Every question you asked in this post has been discussed… somewhere. Tracking down all the conversation is difficult, and there are few true “experts” on this material, but existing EA communities have been slowly shaped by it into their current forms (though of course, there are always new people and new groups and old lessons that must be learned anew).
Some examples:
Many of Eliezer Yudkowsky’s posts in his sequence “The Craft and the Community” apply just as well to EA as to rationality. He’s also written a lot of essays about argumentation and persuasion which have seeped into the EA community through osmosis. Compared to other communities I’ve known, EA has much less “chasing arguments that should be dropped” and much more “making and discussing models when that would be helpful”. We aren’t perfect, but I’m not sure whether remaining issues come from any deficit of theory.
There have been many discussions of EA and parenthood. Some of those that are findable on the Forum include this (on the question of whether to become a parent) and this (on building parent-inclusive communities).
Nearly every large EA event includes specific written standards for appropriate behavior, influenced by years of experience, discussion, and research on best practices drawn from other communities.
One more example of a social norm that EA has adopted, see “Ask, Guess, and Tell Culture” (a series of discussions dealing with, among other things, how people can communicate desires/opinions across oft-invisible cultural divides).
I don’t know that a very broad discussion of “community” will be very helpful, but suggestions for specific improvements and solutions to specific problems often lead to concrete progress and mass adoption of new ideas. Are there any specific issues you think are especially important to address?
Also, in discussions like this, it helps to have a fair amount of experience living, working, or at least regularly interacting with one or more EA communities (physically or online). Are there any local EA communities you’ve spent time in, Nathan?
These answers aren’t necessarily correct, or complete, but they represent time and energy and experience being put into attempting to figure out community, which is definitely valuable. I hope to hear more of your thoughts in the future—the more people contributing to our collective pool of knowledge, the better!
Every question you asked in this post has been discussed… somewhere. Tracking down all the conversation is difficult, and there are few true “experts” on this material, but existing EA communities have been slowly shaped by it into their current forms (though of course, there are always new people and new groups and old lessons that must be learned anew).
Some examples:
Many of Eliezer Yudkowsky’s posts in his sequence “The Craft and the Community” apply just as well to EA as to rationality. He’s also written a lot of essays about argumentation and persuasion which have seeped into the EA community through osmosis. Compared to other communities I’ve known, EA has much less “chasing arguments that should be dropped” and much more “making and discussing models when that would be helpful”. We aren’t perfect, but I’m not sure whether remaining issues come from any deficit of theory.
There have been many discussions of EA and parenthood. Some of those that are findable on the Forum include this (on the question of whether to become a parent) and this (on building parent-inclusive communities).
Nearly every large EA event includes specific written standards for appropriate behavior, influenced by years of experience, discussion, and research on best practices drawn from other communities.
One more example of a social norm that EA has adopted, see “Ask, Guess, and Tell Culture” (a series of discussions dealing with, among other things, how people can communicate desires/opinions across oft-invisible cultural divides).
I don’t know that a very broad discussion of “community” will be very helpful, but suggestions for specific improvements and solutions to specific problems often lead to concrete progress and mass adoption of new ideas. Are there any specific issues you think are especially important to address?
Also, in discussions like this, it helps to have a fair amount of experience living, working, or at least regularly interacting with one or more EA communities (physically or online). Are there any local EA communities you’ve spent time in, Nathan?
Regarding there being answers. That’s good to know, I guess I will search for them—also I’ve just found less wrong—which is useful.
I’ll check out those links.
You might be right about a broad discussion. If it turns out that issues haven’t been covered I might come back and write a more specific piece.
I have not spent any time in local EA communities. I’d like to though, but that will involve working out where I’m going to live next.
Thanks for your time.
These answers aren’t necessarily correct, or complete, but they represent time and energy and experience being put into attempting to figure out community, which is definitely valuable. I hope to hear more of your thoughts in the future—the more people contributing to our collective pool of knowledge, the better!