Somewhat tangentially, am I unusual in finding the idea of ‘thought leaders’ for a movement about careful and conscientious consideration of ideas profoundly uncomfortable?
Definitely not. Often when I see the term used in EA it’s being used negatively. To be fair though, the alternative terms I was considering using, “EA insiders”, “EA elites”, aren’t too comfortable either.
I think someone suggested this in previous discussions about what euphemism we could use for extreme/hardcore EAs. The problem here is that one can be a full time EA without being an insider and one can be an insider without being full time.
While I think that could be a fair metacritique, the science of social change nearly always requires thought leaders/leadership as a method of normalization. It’s likely a sociological hangover of our tribal evolved psychology, but every tribe looks for a tribal leader. I’d say the EA movement is doing a decent job of put forward thoughtful voices without building a messianic culture. What do you think?
This seemed more the case a couple of years ago. I think the pendulum has swung pretty hard in the other direction among EA thought leaders.
Somewhat tangentially, am I unusual in finding the idea of ‘thought leaders’ for a movement about careful and conscientious consideration of ideas profoundly uncomfortable?
Definitely not. Often when I see the term used in EA it’s being used negatively. To be fair though, the alternative terms I was considering using, “EA insiders”, “EA elites”, aren’t too comfortable either.
Maybe “full time EAs?”
I think someone suggested this in previous discussions about what euphemism we could use for extreme/hardcore EAs. The problem here is that one can be a full time EA without being an insider and one can be an insider without being full time.
While I think that could be a fair metacritique, the science of social change nearly always requires thought leaders/leadership as a method of normalization. It’s likely a sociological hangover of our tribal evolved psychology, but every tribe looks for a tribal leader. I’d say the EA movement is doing a decent job of put forward thoughtful voices without building a messianic culture. What do you think?
Yeah, I haven’t been checking. What data gave you that impression?