Can you describe yourself “moderately EA,” or something like that, to distinguish yourself from the most extreme views?
The fact we have strong disagreements on this forum feels like evidence that EA is more like a dimension on the political spectrum, rather than a united category of people.
Interesting idea! This got me thinking about this, and I think I find it tricky because I want to stay close to the truth, and the truth is, I’m not really a “moderate EA”. I care about shrimp welfare, think existential risk is hugely underrated, and believe putting numbers on things is one of our most powerful tools.
It’s less catchy, but I’ve been leaning toward something like: “I’m in the EA movement. To me, that means I try to ask what would do the most good, and I appreciate the community of people doing the same. That doesn’t mean I endorse everything done under the EA banner, or how it’s sometimes portrayed.”
Can you describe yourself “moderately EA,” or something like that, to distinguish yourself from the most extreme views?
The fact we have strong disagreements on this forum feels like evidence that EA is more like a dimension on the political spectrum, rather than a united category of people.
Interesting idea! This got me thinking about this, and I think I find it tricky because I want to stay close to the truth, and the truth is, I’m not really a “moderate EA”. I care about shrimp welfare, think existential risk is hugely underrated, and believe putting numbers on things is one of our most powerful tools.
It’s less catchy, but I’ve been leaning toward something like: “I’m in the EA movement. To me, that means I try to ask what would do the most good, and I appreciate the community of people doing the same. That doesn’t mean I endorse everything done under the EA banner, or how it’s sometimes portrayed.”
I really like this framing, this is what I do and use all the time as well as a full-time community builder and for me it works well.
Maybe say, I strongly believe in the principles[1] of EA.
The EA principles I follow does not include “the ends always justify the means.”
Instead, it includes:
Comparing charities and prosocial careers quantitively, not by warm fuzzy feelings
Animal rights, judged by the subjective experience of animals not how cute they look
Existential risk, because someday in the future we’ll realize how irrational it was to neglect it