Michelle—thank you for this lovely, positive, & inspiring post, which reminds us why were were attracted to the EA movement in the first place, why we like and respect EA people, and how rewarding EA has been in our lives.
This is especially timely given the recent controversies and setbacks—it’s helpful to take a step back and remember all the positive and distinctive features of EA.
I’m currently teaching my ‘Psychology of EA’ course for the fourth time at a large state university in the US. I’m amazed and inspired every week that my undergrads have their minds blown by EA insights, and feel morally inspired that there are so many practical ways they can have a positive impact in the world.
Very few of my students had heard of EA before taking the class. Even fewer had heard any criticisms of EA. Most didn’t know anything about FTX, or any of the other recent difficulties. We tend to radically over-estimate how prominent our movement is to the general public (or to typical university students), and how harmed it has been the last few months, and how resistant people will be to our ideas. There are still billions of people out there who haven’t even heard the core ideas and values of our movement.
For those of us who have been involved with EA for a while, we tend to take for granted just how novel, powerful, and galvanizing EA ideas can be to those who haven’t heard them before.
Love this comment. I think actually this is one (smaller) reason that EAs have an ethical duty to ensure that EA is spoken of truthfully, to still not leave out the good parts, in fact to promote the whole picture, and speak with nuance and not just lie down and put our tails between our legs when we have public criticism. I think of it like: There’s some universe where I haven’t heard of EA yet, but I’d really want to and really be served by hearing of it. The way we speak of ourselves and allow others to speak of us (if untrue or half-truths) greatly changes the odds that I (and others in this universe who don’t know about EA but would like to) find out about it and are galvanized to create the lives they really would prefer.
Michelle—thank you for this lovely, positive, & inspiring post, which reminds us why were were attracted to the EA movement in the first place, why we like and respect EA people, and how rewarding EA has been in our lives.
This is especially timely given the recent controversies and setbacks—it’s helpful to take a step back and remember all the positive and distinctive features of EA.
I’m currently teaching my ‘Psychology of EA’ course for the fourth time at a large state university in the US. I’m amazed and inspired every week that my undergrads have their minds blown by EA insights, and feel morally inspired that there are so many practical ways they can have a positive impact in the world.
Very few of my students had heard of EA before taking the class. Even fewer had heard any criticisms of EA. Most didn’t know anything about FTX, or any of the other recent difficulties. We tend to radically over-estimate how prominent our movement is to the general public (or to typical university students), and how harmed it has been the last few months, and how resistant people will be to our ideas. There are still billions of people out there who haven’t even heard the core ideas and values of our movement.
For those of us who have been involved with EA for a while, we tend to take for granted just how novel, powerful, and galvanizing EA ideas can be to those who haven’t heard them before.
Love this comment. I think actually this is one (smaller) reason that EAs have an ethical duty to ensure that EA is spoken of truthfully, to still not leave out the good parts, in fact to promote the whole picture, and speak with nuance and not just lie down and put our tails between our legs when we have public criticism. I think of it like: There’s some universe where I haven’t heard of EA yet, but I’d really want to and really be served by hearing of it. The way we speak of ourselves and allow others to speak of us (if untrue or half-truths) greatly changes the odds that I (and others in this universe who don’t know about EA but would like to) find out about it and are galvanized to create the lives they really would prefer.
Ivy—Yes. Well said.