Instrumental utilitarian reasoning aside, it makes sense that people whose common traits include:
a) An unusually high degree of altruism, often driven by compassion, and
b) A feeling that only a small number of people share some of their fundamental values
...would be exceptionally altruistic and compassionate towards the people around them, and also feel a special sense of kinship with people who share said values (even if those people weren’t their friends).
I understand where the “terrible friends” caricature comes from, but I feel like it’s a meta-caricature that goes too many levels deep: people in EA usually aren’t that impartial, because it’s very hard for humans to do that, and the “unusually high compassion” trait tends to pull a lot more weight (at least in my experience — like any community, EA hasn’t been a good place for some people, and indeed, not all are as lucky as Howie).
Instrumental utilitarian reasoning aside, it makes sense that people whose common traits include:
a) An unusually high degree of altruism, often driven by compassion, and
b) A feeling that only a small number of people share some of their fundamental values
...would be exceptionally altruistic and compassionate towards the people around them, and also feel a special sense of kinship with people who share said values (even if those people weren’t their friends).
I understand where the “terrible friends” caricature comes from, but I feel like it’s a meta-caricature that goes too many levels deep: people in EA usually aren’t that impartial, because it’s very hard for humans to do that, and the “unusually high compassion” trait tends to pull a lot more weight (at least in my experience — like any community, EA hasn’t been a good place for some people, and indeed, not all are as lucky as Howie).