I guess I would refine the”weird cause area” reason with adding that some EAs may leave because of strong disagreement with some EA mainstream or public figures’ views. For example, a few years ago climate change was not taken as an x-risk, and somewhat regularly dismissed, which would have put off a few longtermists. I know someone who left EA because of strong disagreement with how AI safety is handled—eg encouraging working for an organization that works on AGI development. Basically, I think that sometimes there is a “tipping point” for strong disagreement where some people leave. Ideally, EA would be able to strongly focus on “EA is a question, not an ideology” so that people who have informed different opinions still say in.
I suspect that burnout may also be another reason why people in EA orgs leave.
Cause preference (i.e. prioritising different causes than the EA community or thinking that the EA community focused too much on particular causes and ignored others) was the second most commonly cited reason among people who reported declining interest in EA.
Thanks, I find this very useful!
I guess I would refine the”weird cause area” reason with adding that some EAs may leave because of strong disagreement with some EA mainstream or public figures’ views. For example, a few years ago climate change was not taken as an x-risk, and somewhat regularly dismissed, which would have put off a few longtermists. I know someone who left EA because of strong disagreement with how AI safety is handled—eg encouraging working for an organization that works on AGI development. Basically, I think that sometimes there is a “tipping point” for strong disagreement where some people leave. Ideally, EA would be able to strongly focus on “EA is a question, not an ideology” so that people who have informed different opinions still say in.
I suspect that burnout may also be another reason why people in EA orgs leave.
Cause preference (i.e. prioritising different causes than the EA community or thinking that the EA community focused too much on particular causes and ignored others) was the second most commonly cited reason among people who reported declining interest in EA.
Thank you, this list is a useful complement to this post.