Thank you for writing this post! These are really good points. I think EA Singapore is looking to do more research on poverty and development in Southeast Asia, which can unlock more funding from funders who want to donate to a particular country or region. But I’m not the best person to speak about this.
I also thought of another point: if you’re outside of the US and Western Europe,[1] it’s just harder to stay involved in EA as a human being. This feels obvious to me and I almost didn’t post this comment because it seemed like ‘duh’, but I remembered that I’ve found simple, clear explanations of ‘obvious’ things helpful in the past, and at least they reminded me to consider them.
EA in general: unlike some other communities or ideologies, being involved in EA requires a good amount of effort. You’re expected to take action—donating, planning your career—and stay updated on current thinking, which changes very quickly—earn to give vs. direct impact? chicken eggs...no wait, fish! no wait, insects![2]
But it’s not easy to visit or live in an EA hub city like London or San Francisco, for most of the global population (financially, legally, for family reasons)
In less rich countries, professional altruism & charity aren’t as well-regarded and it can be difficult to get support from your family or friends
Fewer like-minded people around you means you have to put in a lot more effort to stay engaged and informed
Donating 10% (or any %) is more difficult. Your salary isn’t as high. Maybe you’re already giving 10% to your parents. Maybe you’ve grown up in a strong culture of saving. And you’re very aware that the 10% of your salary is the equivalent of 1% or 0.1% for someone in a richer country
On top of all this, you probably feel consistently excluded from narratives, like your post explains
There are some good posts on the EA forum about value drift, but a bunch of the actions that people can take are less accessible for people outside of the US and Western Europe.
At some level, this is basically ‘how to set up EA communities in other countries and the challenges in this’. But I think there is value in considering people’s varying circumstances and the effort needed to be ‘EA’, even if the effect is just that some people feel a little more encouraged and validated.
Thanks for this reply, I agree with everything you say and those are very good points, it´s definitely harder to be involved. Thanks for pointing out the example from Singapore, I will check it out.
Another issue that comes to my mind is the discussion around AI safety, it would be great to have more visions from low and middle income countries since a very important aspect of AI safety includes how AI is unequally distributed in the world and within countries (in some countries we are already seeing how AI can magnify existing inequalities, who knows how that will turn out in the future...).
Thanks again and I´m making a list of all of these issues to keep them in mind :)
But it’s not easy to visit or live in an EA hub city like London or San Francisco, for most of the global population (financially, legally, for family reasons)
…
Fewer like-minded people around you means you have to put in a lot more effort to stay engaged and informed
Thank you for writing this post! These are really good points. I think EA Singapore is looking to do more research on poverty and development in Southeast Asia, which can unlock more funding from funders who want to donate to a particular country or region. But I’m not the best person to speak about this.
I also thought of another point: if you’re outside of the US and Western Europe,[1] it’s just harder to stay involved in EA as a human being. This feels obvious to me and I almost didn’t post this comment because it seemed like ‘duh’, but I remembered that I’ve found simple, clear explanations of ‘obvious’ things helpful in the past, and at least they reminded me to consider them.
EA in general: unlike some other communities or ideologies, being involved in EA requires a good amount of effort. You’re expected to take action—donating, planning your career—and stay updated on current thinking, which changes very quickly—earn to give vs. direct impact? chicken eggs...no wait, fish! no wait, insects![2]
But it’s not easy to visit or live in an EA hub city like London or San Francisco, for most of the global population (financially, legally, for family reasons)
In less rich countries, professional altruism & charity aren’t as well-regarded and it can be difficult to get support from your family or friends
Fewer like-minded people around you means you have to put in a lot more effort to stay engaged and informed
Donating 10% (or any %) is more difficult. Your salary isn’t as high. Maybe you’re already giving 10% to your parents. Maybe you’ve grown up in a strong culture of saving. And you’re very aware that the 10% of your salary is the equivalent of 1% or 0.1% for someone in a richer country
You have to create your own opportunities, e.g. organise your own EA group, find impactful policy jobs, set up your own charity, get people to translate EA materials from English
On top of all this, you probably feel consistently excluded from narratives, like your post explains
There are some good posts on the EA forum about value drift, but a bunch of the actions that people can take are less accessible for people outside of the US and Western Europe.
A Qualitative Analysis of Value Drift in EA
Concrete Ways to Reduce Risks of Value Drift and Lifestyle Drift
At some level, this is basically ‘how to set up EA communities in other countries and the challenges in this’. But I think there is value in considering people’s varying circumstances and the effort needed to be ‘EA’, even if the effect is just that some people feel a little more encouraged and validated.
Not sure about the exact geographies. It’s a spectrum (e.g. Australia is somewhere in between) and there’s variation within countries as well.
Just to be clear, I think taking action and changing your mind frequently based on the best available evidence are good things.
Thanks for this reply, I agree with everything you say and those are very good points, it´s definitely harder to be involved. Thanks for pointing out the example from Singapore, I will check it out.
Another issue that comes to my mind is the discussion around AI safety, it would be great to have more visions from low and middle income countries since a very important aspect of AI safety includes how AI is unequally distributed in the world and within countries (in some countries we are already seeing how AI can magnify existing inequalities, who knows how that will turn out in the future...).
Thanks again and I´m making a list of all of these issues to keep them in mind :)
EA Anywhere might help :-)