I feel very concerned by the relative lack of good quality discussion and analysis of EA topics. I feel like everyone who isn’t working at an EA org is at a massive disadvantage when it comes to understanding important EA topics, and only a few people manage to be motivated enough to have a really broad and deep understanding of EA without either working at an EA org or being really close to someone who does.
I am not sure if you still feel this way, but this makes me wonder what the current conversations are about with other people at EA orgs. Could you give some examples of important understandings or new ideas you have gained from such conversations in the last, say, 3 months?
A few helpful conversations that I’ve had recently with people who are strongly connected to the professional EA community, which I think would be harder to have without information gained from these strong connections:
I enjoyed a document about AI timelines that someone from another org shared me on.
Discussions about how EA outreach should go—how rapidly should we try to grow, what proportion of people who are good fits for EA are we already reaching, what types of people are we going to be able to reach with what outreach mechanisms.
In “Ways I’ve changed my mind about effective altruism over the past year” you write:
I am not sure if you still feel this way, but this makes me wonder what the current conversations are about with other people at EA orgs. Could you give some examples of important understandings or new ideas you have gained from such conversations in the last, say, 3 months?
I still feel this way, and I’ve been trying to think of ways to reduce this problem. I think the AIRCS workshops help a bit, I think that my SSC trip was helpful and EA residencies might be helpful.
A few helpful conversations that I’ve had recently with people who are strongly connected to the professional EA community, which I think would be harder to have without information gained from these strong connections:
I enjoyed a document about AI timelines that someone from another org shared me on.
Discussions about how EA outreach should go—how rapidly should we try to grow, what proportion of people who are good fits for EA are we already reaching, what types of people are we going to be able to reach with what outreach mechanisms.