David—you raise many interesting and thoughtful points here.
I think in terms of local movement-building, there can be tradeoffs between increasing the strength of bonds and mutual support within the existing EA micro-communities (e.g. city-level groups), versus promoting EA ideas and insights in other groups. The latter could include giving talks or organizing discussions about specific EA cause areas (rather than ‘EA in general’) in local universities, churches, civic groups, political activist groups, etc. For example, in terms of impact, giving one talk about global public health issues at a local mega-church that has a couple of thousand people—many of whom are already donating to (ineffective) charities—might be more effective than running a local EA group for a dozen people for a year.
David—you raise many interesting and thoughtful points here.
I think in terms of local movement-building, there can be tradeoffs between increasing the strength of bonds and mutual support within the existing EA micro-communities (e.g. city-level groups), versus promoting EA ideas and insights in other groups. The latter could include giving talks or organizing discussions about specific EA cause areas (rather than ‘EA in general’) in local universities, churches, civic groups, political activist groups, etc. For example, in terms of impact, giving one talk about global public health issues at a local mega-church that has a couple of thousand people—many of whom are already donating to (ineffective) charities—might be more effective than running a local EA group for a dozen people for a year.