I think an antagonistic tone actually works well in recruiting folks who are still EA-adjacent, and may still be somewhat-affiliated with the community, or otherwise care a lot about some EA-branded cause areas like AI, but are weary of the discourse and cultural norms and professionalization of the space. For a space that supposedly loves criticism, EA really doesn’t make real space for criticizing a lot of key assumptions and orgs, and it often feels like, if you car about certain causes that aren’t mainstream outside of the movement, you either stick around and keep your mouth shut, or stop seeking to help with those causes. Someone like Holly taking an antagonistic tone means that there are others out there who you could meet and organize with who might think about things in an EA-ish, systematic way...but who aren’t contained by organizational allegiance. And, I’d argue, that integrity is a breath of fresh air and I suspect is very effective in attracting disillusioned EAs
Disagreement is cool and awesome. Even intense disagreement (“I think this view is deeply misguided”). I really see no room for antagonism among two people that could be having an epistemically healthy conversation.
I think an antagonistic tone actually works well in recruiting folks who are still EA-adjacent, and may still be somewhat-affiliated with the community, or otherwise care a lot about some EA-branded cause areas like AI, but are weary of the discourse and cultural norms and professionalization of the space. For a space that supposedly loves criticism, EA really doesn’t make real space for criticizing a lot of key assumptions and orgs, and it often feels like, if you car about certain causes that aren’t mainstream outside of the movement, you either stick around and keep your mouth shut, or stop seeking to help with those causes. Someone like Holly taking an antagonistic tone means that there are others out there who you could meet and organize with who might think about things in an EA-ish, systematic way...but who aren’t contained by organizational allegiance. And, I’d argue, that integrity is a breath of fresh air and I suspect is very effective in attracting disillusioned EAs
Disagreement is cool and awesome. Even intense disagreement (“I think this view is deeply misguided”). I really see no room for antagonism among two people that could be having an epistemically healthy conversation.
Fair enough. Would you consider yourself one of those disillusioned EAs that’s been attracted by the message?
Like Noah said, disagreement is great, closed-mindedness and antagonism is not.