The high-value people from the early days of effective altruism are disengaging, and the high-value people who might join are not engaging. There are people who were once quite crucial to the development of EA ‘fundamentals’ who have since parted ways, and have done so because they are disenchanted with the direction in which they see us heading.
More concretely, I’ve heard many reports to the effect: ‘EA doesn’t seem to be the place where the most novel/talented/influential people are gravitating, because there aren’t community quality controls.’ While inclusivity is really important in most circumstances, it has a downside risk here that we seem to be experiencing. I believe we are likely to lose the interest and enthusiasm of those who are most valuable to our pursuits, because they don’t feel like they are around peers, and/or because they don’t feel that they are likely to be socially rewarded for their extreme dedication or thoughtfulness.
I think that the community’s dip in quality comes in part from the fact that you can get most of the community benefits without being a community benefactor—e.g. invitations to parties and likes on Facebook. At the same time, one incurs social costs for being more tireless and selfless (e.g., skipping parties to work), for being more willing to express controversial views (e.g., views that conflict with clan norms), or for being more willing to do important but low-status jobs (e.g., office manager, assistant). There’s a lot that we’d need to do in order to change this, but as a first step we should be more attentive to the fact that this is happening.
Anonymous #32(b):
What communities are the most novel/talented/influential people gravitating towards? How are they better?
I upvoted this mostly because it was new information to me, but I have the same questions as Richard.