Taking the question literally, searching the term ‘social justice’ in EA forum reveals only 12 mentions, six within blog posts, and six comments...
I worry EA is another exclusive, powerful, elite community, which has somehow neglected diversity.
I think it’s worth distinguishing discussions of “social justice” from discussions of “diversity.” Diversity in EA has been much discussed, and there is also a whole facebook group dedicated to it. There has been less discussion of “social justice” in those terms, partly, I suspect, because it’s not natural for utilitarians to describe things in terms of “justice”, and partly because, as mentioned, the phrase “social justice” has acquired specific connotations. However, there has been extensive discussion of broader social justice related critiques of EA, largely under the banner of “systemic change.”
Note: we also track demographic diversity in the ~ annual EA Survey.
It’s worth mentioning that the diversity Facebook group is barely active; And that when EAs talk about systemic change of the social justice sort, they usually don’t support pursuing it. Rather they support specific policy changes like criminal justice reform or tobacco taxes.
I don’t see a contradiction between the two. I myself want to improve the future, and I’m studying machine learning and I think it has the potential to bring us to a post-scarcity society. But like every powerful technology, it has a gazillion ways it could go wrong and be disastrous. Even if it doesn’t end the world, it won’t work if used by those already in power to further their reach. Systemic change of the social justice kind is necessary for systemic change of the AI kind to be worth anything.
I think it’s worth distinguishing discussions of “social justice” from discussions of “diversity.” Diversity in EA has been much discussed, and there is also a whole facebook group dedicated to it. There has been less discussion of “social justice” in those terms, partly, I suspect, because it’s not natural for utilitarians to describe things in terms of “justice”, and partly because, as mentioned, the phrase “social justice” has acquired specific connotations. However, there has been extensive discussion of broader social justice related critiques of EA, largely under the banner of “systemic change.”
Note: we also track demographic diversity in the ~ annual EA Survey.
It’s worth mentioning that the diversity Facebook group is barely active; And that when EAs talk about systemic change of the social justice sort, they usually don’t support pursuing it. Rather they support specific policy changes like criminal justice reform or tobacco taxes.
Summoning a benevolent AI god to remake the world for good is the real systemic change.
No, but seriously, I think a lot of the people who care about making processes that make the future good in important ways are actually focused on AI.
I don’t see a contradiction between the two. I myself want to improve the future, and I’m studying machine learning and I think it has the potential to bring us to a post-scarcity society. But like every powerful technology, it has a gazillion ways it could go wrong and be disastrous. Even if it doesn’t end the world, it won’t work if used by those already in power to further their reach. Systemic change of the social justice kind is necessary for systemic change of the AI kind to be worth anything.