I may be willing to agree that given the choice between “indiscriminately cause more people to be EAs” and “indiscriminately cause existing EAs to be more dedicated” we should pick the first option. But, this is just not the case we’re in It was possible to predict in advance that Cari Tuna was going to be very important (she had billions of dollars)… So, the argument you’re making doesn’t seem to generalize anywhere.
The argument generalizes to when we do broad outreach around effective giving, rather than talking to individuals. I very much agree we should focus in our individual conversations on converting high-value people like Cari Tuna or Nick Bostrom. On the other hand, we cannot predict in advance many high-value people, like Tom Ash, who got involved casually and slowly, and right now is a central figure in the movement.
Jon Behar brought up some additional relevant points in his comment.
Also, you’re assuming a particular (and unusual) intervention mechanism—moral guilt/placing demands. This doesn’t seem like the way to increase dedication to me, so I think you’re rejecting a strategy that few people are actually employing.
I think the comments of Taryn East above exemplify that this “placing demands” is what many people experience. I have also heard from plenty of others who left EA that they left because of this perception of ratcheting demands. Now, let me be clear—this may not the explicit intention of the intervention mechanism that people are employing. Yet it doesn’t matter what intervention mechanism people think they are actually using—the key is what outcomes are occurring. If the outcome is that people experience the sensation of moral guilt/pressure, this is a big problem for the movement being welcoming and inclusive.
To help address this topic, I started a discussion on the EA FB, you might be interested in checking it out.
I’d like to think we’re having a dialectic truth-seeking, rather than an argument :-)
The argument generalizes to when we do broad outreach around effective giving, rather than talking to individuals. I very much agree we should focus in our individual conversations on converting high-value people like Cari Tuna or Nick Bostrom. On the other hand, we cannot predict in advance many high-value people, like Tom Ash, who got involved casually and slowly, and right now is a central figure in the movement.
Jon Behar brought up some additional relevant points in his comment.
I think the comments of Taryn East above exemplify that this “placing demands” is what many people experience. I have also heard from plenty of others who left EA that they left because of this perception of ratcheting demands. Now, let me be clear—this may not the explicit intention of the intervention mechanism that people are employing. Yet it doesn’t matter what intervention mechanism people think they are actually using—the key is what outcomes are occurring. If the outcome is that people experience the sensation of moral guilt/pressure, this is a big problem for the movement being welcoming and inclusive.
To help address this topic, I started a discussion on the EA FB, you might be interested in checking it out.