I think your characterization of EAs is spot on, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
I’ve been loosely involved in a few different social movements (student activism, vegan activism, volunteering for a political party) and what makes EA unique is exactly the attitude that you’re describing here. Whenever I went to an EA meetup or discussion group, people spent most of their time discussing things that EA could be getting fundamentally wrong. In my admittedly limited experience, that is really weird! And it’s also brilliant! Criticisms of EA, and it’s currently popular ideas, are taken extremely seriously, and in good faith.
I think a necessary consequence of this attitude is that the EA label becomes something people adopt only with a healthy degree of embarrassment and apologeticness. It is not a badge of pride. Because as soon as it becomes an identity to be proud of, it becomes much harder and emotionally draining to carefully consider the important criticisms of it.
I think you are right that there are probably downsides to this attitude as well. But I worry about what it would mean for the EA movement if it ever lost it.
I feel like I should also acknowledge the irony in the fact that in this particular context, it is you who are criticizing an aspect of the EA movement, and me who is jumping to defend it and sing its virtues! I’m not sure what this means but it’s a bit too meta for my liking so I’ll end my comment there!
I’m not against taking serious the criticisms at the margins—like that we should spend less on A and more on B. But I think we spend too much time getting worked up about what e.g. Torres has to say about EA being rooted in eugenics and colonialism.
I think you make a good point about the virtues of taking criticism seriously, but I see a difference between having a high degree of confidence and pride in Effective Altruism, the idea, and the ways the community brings those principles into the world.
Like most others, I welcome good faith criticism of the movement when needed, but being apologetic and embarrassed for wanting to help others and make the world a better place is something we should try to avoid, and part of that is having the courage in our base convictions to be proud of the work we have done and hope to do.
I’m not sure if I agree with this.
I think your characterization of EAs is spot on, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
I’ve been loosely involved in a few different social movements (student activism, vegan activism, volunteering for a political party) and what makes EA unique is exactly the attitude that you’re describing here. Whenever I went to an EA meetup or discussion group, people spent most of their time discussing things that EA could be getting fundamentally wrong. In my admittedly limited experience, that is really weird! And it’s also brilliant! Criticisms of EA, and it’s currently popular ideas, are taken extremely seriously, and in good faith.
I think a necessary consequence of this attitude is that the EA label becomes something people adopt only with a healthy degree of embarrassment and apologeticness. It is not a badge of pride. Because as soon as it becomes an identity to be proud of, it becomes much harder and emotionally draining to carefully consider the important criticisms of it.
I think you are right that there are probably downsides to this attitude as well. But I worry about what it would mean for the EA movement if it ever lost it.
I feel like I should also acknowledge the irony in the fact that in this particular context, it is you who are criticizing an aspect of the EA movement, and me who is jumping to defend it and sing its virtues! I’m not sure what this means but it’s a bit too meta for my liking so I’ll end my comment there!
I’m not against taking serious the criticisms at the margins—like that we should spend less on A and more on B. But I think we spend too much time getting worked up about what e.g. Torres has to say about EA being rooted in eugenics and colonialism.
I think you make a good point about the virtues of taking criticism seriously, but I see a difference between having a high degree of confidence and pride in Effective Altruism, the idea, and the ways the community brings those principles into the world.
Like most others, I welcome good faith criticism of the movement when needed, but being apologetic and embarrassed for wanting to help others and make the world a better place is something we should try to avoid, and part of that is having the courage in our base convictions to be proud of the work we have done and hope to do.