There’s a narrative of a woman with the pseudonym Sarah who volunteered with EA London. Dan writes:
“[Effective Altruism] presented a version of herself or a future that she saw as incompatible with the type of impactful person she wanted to be. The notion of the onus of personal responsibility or triumph replayed claims of elitism she’d earlier mentioned, in that she’d have to think of their collective giving as a type of ‘tax’. The meaning of those practises, the positions they occupy and the selves they created were problematic rather than the practises in and of themselves. … Sarah ultimately left the Effective Altruists, thanking them for their time.”
For what it’s worth, I’m not sure how much of the EA London community Dan managed to capture, but I think there’s something in this. I do think some people leave EA, not because they think the logic is wrong or anything, but because they can’t see themselves as the Earning-to-Give hero in a story with such excessive wealth inequality. It’s not the kind of impact they’re okay with having, not the kind of person they want to be.
I doubt there’s a good way of manipulating EA culture to present the variety of visions people would need to jump on board. I suspect it will take a decent amount of time for EA to mature and develop before there are the multiplicity of alive paths that will attract a greater number of people.
There’s a narrative of a woman with the pseudonym Sarah who volunteered with EA London. Dan writes:
“[Effective Altruism] presented a version of herself or a future that she saw as incompatible with the type of impactful person she wanted to be. The notion of the onus of personal responsibility or triumph replayed claims of elitism she’d earlier mentioned, in that she’d have to think of their collective giving as a type of ‘tax’. The meaning of those practises, the positions they occupy and the selves they created were problematic rather than the practises in and of themselves. … Sarah ultimately left the Effective Altruists, thanking them for their time.”
For what it’s worth, I’m not sure how much of the EA London community Dan managed to capture, but I think there’s something in this. I do think some people leave EA, not because they think the logic is wrong or anything, but because they can’t see themselves as the Earning-to-Give hero in a story with such excessive wealth inequality. It’s not the kind of impact they’re okay with having, not the kind of person they want to be.
Since I just listened to it I can’t help but see parallels to Mauricio Miller describing the certain visions the poor need to latch onto in order to be lifted from poverty: http://www.econtalk.org/mauricio-miller-on-poverty-social-work-and-the-alternative/
I doubt there’s a good way of manipulating EA culture to present the variety of visions people would need to jump on board. I suspect it will take a decent amount of time for EA to mature and develop before there are the multiplicity of alive paths that will attract a greater number of people.