Yeah, I recently experienced the problem with longtermism and similarly weird beliefs in EA being bad on-ramps to EA. I moderate a Discord server where we just had some drama involving a heated debate between users sympathetic to and users critical of EA. Someone pointed out to me that many users on the server have probably gotten turned off from EA as a whole because of exposure to relatively weird beliefs within EA like longtermism and wild animal welfare, both of which Iām sympathetic to and have expressed on the server. Although I want to be open with others about my beliefs, it seems to me like theyāve been āplunged in on the deep end,ā rather than being allowed to get their feet wet with the likes of GiveWell.
Also, when talking to coworkers about EA, I focus on the global health and wellbeing side because itās more data-driven and less weird than longtermism, and I try to refer to EA concepts like cost-effectiveness rather than EA itself.
Yeah, I recently experienced the problem with longtermism and similarly weird beliefs in EA being bad on-ramps to EA. I moderate a Discord server where we just had some drama involving a heated debate between users sympathetic to and users critical of EA. Someone pointed out to me that many users on the server have probably gotten turned off from EA as a whole because of exposure to relatively weird beliefs within EA like longtermism and wild animal welfare, both of which Iām sympathetic to and have expressed on the server. Although I want to be open with others about my beliefs, it seems to me like theyāve been āplunged in on the deep end,ā rather than being allowed to get their feet wet with the likes of GiveWell.
Also, when talking to coworkers about EA, I focus on the global health and wellbeing side because itās more data-driven and less weird than longtermism, and I try to refer to EA concepts like cost-effectiveness rather than EA itself.