I enjoyed this post a lot while reading it, but after reflecting (and discussing with my local group) I feel more unsure. Consider that can ask if we should encourage ‘heroic responsibility’ and try to foster this kind of radical, positive altruism at three different levels:
1. Personally, as an individual 2. Within EA 3. Within society as a whole.
The post seems to argue for all three. It talks specifically about the need for a cultural shift. I feel very convinced of (1) (I’d value this highly for myself), I’m less convinced of (2), and I feel quite unconvinced of (3).
Heroic responsibility & burnout I think it’s quite clear that it would be beneficial if this way of thinking became widespread in EA and society at large. But it’s less clear if that’s a realistic expectation. I actually see a lot of risks to encouraging heroic responsibility within EA; EA pivoted away from heroic responsibility toward more toned-down messaging about doing good quite intentionally. As kuhanj notes, without he positive, enjoying-the-process attitude that’s argued for in part 2, there’s the risk that heroic responsibility leads to burnout. And it seems to me that enjoying the process is actually not always that easy: meditation just isn’t for everyone, I’ve meditated for a number of years and can’t say it transformed me. I would be happy to see workshops on this at EA retreats, but it doesn’t seem worth it to ask all EAs to spend large amounts of time on this when we’re not sure if it’ll work, and the current strategy of simply not asking people to take on all the world’s problems also works ok. For people new to EA, the movement might also be very off-putting if it seemed to ask this much of you.
Is heroic responsibility learned or innate? I also think that heroic responsibility might be determined more by genes or early childhood experiences than anything else. The examples of heroes don’t seem to be of people who arrived there because of some deep insight—rather, these are people who were motivated by justice to begin with. I know for myself, I am more motivated in this way than my siblings now but I was also more motivated when I was 10 years old. Resources spent trying to transform people in this way might be wasted, and might be better spent by trying to encourage people who already have this disposition to join EA.
I enjoyed this post a lot while reading it, but after reflecting (and discussing with my local group) I feel more unsure. Consider that can ask if we should encourage ‘heroic responsibility’ and try to foster this kind of radical, positive altruism at three different levels:
1. Personally, as an individual
2. Within EA
3. Within society as a whole.
The post seems to argue for all three. It talks specifically about the need for a cultural shift. I feel very convinced of (1) (I’d value this highly for myself), I’m less convinced of (2), and I feel quite unconvinced of (3).
Heroic responsibility & burnout
I think it’s quite clear that it would be beneficial if this way of thinking became widespread in EA and society at large. But it’s less clear if that’s a realistic expectation. I actually see a lot of risks to encouraging heroic responsibility within EA; EA pivoted away from heroic responsibility toward more toned-down messaging about doing good quite intentionally. As kuhanj notes, without he positive, enjoying-the-process attitude that’s argued for in part 2, there’s the risk that heroic responsibility leads to burnout. And it seems to me that enjoying the process is actually not always that easy: meditation just isn’t for everyone, I’ve meditated for a number of years and can’t say it transformed me. I would be happy to see workshops on this at EA retreats, but it doesn’t seem worth it to ask all EAs to spend large amounts of time on this when we’re not sure if it’ll work, and the current strategy of simply not asking people to take on all the world’s problems also works ok. For people new to EA, the movement might also be very off-putting if it seemed to ask this much of you.
Is heroic responsibility learned or innate?
I also think that heroic responsibility might be determined more by genes or early childhood experiences than anything else. The examples of heroes don’t seem to be of people who arrived there because of some deep insight—rather, these are people who were motivated by justice to begin with. I know for myself, I am more motivated in this way than my siblings now but I was also more motivated when I was 10 years old. Resources spent trying to transform people in this way might be wasted, and might be better spent by trying to encourage people who already have this disposition to join EA.