I agree that when introducing EA to someone for the first, it’s often better to lead with a “thick” version, and then bring in thin later.
(I should have maybe better clarified that my aim wasn’t to provide a new popular introduction, but rather to better clarify what “thin” EA actually is. I hope this will inform future popular intros to EA, but that involves a lot of extra steps.)
I also agree that many objections are about EA in practice rather than the ‘thin’ core ideas, and that it can be annoying to retreat back to thin EA, and that it’s often better to start by responding to the objections to thick. Still, I think it would be ideal if more people understood the thin/thick distinction (I could imagine more objections starting with “I agree we should try to find the highest-impact actions, but I disagree with the current priorities of the community because...), so I think it’s worth making some efforts in that direction.
Hi Greg,
I agree that when introducing EA to someone for the first, it’s often better to lead with a “thick” version, and then bring in thin later.
(I should have maybe better clarified that my aim wasn’t to provide a new popular introduction, but rather to better clarify what “thin” EA actually is. I hope this will inform future popular intros to EA, but that involves a lot of extra steps.)
I also agree that many objections are about EA in practice rather than the ‘thin’ core ideas, and that it can be annoying to retreat back to thin EA, and that it’s often better to start by responding to the objections to thick. Still, I think it would be ideal if more people understood the thin/thick distinction (I could imagine more objections starting with “I agree we should try to find the highest-impact actions, but I disagree with the current priorities of the community because...), so I think it’s worth making some efforts in that direction.
Thanks for the other thoughts!