Like other commenters, to back-up the tone of this piece, Iâd want to see further evidence of these kinds of conversations (e.g., which online circles are you hearing this in?).
That said, itâs pretty clear that the funding available is very large, and itâd be surprising if that news didnât get out. Even in wealthy countries, becoming a community builder in effective altruism might just be one of the most profitable jobs for students or early-career professionals. Iâm not saying it shouldnât be, but Iâd be surprised if there werenât (eventually) conversations like the ones you described. And even if I think âthe vultures are circlingâ is a little alarmist right now, I appreciate the post pointing to this issue.
On that issue: I agree with your suggestions of âwhat not to doââI think these knee-jerk reactions could easily cause bigger problems than they solve. But what are we to do? What potential damage could there be if the kind of behaviour you described did become substantially more prevalent?
Hereâs one of my concerns: we might lose something that makes EA pretty special right now. Iâm an early-career employee who just started working at an EA org . And something thatâs struck me is just how much I can trust (and feel trusted by) people working on completely different things in other organisations.
Iâm constantly describing parts of my work environment to friends and family outside of EA, and something I often have to repeat is that âOh no, I donât work with themâtheyâre a totally different legal entityâitâs just that we really want to cooperate with each other because we share (or respect the differences in) each otherâs valuesâ. If I had to start second-guessing what peopleâs motives were, Iâm pretty sure I wouldnât feel able to trust so easily. And thatâd be pretty sad.
Like other commenters, to back-up the tone of this piece, Iâd want to see further evidence of these kinds of conversations (e.g., which online circles are you hearing this in?).
That said, itâs pretty clear that the funding available is very large, and itâd be surprising if that news didnât get out. Even in wealthy countries, becoming a community builder in effective altruism might just be one of the most profitable jobs for students or early-career professionals. Iâm not saying it shouldnât be, but Iâd be surprised if there werenât (eventually) conversations like the ones you described. And even if I think âthe vultures are circlingâ is a little alarmist right now, I appreciate the post pointing to this issue.
On that issue: I agree with your suggestions of âwhat not to doââI think these knee-jerk reactions could easily cause bigger problems than they solve. But what are we to do? What potential damage could there be if the kind of behaviour you described did become substantially more prevalent?
Hereâs one of my concerns: we might lose something that makes EA pretty special right now. Iâm an early-career employee who just started working at an EA org . And something thatâs struck me is just how much I can trust (and feel trusted by) people working on completely different things in other organisations.
Iâm constantly describing parts of my work environment to friends and family outside of EA, and something I often have to repeat is that âOh no, I donât work with themâtheyâre a totally different legal entityâitâs just that we really want to cooperate with each other because we share (or respect the differences in) each otherâs valuesâ. If I had to start second-guessing what peopleâs motives were, Iâm pretty sure I wouldnât feel able to trust so easily. And thatâd be pretty sad.
Strong upvote for the erosion of trust being one of the things Iâm really worried about.
Agree strongly. Eroding the high trust EA community would be really sad. Donât have much to add, except a strong upvote.
How about also adding links to your sources?