Executive summary: The author describes his personal experiences and those of his EA community during the Israel-Hamas war, noting how EA concepts struggled to provide guidance and his views evolved on issues like suffering metrics, moral uncertainty, activism, optimization, and ambition.
Key points:
Donation advice was hard to give due to rapidly changing information and priorities.
Metrics seem inadequate for capturing the full suffering involved in violent conflict.
Moral clarity is much harder in war, with more confusion on right and wrong.
Public activism to help may overlook crucial context and backfire.
Optimization felt less relevant in the military’s crisis mode.
Near-death experiences shifted his personal ambition and life outlook.
The fragility of peace and its necessity became more apparent.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The author describes his personal experiences and those of his EA community during the Israel-Hamas war, noting how EA concepts struggled to provide guidance and his views evolved on issues like suffering metrics, moral uncertainty, activism, optimization, and ambition.
Key points:
Donation advice was hard to give due to rapidly changing information and priorities.
Metrics seem inadequate for capturing the full suffering involved in violent conflict.
Moral clarity is much harder in war, with more confusion on right and wrong.
Public activism to help may overlook crucial context and backfire.
Optimization felt less relevant in the military’s crisis mode.
Near-death experiences shifted his personal ambition and life outlook.
The fragility of peace and its necessity became more apparent.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.