You’re probably right, I’m asking the wrong people. I don’t know if there are many of the right people to ask within EA or outside of EA. The project cause area is mental health / personal development as it relates to well-being measured through life satisfaction. I feel like my potential sources of targeted feedback are highly constrained because:
Most non-EA professional coaches, therapists or psychologists are not equipped to consider my proposals given that life satisfaction is a relatively disconnected concept from their work. (As strange as that may sound). I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
Relatively few EAs seem to have an interest in mental health as a cause area beyond general knowledge of its existence, let alone specific knowledge.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Have you put together an actual proposal document? Having a well laid out and argued proposal would help professionals who are willing to take the time understand and critique your work, even if it’s kind of unconventional.
I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
To be fair, this is in a lot of cases not down to incuriosity or being too stupid or stubborn (although there are certainly a fair amount of that as well), but because they practice what they do because they believe it’s the best choice based on their years of training and experience. This is where a well put together, persuasive proposal could come in handy, it gives people the time and ability to peruse and think about it in a way that verbal conversation or jumbled messages don’t.
If you aren’t getting support from practitioners it may be a sign that this is better suited for research at this point. Establish the science behind what you’re trying to do before seeking implementation. Researcher are, in my experience, generally much more open to out of the box thinking because their risk is lower and potential rewards higher. They’re also more used to looking at proposals and giving feedback, so maybe reaching out to academics or doing something like an MA could be a better option for you at this stage if you’re sufficiently committed to this project to do it.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Just as an aside, I tend to be wary of this kind of thinking and try to self critique more when I find myself going that that line. The reason I say so is that while there are certainly very valuable wild thoughts that are wild enough that “normal thinkers” can’t meaningfully engage with them, they’re very few and far between and the illegality more frequently tends be the result of the arguments and thinking not being well supported, ideas not being connected well to each other, or significant flaws in the idea or how its presented.
You’re probably right, I’m asking the wrong people. I don’t know if there are many of the right people to ask within EA or outside of EA. The project cause area is mental health / personal development as it relates to well-being measured through life satisfaction. I feel like my potential sources of targeted feedback are highly constrained because:
Most non-EA professional coaches, therapists or psychologists are not equipped to consider my proposals given that life satisfaction is a relatively disconnected concept from their work. (As strange as that may sound). I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
Relatively few EAs seem to have an interest in mental health as a cause area beyond general knowledge of its existence, let alone specific knowledge.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Have you put together an actual proposal document? Having a well laid out and argued proposal would help professionals who are willing to take the time understand and critique your work, even if it’s kind of unconventional.
To be fair, this is in a lot of cases not down to incuriosity or being too stupid or stubborn (although there are certainly a fair amount of that as well), but because they practice what they do because they believe it’s the best choice based on their years of training and experience. This is where a well put together, persuasive proposal could come in handy, it gives people the time and ability to peruse and think about it in a way that verbal conversation or jumbled messages don’t.
If you aren’t getting support from practitioners it may be a sign that this is better suited for research at this point. Establish the science behind what you’re trying to do before seeking implementation. Researcher are, in my experience, generally much more open to out of the box thinking because their risk is lower and potential rewards higher. They’re also more used to looking at proposals and giving feedback, so maybe reaching out to academics or doing something like an MA could be a better option for you at this stage if you’re sufficiently committed to this project to do it.
Just as an aside, I tend to be wary of this kind of thinking and try to self critique more when I find myself going that that line. The reason I say so is that while there are certainly very valuable wild thoughts that are wild enough that “normal thinkers” can’t meaningfully engage with them, they’re very few and far between and the illegality more frequently tends be the result of the arguments and thinking not being well supported, ideas not being connected well to each other, or significant flaws in the idea or how its presented.