The key question with hierarchies is whether the people at the top are thoughtful and competent people. I feel like the EA movement has been pretty lucky in this regard.
Not sure if I agree with this—it seems like that’s the sort of thing all kinds of cults say, before their leaders turn out to be self-interested megalomaniacs who’ve just been funnelling more and more of the cult’s money to themselves. More of an “outside view” would be helpful.
Let’s say I told you I thought my boss at a nonprofit I work for was a pretty good boss. And you told me that this was “the sort of thing all kinds of cults say, before their leaders turn out to be self-interested megalomaniacs who’ve just been funnelling more and more of the cult’s money to themselves”. Do you think that’d be a valid concern?
I think you’re much more worried about this than you need to be. Groupthink is definitely something to guard against, and we shouldn’t assume being high status makes you always correct about things, but cult fears seem generally overblown to me.
Not sure if I agree with this—it seems like that’s the sort of thing all kinds of cults say, before their leaders turn out to be self-interested megalomaniacs who’ve just been funnelling more and more of the cult’s money to themselves. More of an “outside view” would be helpful.
Let’s say I told you I thought my boss at a nonprofit I work for was a pretty good boss. And you told me that this was “the sort of thing all kinds of cults say, before their leaders turn out to be self-interested megalomaniacs who’ve just been funnelling more and more of the cult’s money to themselves”. Do you think that’d be a valid concern?
I think you’re much more worried about this than you need to be. Groupthink is definitely something to guard against, and we shouldn’t assume being high status makes you always correct about things, but cult fears seem generally overblown to me.