I heard someone say at an EA event in April, “We are probably the largest high-trust community—other than maybe some religious groups—in the world.” I’ve since heard someone else suggest the military as another example, but I think the fact that I’m struggling to think of other examples tells me that we have/had something very special.
Thanks for the question—it’s made me realise I should clarify: I didn’t mean I’m struggling to think of examples of other large, high-trust communities. I meant I’m struggling to think of examples of other comparably large and comparably high-trust communities.
But yes, I imagine there are in fact several examples I’m not familiar enough with or haven’t thought of, but the levels of trust I’ve experienced in this community still strike me as weirdly high for a philosophy that can’t rely on the historically successful fear of deities or hatred of out-groups[1] to motivate a common purpose. I’m with Michael on thinking that trust has been broadly justified wrt current people in EA orgs (I wouldn’t expect or want you to take my word for it but I feel it’s worth stating), so I think this is something to be proud of.
[1]A big over-simplification, but I think these are at least very common powerful contributors to religious/military engagement that aren’t widely considered a core part of using evidence and reason to better love all sentient beings.
Thank you for this post, Michael.
I heard someone say at an EA event in April, “We are probably the largest high-trust community—other than maybe some religious groups—in the world.” I’ve since heard someone else suggest the military as another example, but I think the fact that I’m struggling to think of other examples tells me that we have/had something very special.
Are orgs / movements like Doctors without Borders, Greenpeace, Peace Corps , Rotary etc considered relatively high trust too?
Thanks for the question—it’s made me realise I should clarify: I didn’t mean I’m struggling to think of examples of other large, high-trust communities. I meant I’m struggling to think of examples of other comparably large and comparably high-trust communities.
But yes, I imagine there are in fact several examples I’m not familiar enough with or haven’t thought of, but the levels of trust I’ve experienced in this community still strike me as weirdly high for a philosophy that can’t rely on the historically successful fear of deities or hatred of out-groups[1] to motivate a common purpose. I’m with Michael on thinking that trust has been broadly justified wrt current people in EA orgs (I wouldn’t expect or want you to take my word for it but I feel it’s worth stating), so I think this is something to be proud of.
[1]A big over-simplification, but I think these are at least very common powerful contributors to religious/military engagement that aren’t widely considered a core part of using evidence and reason to better love all sentient beings.