The fact that everyone in EA finds the work we do interesting and/or fun should be treated with more suspicion.
I know that “everyone” was an intentional exaggeration, but I’d be interested to see the actual baseline statistics on a question like “do you find EA content interesting, independent of its importance?”
Personally, I find “the work EA does” to be, on average… mildly interesting?
In college, even after I found EA, I was much more intellectually drawn to random topics in psychology and philosophy, as well as startup culture. When I read nonfiction books for fun, they are usually about psychology, business, gaming, or anthropology. Same goes for the Twitter feeds and blogs I follow.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of people in EA have outside interests they enjoy somewhat more than the things they work on (even if the latter takes up much more of their time).
*****
Also, as often happens, I think that “EA culture” here may be describing “the culture of people who spend lots of time on EA Twitter or the Forum”, rather than “the culture of people who spend a lot of their time on EA work”. Members of the former group seem more likely to find their work interesting and/or fun; the people who feel more like I do probably spend their free time on other interests.
I think I agree with everything here, though I don’t think the line is exactly people who spend lots of time on EA Twitter (I can think of several people who are pretty deep into EA research and don’t use Twitter/aren’t avid readers of the Forum). Maybe something like, people whose primary interest is research into EA topics? But it definitely isn’t everyone, or the majority of people into EA.
Yeah I’d be figuring out homotopy type theory and figuring out personal curiosities like pre-agriculture life or life in early cities, maybe also writing games. That’s probably 15% of my list of things I’d do if it wasn’t for all those pesky suffering lives or that annoying crap about the end of the world.
I know that “everyone” was an intentional exaggeration, but I’d be interested to see the actual baseline statistics on a question like “do you find EA content interesting, independent of its importance?”
Personally, I find “the work EA does” to be, on average… mildly interesting?
In college, even after I found EA, I was much more intellectually drawn to random topics in psychology and philosophy, as well as startup culture. When I read nonfiction books for fun, they are usually about psychology, business, gaming, or anthropology. Same goes for the Twitter feeds and blogs I follow.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of people in EA have outside interests they enjoy somewhat more than the things they work on (even if the latter takes up much more of their time).
*****
Also, as often happens, I think that “EA culture” here may be describing “the culture of people who spend lots of time on EA Twitter or the Forum”, rather than “the culture of people who spend a lot of their time on EA work”. Members of the former group seem more likely to find their work interesting and/or fun; the people who feel more like I do probably spend their free time on other interests.
I think I agree with everything here, though I don’t think the line is exactly people who spend lots of time on EA Twitter (I can think of several people who are pretty deep into EA research and don’t use Twitter/aren’t avid readers of the Forum). Maybe something like, people whose primary interest is research into EA topics? But it definitely isn’t everyone, or the majority of people into EA.
there’s an EA Twitter?
Yeah I’d be figuring out homotopy type theory and figuring out personal curiosities like pre-agriculture life or life in early cities, maybe also writing games. That’s probably 15% of my list of things I’d do if it wasn’t for all those pesky suffering lives or that annoying crap about the end of the world.