“The difference between donating, say, 10% of one’s income and 20% of one’s income is effectively just as good as adding another “10%’er” to the movement, but people seem to overlook the significance of this difference” I agree with you that people overlook it, but I think we disagree on the direction. :)
“Depending on career possibilities and income I’d guesstimate that a fully committed altruist usually accomplishes about as much as three to six people who do little beyond pledging” This seems reasonable. However, this will also lead to the conclusion that if you can recruit 10 people a year (or slightly less than one per month), who are at least as effective as yourself and who are about 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 as dedicated as you are, to join 1 year earlier than they otherwise would have, then your efforts should be focused on recruitment rather than increasing your own effectiveness. There are so few people familiar with EA now that this is very plausible, especially if you’re obsessed with recruitment.
“-I am wary of the risks of movement drifting and losing intellectual focus, and think that bringing too many non-aligned people on board can detract from our values and epistemic capabilities.” People complain about this all the time, but I don’t really see a plausible connection between “more people bringing down the average rationality” and “magically, worse analysis by EA organizations.”
“Fortunately, efforts which extend ‘sub-communities’ such as GWWC’s pledge and InIn’s effective giving can spread the movement without actuating a tradeoff.” Yes, I think this is true and a very important point.
“The difference between donating, say, 10% of one’s income and 20% of one’s income is effectively just as good as adding another “10%’er” to the movement, but people seem to overlook the significance of this difference” I agree with you that people overlook it, but I think we disagree on the direction. :)
“Depending on career possibilities and income I’d guesstimate that a fully committed altruist usually accomplishes about as much as three to six people who do little beyond pledging” This seems reasonable. However, this will also lead to the conclusion that if you can recruit 10 people a year (or slightly less than one per month), who are at least as effective as yourself and who are about 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 as dedicated as you are, to join 1 year earlier than they otherwise would have, then your efforts should be focused on recruitment rather than increasing your own effectiveness. There are so few people familiar with EA now that this is very plausible, especially if you’re obsessed with recruitment.
“-I am wary of the risks of movement drifting and losing intellectual focus, and think that bringing too many non-aligned people on board can detract from our values and epistemic capabilities.” People complain about this all the time, but I don’t really see a plausible connection between “more people bringing down the average rationality” and “magically, worse analysis by EA organizations.”
“Fortunately, efforts which extend ‘sub-communities’ such as GWWC’s pledge and InIn’s effective giving can spread the movement without actuating a tradeoff.” Yes, I think this is true and a very important point.