I partially agree with you but I’ll focus on what I disagree with :)
“those who’re enthusiastic about EA and/or willing to contribute in a certain way will do so anyway. For them online information, or a single talk may even be enough.”
Personally, hanging out with EAs makes me A LOT more enthusiastic about EA and I work on my EA projects much more as a result. I basically forget about EA when I’m away from the community for long periods of time. I might be an outlier here but I’m sure that the same is true for others to a lesser degree. And it’s these kind of events that not only energise me but also help me find EA friends with whom I can hang out, co-work or even live. Which, by the way, makes such events more valuable when they are for people from one city.
Also, I know from first-hand experience that online information is not enough for cause prioritisation, making career decisions or deciding where to donate. I read a lot but when I started going to EA meetups some gaps in my knowledge and flaws in my thinking were soon exposed. Discussions hit diminishing returns after a while though.
But maybe both goals can be achieved with simple socials at a lesser cost.
OK, I have to admit these are really good points :) I don’t work in any direct way in the EA sector, but I can imagine that just like with any job, communication with others can kick-start new enthusiasm and even new projects.
Effective altruism is kind of emotionally hard. Compared to some other forms of altruism It often does not give you the “warm glow” feelings, smiling child’s eyes, etc.
This emotional feedback has to be supplied by the community. If it is missing, it has some unfortunate effects
it makes it harder to keep being an effective altruist
you get overrepresentation of people with less intense emotionality, people suppresing their emotions, etc.
Personally, hanging out with EAs makes me A LOT more enthusiastic about EA and I work on my EA projects much more as a result. I basically forget about EA when I’m away from the community for long periods of time. I might be an outlier here but I’m sure that the same is true for others to a lesser degree. And it’s these kind of events that not only energise me but also help me find EA friends with whom I can hang out, co-work or even live. Which, by the way, makes such events more valuable when they are for people from one city.
This was true for me until hanging out with EAs worked so well I became an EA community organizer, and now I can’t stop thinking about EA, because I’m always in touch with the community and am trying to constantly facilitate EA events.
I partially agree with you but I’ll focus on what I disagree with :)
Personally, hanging out with EAs makes me A LOT more enthusiastic about EA and I work on my EA projects much more as a result. I basically forget about EA when I’m away from the community for long periods of time. I might be an outlier here but I’m sure that the same is true for others to a lesser degree. And it’s these kind of events that not only energise me but also help me find EA friends with whom I can hang out, co-work or even live. Which, by the way, makes such events more valuable when they are for people from one city.
Also, I know from first-hand experience that online information is not enough for cause prioritisation, making career decisions or deciding where to donate. I read a lot but when I started going to EA meetups some gaps in my knowledge and flaws in my thinking were soon exposed. Discussions hit diminishing returns after a while though.
But maybe both goals can be achieved with simple socials at a lesser cost.
OK, I have to admit these are really good points :) I don’t work in any direct way in the EA sector, but I can imagine that just like with any job, communication with others can kick-start new enthusiasm and even new projects.
Effective altruism is kind of emotionally hard. Compared to some other forms of altruism It often does not give you the “warm glow” feelings, smiling child’s eyes, etc.
This emotional feedback has to be supplied by the community. If it is missing, it has some unfortunate effects
it makes it harder to keep being an effective altruist
you get overrepresentation of people with less intense emotionality, people suppresing their emotions, etc.
This was true for me until hanging out with EAs worked so well I became an EA community organizer, and now I can’t stop thinking about EA, because I’m always in touch with the community and am trying to constantly facilitate EA events.