I think that “being willing to question orthodoxies on cost-effectiveness, using a lot of real-world data and careful thinking” is a lot of the best part of EA, and it’s clear that much of this post is in that style. It sounds like you’re wrestling with a bunch of important (and, as pointed out elsewhere, highly-debated) parts of the discussion on this topic.
Overall I found this post quite refreshing. I think it’s really neat that you are from Uganda and seem to understand many of the relevant facts there well. As you might have noticed, a lot of the EA community has historically been very Western-centric, and this has clearly led to important gaps in relevant discussions.
As for your specific questions, I think that other comments here have done a good job going through them point-by-point. Also, because these are fairly-discussed questions, I’d flag that LLMs probably have a decent understanding of them now. So I’d expect that Claude / ChatGPT / etc to do a decent job to quickly get you up-to-speed to the current state of discussion on these topics.
(While I like to think of myself as a decent writer, at this point, I often believe that LLMs can explain things better than I can.)
this great and I’m eager to connect with and learn from those who’ve been part of this community for a longer time. While interacting with LLMs has been helpful, I’ve noticed that responses sometimes feel generic or disconnected from practical realities. Insights from experienced community members who offer fresh perspectives grounded in real-world contexts are incredibly valuable. Such contributions greatly enhance the relevance and effectiveness of our ideas, making them more achievable and better tailored to the local environments of the beneficiaries we aim to support. I’d greatly appreciate any practical advice, experiences, or suggestions you might share. Thank you!
I just want to register support for this.
I think that “being willing to question orthodoxies on cost-effectiveness, using a lot of real-world data and careful thinking” is a lot of the best part of EA, and it’s clear that much of this post is in that style. It sounds like you’re wrestling with a bunch of important (and, as pointed out elsewhere, highly-debated) parts of the discussion on this topic.
Overall I found this post quite refreshing. I think it’s really neat that you are from Uganda and seem to understand many of the relevant facts there well. As you might have noticed, a lot of the EA community has historically been very Western-centric, and this has clearly led to important gaps in relevant discussions.
As for your specific questions, I think that other comments here have done a good job going through them point-by-point. Also, because these are fairly-discussed questions, I’d flag that LLMs probably have a decent understanding of them now. So I’d expect that Claude / ChatGPT / etc to do a decent job to quickly get you up-to-speed to the current state of discussion on these topics.
(While I like to think of myself as a decent writer, at this point, I often believe that LLMs can explain things better than I can.)
this great and I’m eager to connect with and learn from those who’ve been part of this community for a longer time. While interacting with LLMs has been helpful, I’ve noticed that responses sometimes feel generic or disconnected from practical realities. Insights from experienced community members who offer fresh perspectives grounded in real-world contexts are incredibly valuable. Such contributions greatly enhance the relevance and effectiveness of our ideas, making them more achievable and better tailored to the local environments of the beneficiaries we aim to support. I’d greatly appreciate any practical advice, experiences, or suggestions you might share. Thank you!