Thanks for all the work you are doing here, I think some really amazing groups could come out of this. I am cautiously excited about many different kinds of groups starting.
I found it a bit surprising that the list of criteria for group organizers (including “nice to have”) doesn’t seem to have anything like “really cares about the objectives of their group,” “really cares about improving the long term future,” “is altruistic to some degree”
Being truth-seeking and open-minded
Having a strong understanding of whatever topic their group is about, and/or being self-aware about gaps in understanding
Being socially skilled enough that people won’t find them highly offputting (note that this is a much lower bar than being actively friendly, extroverted, etc.)
Secondary “nice-to-have” desiderata include:
Taking ideas seriously
Being conscientious
Being ambitious / entrepreneurial
Being friendly / outgoing
Having good strategic judgment in what activities their group should be doing
Actively coming off as sharp in conversation, such that others find them fun to have object-level discussions with
Maybe this is just implicit? But it seems useful to make it explicit. Otherwise, this list kind of makes me think of really nice, friendly, hardworking philosophers who do not actually behave any more ethically. Great understanding and leadership is not enough; group leaders need to actually care about whatever the thing is. Maybe this is what “taking ideas seriously” is supposed to mean (I never quite understand that phrase, people seem to use it in different ways)? If so, it seems like a must have, not a nice to have.
Sorry about the delay on this answer. I do think it’s important that organizers genuinely care about the objectives of their group (which I think can be different from being altruistic, especially for non-effective altruism groups). I think you’re right that that’s worth listing in the must-have criteria, and I’ve added it now.
I assume the main reason this criteria wouldn’t be true is if someone wanted to do organizing work just for the money, which I think we should be trying hard to select against.
Thanks for all the work you are doing here, I think some really amazing groups could come out of this. I am cautiously excited about many different kinds of groups starting.
I found it a bit surprising that the list of criteria for group organizers (including “nice to have”) doesn’t seem to have anything like “really cares about the objectives of their group,” “really cares about improving the long term future,” “is altruistic to some degree”
Maybe this is just implicit? But it seems useful to make it explicit. Otherwise, this list kind of makes me think of really nice, friendly, hardworking philosophers who do not actually behave any more ethically. Great understanding and leadership is not enough; group leaders need to actually care about whatever the thing is. Maybe this is what “taking ideas seriously” is supposed to mean (I never quite understand that phrase, people seem to use it in different ways)? If so, it seems like a must have, not a nice to have.
Sorry about the delay on this answer. I do think it’s important that organizers genuinely care about the objectives of their group (which I think can be different from being altruistic, especially for non-effective altruism groups). I think you’re right that that’s worth listing in the must-have criteria, and I’ve added it now.
I assume the main reason this criteria wouldn’t be true is if someone wanted to do organizing work just for the money, which I think we should be trying hard to select against.