Social group membership is not upstream. “trying to believe true things” or “trying to win” are the things I aspire to upstream, and maybe some social groups, like EA, are instrumentally useful downstream of those. Computer science chatrooms are instrumentally useful too!
Identities can be like organizations (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/william-gillis-organizations-versus-getting-shit-done). They can cache themselves and capture the mind, imposing restrictions on how you think. They can take on lives of their own, creating obligations to make sure the organization lives on if you lose (at your goal). (Incidentally, the linked zine on getting stuff done is something I cite liberally in discussions of EA movement building).
I don’t think EA is doing anything that uniquely augments or complements the basic issues I have with identities altogether, but that would change if I thought too much was being invested in movement building.
Reasons not to identify as EA to me are just nuances about identities altogether and trying to keep them small (http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html).
Social group membership is not upstream. “trying to believe true things” or “trying to win” are the things I aspire to upstream, and maybe some social groups, like EA, are instrumentally useful downstream of those. Computer science chatrooms are instrumentally useful too!
Identities can be like organizations (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/william-gillis-organizations-versus-getting-shit-done). They can cache themselves and capture the mind, imposing restrictions on how you think. They can take on lives of their own, creating obligations to make sure the organization lives on if you lose (at your goal). (Incidentally, the linked zine on getting stuff done is something I cite liberally in discussions of EA movement building).
I don’t think EA is doing anything that uniquely augments or complements the basic issues I have with identities altogether, but that would change if I thought too much was being invested in movement building.