Nono, I’m not trying to point to a problem of EAs trying to make others feel unwelcome or dumb. I think EA is extremely kind, and almost universally tries hard to make people feel welcome. I’m just pointing to the existence of an unusually strong intellectual pressure, perhaps combined with lots of focus on world-saving heroes and talk about “what should talented people do?”
I think ambition is good, but I think we can find ways of encouraging ambition while also mitigating at least some of the debilitating intelligence-dysphoria many in our community suffer from.
I’m writing this in reaction to talking to three of my friends who suffer under the intellectual pressure they feel. (Note that the following are all about the intellectual pressure they get from EA, and not just in general due to academic life.)
Friend1: “EA makes me feel real dumb XD i think i feel out of place by being less intelligent”
_
Friend2: “I’m not worried that I’m not smart, but I am worried that I am not smart enough to meet a certain threshold that is required for me to do the things I want to do. … I think I have very low odds of achieving things I deeply want to achieve. I think that is at least partially responsible for me being as extremely uncomfortable about my intelligence as I am, and not being able to snap out of it.”
_
Me: “Do you ever refrain from trying to contribute intellectually because you worry about taking up more attention than it’s worth?”
Friend3: “hmm, not really for that reason. because I’m afraid my contribution will be wrong or make me look stupid. wrong in a way that reflects negatively on me—stupid errors, revealing intellectual or character weakness.
_
Some of this is a natural and unavoidable result of the large focus EA places on intellectual labour, but I think it’s worse than it needs to be. I think some effort to instil some “ordinary EA dignity” into our culture wouldn’t hurt. I might have a skewed sample, however.
Nono, I’m not trying to point to a problem of EAs trying to make others feel unwelcome or dumb. I think EA is extremely kind, and almost universally tries hard to make people feel welcome. I’m just pointing to the existence of an unusually strong intellectual pressure, perhaps combined with lots of focus on world-saving heroes and talk about “what should talented people do?”
I think ambition is good, but I think we can find ways of encouraging ambition while also mitigating at least some of the debilitating intelligence-dysphoria many in our community suffer from.
I’m writing this in reaction to talking to three of my friends who suffer under the intellectual pressure they feel. (Note that the following are all about the intellectual pressure they get from EA, and not just in general due to academic life.)
Friend1: “EA makes me feel real dumb XD i think i feel out of place by being less intelligent”
_
Friend2: “I’m not worried that I’m not smart, but I am worried that I am not smart enough to meet a certain threshold that is required for me to do the things I want to do. … I think I have very low odds of achieving things I deeply want to achieve. I think that is at least partially responsible for me being as extremely uncomfortable about my intelligence as I am, and not being able to snap out of it.”
_
Me: “Do you ever refrain from trying to contribute intellectually because you worry about taking up more attention than it’s worth?”
Friend3: “hmm, not really for that reason. because I’m afraid my contribution will be wrong or make me look stupid. wrong in a way that reflects negatively on me—stupid errors, revealing intellectual or character weakness.
_
Some of this is a natural and unavoidable result of the large focus EA places on intellectual labour, but I think it’s worse than it needs to be. I think some effort to instil some “ordinary EA dignity” into our culture wouldn’t hurt. I might have a skewed sample, however.