I feel a lot like Alice but have decided to stay and try to make change. EA is what we make it. And the more of us disillusioned/disappointed people stay and try to enact change, the more likely it is that we can tilt EA in the direction we would like to see. On the other hand, if we leave, it is quite likely EA will slip quickly into exactly what we think it shouldn’t be—something that will be exacerbated by a negative feedback loop of us leaving and then EA struggling to attract a more diverse crowd (this negative feedback loop becomes a positive feedback loop if we stay!).
That said, I realize many people just don’t have the capacity to stay and enact change. I absolutely do not think you should stay and fight if you risk burn-out or other mental ill-health. But I hope enough of us have some energy left to stay and make EA closer to what we think it should be.
My comment was inspired by this post encouraging people fight for their own version of doing what’s right.
Totally agree. Some EA-skeptical friends asked me if I was EA or EA-adjacent and I said “if everyone with my views described themselves as EA-adjacent (which some of them definitely do) then EA would be much worse for it”.
That said, the leaver’s story is not about making EA better, but about making the world better. And it’s good to open your mind to the idea that these don’t coincide. We would love for them to coincide, but that’s exactly why we should be receptive to thinking that they don’t.
I feel a lot like Alice but have decided to stay and try to make change. EA is what we make it. And the more of us disillusioned/disappointed people stay and try to enact change, the more likely it is that we can tilt EA in the direction we would like to see. On the other hand, if we leave, it is quite likely EA will slip quickly into exactly what we think it shouldn’t be—something that will be exacerbated by a negative feedback loop of us leaving and then EA struggling to attract a more diverse crowd (this negative feedback loop becomes a positive feedback loop if we stay!).
That said, I realize many people just don’t have the capacity to stay and enact change. I absolutely do not think you should stay and fight if you risk burn-out or other mental ill-health. But I hope enough of us have some energy left to stay and make EA closer to what we think it should be.
My comment was inspired by this post encouraging people fight for their own version of doing what’s right.
Totally agree. Some EA-skeptical friends asked me if I was EA or EA-adjacent and I said “if everyone with my views described themselves as EA-adjacent (which some of them definitely do) then EA would be much worse for it”.
That said, the leaver’s story is not about making EA better, but about making the world better. And it’s good to open your mind to the idea that these don’t coincide. We would love for them to coincide, but that’s exactly why we should be receptive to thinking that they don’t.