I agree that some people would (and did!) find it offputting. I also think that many people find EA and the drowning child argument offputting as well, for similar reasons.
To be clear, I wouldn’t use this argument in a space where most people were a much larger inferential gap away from me. I would never try to get somebody excited about EA by telling them about how what they were currently doing was wrong.
However, I thought (and perhaps I was wrong) that EA Forum readers were close enough inferentially to just think it was funny.
I made my case more nuanced and clear in the post, and added a subtitle with a more positive spin, but perhaps that wasn’t enough.
On the one hand, I think the drowning child argument is probably correct, and I think that the title is engaging. It’s probably a huge part of the reason why there’s so much discussion in the comment section and why it got so many people reading it, which exactly proves my point.
On the other hand, I think maybe more people are on the defensive because of it. Generally it’s more persuasive to tell people about opportunities to do something cool vs telling them they’re wrong for doing their current thing (opportunity vs obligation framework).
However, I’m also not an opportunities framing altruist. I’m here because children are drowning, and it’s not an exciting thing to help, but a thing that I must do.
I digress.
Suffice to say, I’m uncertain about the title. Perhaps it was too strong, and explaining it more in the body of the work wasn’t enough, and I should have spent more time at the drawing board, brainstorming possible titles. Perhaps it exactly exemplifies my point, where it said something true and entertaining, in a way that got a lot more people thinking about it, and thus, it will help change the norms of the EA Forum to me more interesting, leading to the community having more impact.
Either way, it definitely symbolizes the daily consequentialist problem of looking at an action, trying to weigh up its consequences, and in the end, after deep thought, thinking “Heck if I know. Prooobably net good? I need a nap.”
Personally, I don’t think this deserves that much discussion time. It’s literally one word.
All that said, I’d note that I couldn’t at all tell that it was humorous. The problem is that I just don’t feel like I can model authors that well. I know that many, particularly junior ones, do make such titles genuinely (not jokingly), so I just assumed it was that way.
It really, really, sucks, but I think public writing generally can’t be subtle/clever in many ways we’re used to with friends and colleagues. Our friends would pick up on things like this, but random people online would often miss it. I’ve been trying to write with much less subtlety than I do in smaller communities; it’s less nice, but I don’t see another way.
To be clear, I wouldn’t use this argument in a space where most people were a much larger inferential gap away from me. I would never try to get somebody excited about EA by telling them about how what they were currently doing was wrong.
However, I thought (and perhaps I was wrong) that EA Forum readers were close enough inferentially to just think it was funny.
For what it’s worth, I think this was an entirely reasonable expectation to have, and this is how I read the title of your post. It’s provocative without being “clickbaity.” So I found the comments objecting to it pretty unrelatable and surprising.
I’m torn about my title choice.
I agree that some people would (and did!) find it offputting. I also think that many people find EA and the drowning child argument offputting as well, for similar reasons.
To be clear, I wouldn’t use this argument in a space where most people were a much larger inferential gap away from me. I would never try to get somebody excited about EA by telling them about how what they were currently doing was wrong.
However, I thought (and perhaps I was wrong) that EA Forum readers were close enough inferentially to just think it was funny.
I made my case more nuanced and clear in the post, and added a subtitle with a more positive spin, but perhaps that wasn’t enough.
On the one hand, I think the drowning child argument is probably correct, and I think that the title is engaging. It’s probably a huge part of the reason why there’s so much discussion in the comment section and why it got so many people reading it, which exactly proves my point.
On the other hand, I think maybe more people are on the defensive because of it. Generally it’s more persuasive to tell people about opportunities to do something cool vs telling them they’re wrong for doing their current thing (opportunity vs obligation framework).
However, I’m also not an opportunities framing altruist. I’m here because children are drowning, and it’s not an exciting thing to help, but a thing that I must do.
I digress.
Suffice to say, I’m uncertain about the title. Perhaps it was too strong, and explaining it more in the body of the work wasn’t enough, and I should have spent more time at the drawing board, brainstorming possible titles. Perhaps it exactly exemplifies my point, where it said something true and entertaining, in a way that got a lot more people thinking about it, and thus, it will help change the norms of the EA Forum to me more interesting, leading to the community having more impact.
Either way, it definitely symbolizes the daily consequentialist problem of looking at an action, trying to weigh up its consequences, and in the end, after deep thought, thinking “Heck if I know. Prooobably net good? I need a nap.”
Personally, I don’t think this deserves that much discussion time. It’s literally one word.
All that said, I’d note that I couldn’t at all tell that it was humorous. The problem is that I just don’t feel like I can model authors that well. I know that many, particularly junior ones, do make such titles genuinely (not jokingly), so I just assumed it was that way.
It really, really, sucks, but I think public writing generally can’t be subtle/clever in many ways we’re used to with friends and colleagues. Our friends would pick up on things like this, but random people online would often miss it. I’ve been trying to write with much less subtlety than I do in smaller communities; it’s less nice, but I don’t see another way.
For what it’s worth, I think this was an entirely reasonable expectation to have, and this is how I read the title of your post. It’s provocative without being “clickbaity.” So I found the comments objecting to it pretty unrelatable and surprising.
In the end, I’ve dedided to update my title based on this feedback and others’ reactions. You can read more here