This seems weird. I think PR wise, our biggest worry is what the first impressions of newcomers will be, and the vast, the vast majority of people haven’t heard of it yet. I worry more about what the first articles on Google are going to be, rather than how we are actively being perceived right now.
I’m still worried, but from my perspective general attitudes haven’t changed that much yet and at most, people with pre-existing negative beliefs about EA have seen those confirmed.
Plus, I don’t think we’re under-rating the damage, it’s just that there doesn’t seem like there’s much we can do.
(I should probably say my view is quite partial: I’m an organizer for a Spanish-speaking group and for the most part, the situation has seemed distant)
Maybe this won’t matter for the marginal Berkley EA Club joiner, but I’m worried this will do some harm for donors and non-EAs that EA orgs have to work with in order to be successfull. EA orgs often/usually have to interact with the outside world, sometimes with fairly establishment/conservative organizations who have leaders who read the NYT and WSJ.
Maybe I’m raising this alarm because I experience this directly daily working in finance with a bunch of people who are on boards of foundations and nonprofits who now have a very negative view of EA. Maybe this is a niche concern and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
This seems weird. I think PR wise, our biggest worry is what the first impressions of newcomers will be, and the vast, the vast majority of people haven’t heard of it yet. I worry more about what the first articles on Google are going to be, rather than how we are actively being perceived right now.
I’m still worried, but from my perspective general attitudes haven’t changed that much yet and at most, people with pre-existing negative beliefs about EA have seen those confirmed.
Plus, I don’t think we’re under-rating the damage, it’s just that there doesn’t seem like there’s much we can do.
(I should probably say my view is quite partial: I’m an organizer for a Spanish-speaking group and for the most part, the situation has seemed distant)
It seems like we’re splitting hairs. What I’m saying is that millions and millions of people are hearing about EA for the first time via articles like this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/technology/sam-bankman-fried-crypto-artificial-intelligence.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Maybe this won’t matter for the marginal Berkley EA Club joiner, but I’m worried this will do some harm for donors and non-EAs that EA orgs have to work with in order to be successfull. EA orgs often/usually have to interact with the outside world, sometimes with fairly establishment/conservative organizations who have leaders who read the NYT and WSJ.
Maybe I’m raising this alarm because I experience this directly daily working in finance with a bunch of people who are on boards of foundations and nonprofits who now have a very negative view of EA. Maybe this is a niche concern and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.