Does this not risk diluting EA into just another ineffective community.
The core of EA is cause-neutral good-maximization. The more we cater to people who cannot switch their chosen object-level intervention, the less ability the movement will have to coordinate and switch tracks. They will become offended by suggestions that their chosen intervention is not the best one. As it is I wish more people challenged how I prioritize things, but they probably don’t for fear of offending others as a general policy.
You say that suing the term “AI” without explanation is too much jargon. Is that really a reasonable standard? AI is not an obscure term. If you want us to avoid the term “AI” your standards of accessibility seem rather extreme.
I am in favor of non-dumbed-down language as it creates an added constraint in how I can communicate when I have to keep running a check on whether a person understands a concept I am referring to. I do agree that jargon generation is sometimes fueled by the desire for weird neologisms moreso than the desire to increase clarity.
You claim we should focus on making altruistic people effective instead of effective people altruistic.
I once observed: “Effectiveness without altruism is lame; altruism without effectiveness is blind.” ‘Effectiveness’ seems to load most of the Stuff that is needed; to Actually Do Good Things requires more of the Actually than the Good. It seems that people caring about others takes less skill than being able to accomplish consequential things. I am open to persuasion otherwise; I’ve experienced most people as more apathetic and nonchalant about the fate of the world, an enormous hindrance to being interested in effective altruism.
I second most of these concerns.
The core of EA is cause-neutral good-maximization. The more we cater to people who cannot switch their chosen object-level intervention, the less ability the movement will have to coordinate and switch tracks. They will become offended by suggestions that their chosen intervention is not the best one. As it is I wish more people challenged how I prioritize things, but they probably don’t for fear of offending others as a general policy.
I am in favor of non-dumbed-down language as it creates an added constraint in how I can communicate when I have to keep running a check on whether a person understands a concept I am referring to. I do agree that jargon generation is sometimes fueled by the desire for weird neologisms moreso than the desire to increase clarity.
I once observed: “Effectiveness without altruism is lame; altruism without effectiveness is blind.” ‘Effectiveness’ seems to load most of the Stuff that is needed; to Actually Do Good Things requires more of the Actually than the Good. It seems that people caring about others takes less skill than being able to accomplish consequential things. I am open to persuasion otherwise; I’ve experienced most people as more apathetic and nonchalant about the fate of the world, an enormous hindrance to being interested in effective altruism.