Just to add to this, in my anecdotal experience, it seems like the most common argument amongst EAs for not focusing on X-risk or the far future is risk aversion.
Thanks for this. It’d be interesting if there were survey evidence on this. Some anecdotal stuff the other way… On the EA funds page, Beckstead mentions person-affecting views as one of the reasons that one might not go into far future causes (https://app.effectivealtruism.org/funds/far-future). Some Givewell staffers apparently endorse person-affecting views and avoid the far future stuff on that basis—http://blog.givewell.org/2016/03/10/march-2016-open-thread/#comment-939058.
Just to add to this, in my anecdotal experience, it seems like the most common argument amongst EAs for not focusing on X-risk or the far future is risk aversion.
Thanks for this. It’d be interesting if there were survey evidence on this. Some anecdotal stuff the other way… On the EA funds page, Beckstead mentions person-affecting views as one of the reasons that one might not go into far future causes (https://app.effectivealtruism.org/funds/far-future). Some Givewell staffers apparently endorse person-affecting views and avoid the far future stuff on that basis—http://blog.givewell.org/2016/03/10/march-2016-open-thread/#comment-939058.