Quickly: 1. Some of this gets into semantics. There are some things that are more “key inspirations for what was formally called EA” and other things that “were formally called EA, or called themselves EA.” GiveWell was highly influential around EA, but I think it was created before EA was coined, and I don’t think they publicly associated as “EA” for some time (if ever). 2. I think we’re straying from the main topic at this point. One issue is that while I think we disagree on some of the details/semantics of early EA, I also don’t think that matters much for the greater issue at hand. “The specific reason why the EA community technically started” is pretty different from “what people in this scene currently care about.”
Quickly:
1. Some of this gets into semantics. There are some things that are more “key inspirations for what was formally called EA” and other things that “were formally called EA, or called themselves EA.” GiveWell was highly influential around EA, but I think it was created before EA was coined, and I don’t think they publicly associated as “EA” for some time (if ever).
2. I think we’re straying from the main topic at this point. One issue is that while I think we disagree on some of the details/semantics of early EA, I also don’t think that matters much for the greater issue at hand. “The specific reason why the EA community technically started” is pretty different from “what people in this scene currently care about.”