I am quite uncertain about my reaction to this but I think I have seen evidence to at least weakly support my claims.
I agree that I think the FTX situation was not as bad as the community’s reactions might have warranted. For example, I think I saw some evidence that quite shortly after the FTX scandal, EA was back to growth rates quite similar to those seen before the influx of FTX funding (I might be wrong here so please let me know if I recall incorrectly!).
I think perhaps FTX have detracted from one or perhaps two much more significant issues, to which we have reacted much less than to FTX: The lack of gender and racial diversity in the movement. This feels somewhat analogous to what we in EA criticize the charity sector for: Reacting much more strongly to natural disasters and wars than the ongoing, not-news-worthy crises such as deaths due to malaria.
I would not be surprised if comparable organizations/communities/movements to EA have better “diversity metrics”. This is because at the core of it, I see EA as a project of care and collaboration, something that should attract many more people than white men. I think perhaps diversity metrics from entities such as the UN might be something to use as a benchmark here.
This is bad not only because we are currently a much smaller movement than we could have been, but perhaps more importantly because our growth rate might be consistently much lower than it could have been.
There have been several “crises” regarding gender and race, but beyond these crises I think there is something more subtle around culture, messaging, etc.
I am quite uncertain about my reaction to this but I think I have seen evidence to at least weakly support my claims.
I agree that I think the FTX situation was not as bad as the community’s reactions might have warranted. For example, I think I saw some evidence that quite shortly after the FTX scandal, EA was back to growth rates quite similar to those seen before the influx of FTX funding (I might be wrong here so please let me know if I recall incorrectly!).
I think perhaps FTX have detracted from one or perhaps two much more significant issues, to which we have reacted much less than to FTX: The lack of gender and racial diversity in the movement. This feels somewhat analogous to what we in EA criticize the charity sector for: Reacting much more strongly to natural disasters and wars than the ongoing, not-news-worthy crises such as deaths due to malaria.
I would not be surprised if comparable organizations/communities/movements to EA have better “diversity metrics”. This is because at the core of it, I see EA as a project of care and collaboration, something that should attract many more people than white men. I think perhaps diversity metrics from entities such as the UN might be something to use as a benchmark here.
This is bad not only because we are currently a much smaller movement than we could have been, but perhaps more importantly because our growth rate might be consistently much lower than it could have been.
There have been several “crises” regarding gender and race, but beyond these crises I think there is something more subtle around culture, messaging, etc.