For the people who think the statement is applause lights, I’d suggest considering the following response: If someone comes up with a reasonable concrete plan for addressing racism and sexism within EA, and it doesn’t get (sufficient) funding through the usual sources, you will contribute to helping fund it in some manner. That’s unavoidably vague and non-specific because we are talking about a hypothetical proposal, but it would be at least a slightly costly signal of support.
I’ll commit to funding a hypothetical reasonable underfunded plan that develops in 2023 somewhere in the three-figure range. I’m not going to pretend that is a particularly significant amount in real-world effect terms, but I think it’s enough for someone in the public sector like me to dispel the idea that it’s just an applause-light level commitment.
(I recognize some people may be students or otherwise not in a position to make more than a symbolic commitment—but symbolic commitments having some cost still have signalling value.)
This shifted my opinion towards being agnostic/mildly positive about this public statement.
I’m still concerned that some potential versions of EA getting more explicitly political might be detrimental to our discourse norms for the reasons Duncan, Chris, Liv, and I outlined in our comments. But yea, this amount of public support may definitely nudge grantmakers/donators to invest more into community health. If yes, I’m definitely in favor of that.
For the people who think the statement is applause lights, I’d suggest considering the following response: If someone comes up with a reasonable concrete plan for addressing racism and sexism within EA, and it doesn’t get (sufficient) funding through the usual sources, you will contribute to helping fund it in some manner. That’s unavoidably vague and non-specific because we are talking about a hypothetical proposal, but it would be at least a slightly costly signal of support.
I’ll commit to funding a hypothetical reasonable underfunded plan that develops in 2023 somewhere in the three-figure range. I’m not going to pretend that is a particularly significant amount in real-world effect terms, but I think it’s enough for someone in the public sector like me to dispel the idea that it’s just an applause-light level commitment.
(I recognize some people may be students or otherwise not in a position to make more than a symbolic commitment—but symbolic commitments having some cost still have signalling value.)
This shifted my opinion towards being agnostic/mildly positive about this public statement.
I’m still concerned that some potential versions of EA getting more explicitly political might be detrimental to our discourse norms for the reasons Duncan, Chris, Liv, and I outlined in our comments. But yea, this amount of public support may definitely nudge grantmakers/donators to invest more into community health. If yes, I’m definitely in favor of that.