The question wasn’t about misconceptions, as memes that misrepresent what EA is really about, but how EA has spread memes that misrepresent what it’s really about. In other words, the question is about what better memes EA should choose to send messages and represent itself better.
EA was never explicitly about mitigating global poverty, earning to give, ignoring change or utilitarianism. Yet for its first few years, EA disproportionately focused its public messaging on those memes. That’s caused these misconceptions about EA to persist for years longer and the point is to recognize how the cause of that is the mistake EA itself made.
Misconception #1: Effective altruism is just about fighting poverty
Misconception #2: Effective altruism is entirely about donations or earning to give
Misconception #3: Effective altruism ignores systemic change
Misconception #4: Effective altruism is just utilitarianism
from https://80000hours.org/2020/08/misconceptions-effective-altruism/
The question wasn’t about misconceptions, as memes that misrepresent what EA is really about, but how EA has spread memes that misrepresent what it’s really about. In other words, the question is about what better memes EA should choose to send messages and represent itself better.
EA was never explicitly about mitigating global poverty, earning to give, ignoring change or utilitarianism. Yet for its first few years, EA disproportionately focused its public messaging on those memes. That’s caused these misconceptions about EA to persist for years longer and the point is to recognize how the cause of that is the mistake EA itself made.