I’m considering writing a post on why it’s hard for some people who intellectually agree with EA foundations to be emotionally passionate about EA (and really “doing good” in general). This is mostly based on my experience as a university group organiser, my tendency to be drawn to EA-lite people who end up leaving the community, and the fact that I am not very passionate about EA. Very fuzzy TL;DR is that caring about cause prioritisation requires levels of uncertainty, but the average person needs to be able to see concrete steps to take and how their contribution can help people to feel a fervour that propels them into action. This is doubly true for people who are not surrounded by EAs. To combat this, I argue for one actionable item, and one broader, more abstract ideal. The action item is to have a visual, easily digestable EA roadmap, that links broader cause areas with specific things people and orgs are doing. Ideally, the roadmap would almost be like a bunch of “business pitches” to attract new employees, explaining the pain points, the solutions suggested, and how people can get involved. The broader ideal I want to advocate for is for the EA philosophy to be principles based, but for the day-to-day EA to be missions-based (which I view as different from being cause-area-oriented).
It’s all just vibes in my head right now, but I’d be curious to know if people would want to see interviews/surveys/any sort of data to back up what I’m saying.
I’m considering writing a post on why it’s hard for some people who intellectually agree with EA foundations to be emotionally passionate about EA (and really “doing good” in general). This is mostly based on my experience as a university group organiser, my tendency to be drawn to EA-lite people who end up leaving the community, and the fact that I am not very passionate about EA. Very fuzzy TL;DR is that caring about cause prioritisation requires levels of uncertainty, but the average person needs to be able to see concrete steps to take and how their contribution can help people to feel a fervour that propels them into action. This is doubly true for people who are not surrounded by EAs. To combat this, I argue for one actionable item, and one broader, more abstract ideal. The action item is to have a visual, easily digestable EA roadmap, that links broader cause areas with specific things people and orgs are doing. Ideally, the roadmap would almost be like a bunch of “business pitches” to attract new employees, explaining the pain points, the solutions suggested, and how people can get involved. The broader ideal I want to advocate for is for the EA philosophy to be principles based, but for the day-to-day EA to be missions-based (which I view as different from being cause-area-oriented).
It’s all just vibes in my head right now, but I’d be curious to know if people would want to see interviews/surveys/any sort of data to back up what I’m saying.