I think this framing is a good one, but I don’t immediately agree with the conclusion you make about which level to prioritize.
Firstly, consider the benefits we expect from a change in someone’s view at each level. Do most people stand to improve their impact the most by choosing the best implementation within their cause area, or switching to an average implementation in a more pressing cause area? I don’t think this is obvious, but I lean to the latter.
Higher levels are more generalizable: cross-implementation comparisons are only relevant to people within that cause, whereas cross-cause comparisons are relevant to everyone who shares approximately the same values, so focusing on lower levels limits the size of the audience that can benefit from what you have to say.
Low-level comparisons tend to require domain-specific expertise, which we won’t be able to have across a wide range of domains.
I also think there’s just a much greater deficit of high-quality discussion of the higher levels. They’re virtually unexamined by most people. Speaking personally, my introduction to EA was approximately that I knew I was confused about the medium-level question, so I was directly looking for answers to that: I’m not sure a good discussion of the low-level question would have captured me as effectively.
I think this framing is a good one, but I don’t immediately agree with the conclusion you make about which level to prioritize.
Firstly, consider the benefits we expect from a change in someone’s view at each level. Do most people stand to improve their impact the most by choosing the best implementation within their cause area, or switching to an average implementation in a more pressing cause area? I don’t think this is obvious, but I lean to the latter.
Higher levels are more generalizable: cross-implementation comparisons are only relevant to people within that cause, whereas cross-cause comparisons are relevant to everyone who shares approximately the same values, so focusing on lower levels limits the size of the audience that can benefit from what you have to say.
Low-level comparisons tend to require domain-specific expertise, which we won’t be able to have across a wide range of domains.
I also think there’s just a much greater deficit of high-quality discussion of the higher levels. They’re virtually unexamined by most people. Speaking personally, my introduction to EA was approximately that I knew I was confused about the medium-level question, so I was directly looking for answers to that: I’m not sure a good discussion of the low-level question would have captured me as effectively.