To the extent that I’m outside of the general population I think it’s because of my giving, but I generally feel squarely inside the box of ordinary people. I can relate to not feeling as smart as many EAs.
I think there are numerous things a typical person could do to take EA ideas and try to concretely make the world a better place:
One action that I think is broadly available is to join some advocacy group for EA-related policies on some local / regional / national level like animal welfare, electoral reform, sane land use policy, or something else. You could try to introduce EA ideas or a focus on effective methods in to the discussion, if they are missing.
I think there’s lots of information to be picked up from EA Global talks and some 80,000 Hours podcast episodes (not necessarily every episode!), and other EA podcasts that have been posted previously to the forum.
You could also talk about EA with your friends or your workplace (though I have an ugh-field around talking about EA and an ugh-field around reflecting on this, so I can sympathize if you do too). Maybe you could influence / organize a work fundraiser while spreading the ideas of effective giving.
Similarly, talking about EA related books.
If available, going to your local EA meetup and contributing to a warm & welcoming environment.
You could also keep an eye out for ideas or programs that seem highly cost effective and then try and signal boost them them on that basis.
Also things like answering questions where you can, with whatever time you have for it, to help ramp up others on these concepts you’re excited about.
Some great ideas here, thank you! I’ve talked to my husband a lot about EA but like you do find it a bit challenging to branch out to others. I think this is something worth me working on though.
To the extent that I’m outside of the general population I think it’s because of my giving, but I generally feel squarely inside the box of ordinary people. I can relate to not feeling as smart as many EAs.
I think there are numerous things a typical person could do to take EA ideas and try to concretely make the world a better place:
One action that I think is broadly available is to join some advocacy group for EA-related policies on some local / regional / national level like animal welfare, electoral reform, sane land use policy, or something else. You could try to introduce EA ideas or a focus on effective methods in to the discussion, if they are missing.
I think there’s lots of information to be picked up from EA Global talks and some 80,000 Hours podcast episodes (not necessarily every episode!), and other EA podcasts that have been posted previously to the forum.
You could also talk about EA with your friends or your workplace (though I have an ugh-field around talking about EA and an ugh-field around reflecting on this, so I can sympathize if you do too). Maybe you could influence / organize a work fundraiser while spreading the ideas of effective giving.
Similarly, talking about EA related books.
If available, going to your local EA meetup and contributing to a warm & welcoming environment.
You could also keep an eye out for ideas or programs that seem highly cost effective and then try and signal boost them them on that basis.
Also things like answering questions where you can, with whatever time you have for it, to help ramp up others on these concepts you’re excited about.
Some great ideas here, thank you! I’ve talked to my husband a lot about EA but like you do find it a bit challenging to branch out to others. I think this is something worth me working on though.