, our charitableness, our kindness?
(I’ve seen Kelsey Piper convert multiple people toward EA positions on Tumblr through relentless application of the virtues above, so maybe I just want an organization full of Kelsey Pipers?)
If done well this could be good, but I worry that a concerted effort will most likely come across as fake or insincere and turn out to be a negative.
I share this concern. I think this would be very hard to do, and I’d only want to see it happen conditional on there existing enough people with the skills to pull it off. Kelsey Piper exists, which means this kind of work is possible, but I don’t know how well sincerity can be taught.
I think this could be cool, but agree that the people should be pretty good. Perhaps it would work better with 1-3 “ambassadors” who are specifically chosen for being able to do this well, and do it full-time.
I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about random people trying this with lots of important people online, due to the complexity.