I think for me a real barrier is the fact that I barrel ahead with the ideas too quickly… like I want to jump straight in at the deep-end with “we should think of all lives as equally important and we should be trying to consider the ways our donation can go farthest”—that idea on its own maybe isn’t controversial, but probably hasn’t engaged my conversational partner in the same way as in your example.
One of the main motivations for me writing this post was to have a mental checklist when discussing EA so that I don’t barrel ahead without bringing the other person along for the ride :)
So for me, I think it’s useful to have a framework in my head so I can ensure that these ideas build upon each other:
1. do they want to do some good in the world
2. do they agree that all lives are equally important
3. do they agree that there are some situations where your donation/time will make far more of a difference than others
4. do they agree that it is possible/worthwhile to figure out which interventions are the most effective
5. this stuff is really engaging and there is already a whole movement that you can join so you don’t have to do all this on your own!
That’s a simplified framework (I just tried to pick out the key beats in your conversation example) but it definitely helps for me to have a framework :)
I love this!
I think for me a real barrier is the fact that I barrel ahead with the ideas too quickly… like I want to jump straight in at the deep-end with “we should think of all lives as equally important and we should be trying to consider the ways our donation can go farthest”—that idea on its own maybe isn’t controversial, but probably hasn’t engaged my conversational partner in the same way as in your example.
One of the main motivations for me writing this post was to have a mental checklist when discussing EA so that I don’t barrel ahead without bringing the other person along for the ride :)
So for me, I think it’s useful to have a framework in my head so I can ensure that these ideas build upon each other:
1. do they want to do some good in the world
2. do they agree that all lives are equally important
3. do they agree that there are some situations where your donation/time will make far more of a difference than others
4. do they agree that it is possible/worthwhile to figure out which interventions are the most effective
5. this stuff is really engaging and there is already a whole movement that you can join so you don’t have to do all this on your own!
That’s a simplified framework (I just tried to pick out the key beats in your conversation example) but it definitely helps for me to have a framework :)