I was with you until you said it’s valuable. Conservative or not, the criticism seems so to be written by someone who either hasn’t given EA more than 20 minutes of careful thought (despite writing an article about it) or isn’t capable of thinking in a sane manner. I don’t really know how to approach such people and I don’t think it teaches me much about conservatives in general (I hope not all of them think like this).
Seriously, what do you make of statements like this:
William MacAskill, a major effective-altruism booster, told the Washington Post that more should be spent on “preparing for low-probability, high-cost events such as pandemics.” That’s a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
When I said valuable, I meant “it tells us what conservatives may respond and how to address them, so it has value for us.”
Not “I agree with it or think it’s reasonable.”
Edit: to illustrate, the exact quote you gave is one I originally considered quoting myself, followed by a facepalm emoji. But now I know people might think what it says, and I didn’t before.
I was with you until you said it’s valuable. Conservative or not, the criticism seems so to be written by someone who either hasn’t given EA more than 20 minutes of careful thought (despite writing an article about it) or isn’t capable of thinking in a sane manner. I don’t really know how to approach such people and I don’t think it teaches me much about conservatives in general (I hope not all of them think like this).
Seriously, what do you make of statements like this:
When I said valuable, I meant “it tells us what conservatives may respond and how to address them, so it has value for us.”
Not “I agree with it or think it’s reasonable.”
Edit: to illustrate, the exact quote you gave is one I originally considered quoting myself, followed by a facepalm emoji. But now I know people might think what it says, and I didn’t before.