I find it implausible that EA movement building is net-negative (<10%). However, I do appreciate the importance of not being unconditionally enthusiastic about movement-building as some specific forms may very well be net-negative. Some things I’d like to be aware of going forward: 1. Attempt to do things that reasonable non-EA entities will find valuable (e.g., by not being dependent on EA funders and collaborating more with non-EA actors). 2. Be very aware of who we put on a pedestal as promoters and social role models. E.g., I appreciate Macaskill in many ways and have been inspired by him but I think he’s too emphasized as the EA leader/role model and would like to hear other voices better represented.
If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is negative. I honestly can’t see how you can be very confident in the latter. Skrewing things up is easy; unintentionally messing up AI/LTF stuff seems easy and given high-stakes causing massive amounts of harm is an option (it’s not an uncommon belief that FLI’s Puerto Rico conferences turned out negatively, for example).
“If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is negative.”I think you might mean something like “If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is definitely not negative.”?. I think it depends on how we operationalize community-building. I can definitely see how some forms of community-building is probably negative and I’d want for it to be high quality and relatively targetted. What are some of the reasons why people think the Puerto Rico conference is negative?
Yes, I agree that there’s a non-negligible P that this will happen and that some events will be very harmful (heavy-tailed). Currently, however, saying that it’s >10% seems too high but I could definitely change my mind. But I’m sufficiently worried about this to be skeptical of broad and low-fidelity outreach and I solicit advice from people who are generally skeptical of all forms of movement-building to be sure that we’re sufficiently circumspect in what we do.
I find it implausible that EA movement building is net-negative (<10%). However, I do appreciate the importance of not being unconditionally enthusiastic about movement-building as some specific forms may very well be net-negative. Some things I’d like to be aware of going forward:
1. Attempt to do things that reasonable non-EA entities will find valuable (e.g., by not being dependent on EA funders and collaborating more with non-EA actors).
2. Be very aware of who we put on a pedestal as promoters and social role models. E.g., I appreciate Macaskill in many ways and have been inspired by him but I think he’s too emphasized as the EA leader/role model and would like to hear other voices better represented.
If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is negative. I honestly can’t see how you can be very confident in the latter. Skrewing things up is easy; unintentionally messing up AI/LTF stuff seems easy and given high-stakes causing massive amounts of harm is an option (it’s not an uncommon belief that FLI’s Puerto Rico conferences turned out negatively, for example).
“If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is negative.”I think you might mean something like “If you think that movement building is effective in supporting the EA movement, you need to think that the EA movement is definitely not negative.”?.
I think it depends on how we operationalize community-building. I can definitely see how some forms of community-building is probably negative and I’d want for it to be high quality and relatively targetted.
What are some of the reasons why people think the Puerto Rico conference is negative?
The point was that there is a non-negligible probability that EA will end up negative.
Yes, I agree that there’s a non-negligible P that this will happen and that some events will be very harmful (heavy-tailed). Currently, however, saying that it’s >10% seems too high but I could definitely change my mind. But I’m sufficiently worried about this to be skeptical of broad and low-fidelity outreach and I solicit advice from people who are generally skeptical of all forms of movement-building to be sure that we’re sufficiently circumspect in what we do.