I want to echo all the interest in leftist critique (usually it reduces into something about colonialism, racism, or capitalism), but from the perspective that @JulianHazell brought up, i.e. of being able to reach a wider audience. I.e. at some point, EA needs to get better at representing itself in a nontechnical manner.
Btw, I’m writing from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have a job in EA, but who sees a lot of leftist leanings in organizations that I’m a part of.
My personal experience is that I doubt a point-by-point rebuttal would change any minds/reach a broader audience, but it would serve to “reinforce the faith” of people in EA. This does precious little to get EA values out.
I guess what I’m getting to is not so much a critique of EA, but wanting to think critically about how EA should make itself more accessible. Instead of forcing other movements to speak EA language, EA also needs to learn how to speak other languages, or at least provide more accessible language that others can buy into.
If someone wants to work on this, let me know!
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Some other ideas informing me:
I would say that any outsider’s (including leftists’ objection to EA) is fundamentally tied to some of the most counterintutive aspects of EA:
Dispositional differences: EA is so future-focused as to seemingly deny the importance of the present (e.g. EA deprioritizes climate change, etc. ). If EA is so focused on the future, it seems that much more removed from the past (which a lot of leftist priorities are about).
Stylistic differences: EA prioritizes effective and precise action. This echoes @CharlesHe’s comment. Contrast this to when liberals turn colonialism, racism, and capitalism into a wrecking ball that subsumes everything. They’ve lost descriptive power and nuance. It’s a blunt use of frameworks that drains all meaning from them, but maybe that’s their intent—systemic change, destruction be damned. This is infuriating to EA, because it seems poorly thought out and imprecise. But ironically, one argument I’ve seen from outside EA is that EA’s interventions are so focused on the tree as to miss the forest. Of course, this is a caricature, and I think there’s some kind of middle ground where mutual interest can be found.
I want to echo all the interest in leftist critique (usually it reduces into something about colonialism, racism, or capitalism), but from the perspective that @JulianHazell brought up, i.e. of being able to reach a wider audience. I.e. at some point, EA needs to get better at representing itself in a nontechnical manner.
Btw, I’m writing from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have a job in EA, but who sees a lot of leftist leanings in organizations that I’m a part of.
My personal experience is that I doubt a point-by-point rebuttal would change any minds/reach a broader audience, but it would serve to “reinforce the faith” of people in EA. This does precious little to get EA values out.
I guess what I’m getting to is not so much a critique of EA, but wanting to think critically about how EA should make itself more accessible. Instead of forcing other movements to speak EA language, EA also needs to learn how to speak other languages, or at least provide more accessible language that others can buy into.
If someone wants to work on this, let me know!
=====
Some other ideas informing me:
I would say that any outsider’s (including leftists’ objection to EA) is fundamentally tied to some of the most counterintutive aspects of EA:
Dispositional differences: EA is so future-focused as to seemingly deny the importance of the present (e.g. EA deprioritizes climate change, etc. ). If EA is so focused on the future, it seems that much more removed from the past (which a lot of leftist priorities are about).
Stylistic differences: EA prioritizes effective and precise action. This echoes @CharlesHe’s comment. Contrast this to when liberals turn colonialism, racism, and capitalism into a wrecking ball that subsumes everything. They’ve lost descriptive power and nuance. It’s a blunt use of frameworks that drains all meaning from them, but maybe that’s their intent—systemic change, destruction be damned. This is infuriating to EA, because it seems poorly thought out and imprecise. But ironically, one argument I’ve seen from outside EA is that EA’s interventions are so focused on the tree as to miss the forest. Of course, this is a caricature, and I think there’s some kind of middle ground where mutual interest can be found.