When I poke my brain for prominent ‘centrally EA’ effective altruists I know or know of, the first four that come to mind (Kelsey Piper, Miranda Dixon-Luinenberg, Julia Galef, Ajeya Cotra) are women who write things.
This is doubtless more a function of what I read and which specific circles I walk in than something that holds universally, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most of the EA people in my particular corner of the scene gave overlapping names. That combined with the negative association I have with the word “cater” that you seem to lack (maybe it’s an American English thing? to me, ‘to cater to’ means ‘to put before others, to treat obsequiously’), made my initial reaction very much in line with smallsilo’s.
Ah interesting, I hadn’t considered that ‘cater’ might be construed differently elsewhere! In British English, it just means ‘to provide what is wanted or needed by someone or something’ (or alternatively, to provide food -which isn’t the meaning I was using here). So, the title would literally mean ‘does EA provide what is wanted or needed by women?’
Good point re: Kelsey Piper, Miranda Dixon-Luinenberg, Julia Galef, Ajeya Cotra. I hadn’t considered e.g., The Scout Mindset becausein my mind it isn’t EA-specific as a book (even thought its used by the EA community), but that might be an oversight on my part—perhaps I was thinking too narrowly about EA literature with that particular example.
When I poke my brain for prominent ‘centrally EA’ effective altruists I know or know of, the first four that come to mind (Kelsey Piper, Miranda Dixon-Luinenberg, Julia Galef, Ajeya Cotra) are women who write things.
This is doubtless more a function of what I read and which specific circles I walk in than something that holds universally, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most of the EA people in my particular corner of the scene gave overlapping names. That combined with the negative association I have with the word “cater” that you seem to lack (maybe it’s an American English thing? to me, ‘to cater to’ means ‘to put before others, to treat obsequiously’), made my initial reaction very much in line with smallsilo’s.
Ah interesting, I hadn’t considered that ‘cater’ might be construed differently elsewhere! In British English, it just means ‘to provide what is wanted or needed by someone or something’ (or alternatively, to provide food -which isn’t the meaning I was using here). So, the title would literally mean ‘does EA provide what is wanted or needed by women?’
Good point re: Kelsey Piper, Miranda Dixon-Luinenberg, Julia Galef, Ajeya Cotra. I hadn’t considered e.g., The Scout Mindset because in my mind it isn’t EA-specific as a book (even thought its used by the EA community), but that might be an oversight on my part—perhaps I was thinking too narrowly about EA literature with that particular example.
I think “does EA provide what is wanted or needed by women?” is a pretty serviceable title; two nations divided by a common language and such.