I do not intend Near-Term EAs to be participants’ only space to talk about effective altruism. People can still participate on the EA forum, the EA Facebook group, local EA groups, Less Wrong, etc. There is not actually any shortage of places where near-term EAs can talk with far-future EAs.
Near-Term EAs has been in open beta for a week or two while I ironed out the kinks. So far, I have not found any issues with people being unusually closed-minded or intolerant of far-future EAs. In fact, we have several participants who identify as cause-agnostic and at least one who works for a far-future organization.
I do not intend Near-Term EAs to be participants’ only space to talk about effective altruism. People can still participate on the EA forum, the EA Facebook group, local EA groups, Less Wrong, etc. There is not actually any shortage of places where near-term EAs can talk with far-future EAs.
There is not any shortage of places where near-term EAs can talk with near-term EAs—it is the same list. (except for maybe LessWrong, which may be bad for the same reasons as this discord server, but at least they are open to everyone’s participation, and don’t make a brand out of their POV.) But if the mere availability of alternative avenues for dissenting opinions were sufficient for avoiding groupthink, then groupthink would not exist. Every messageboard is just a click away from many others. And yet we see people operating in filter bubbles all the same.
Please see my comment reply to adamaero, “near-term EA” is a thesis, not a legitimate way to carve up the movement (the same goes for long-term EA), and it shouldn’t be entrenched as a kind of ideology—certainly not as a kind of identity, which is even worse. You are reinforcing a framing that will continue to cause deep problems that will be extremely difficult to undo. Consider focusing on poverty reduction instead, for instance.
I do not intend Near-Term EAs to be participants’ only space to talk about effective altruism. People can still participate on the EA forum, the EA Facebook group, local EA groups, Less Wrong, etc. There is not actually any shortage of places where near-term EAs can talk with far-future EAs.
Near-Term EAs has been in open beta for a week or two while I ironed out the kinks. So far, I have not found any issues with people being unusually closed-minded or intolerant of far-future EAs. In fact, we have several participants who identify as cause-agnostic and at least one who works for a far-future organization.
There is not any shortage of places where near-term EAs can talk with near-term EAs—it is the same list. (except for maybe LessWrong, which may be bad for the same reasons as this discord server, but at least they are open to everyone’s participation, and don’t make a brand out of their POV.) But if the mere availability of alternative avenues for dissenting opinions were sufficient for avoiding groupthink, then groupthink would not exist. Every messageboard is just a click away from many others. And yet we see people operating in filter bubbles all the same.
Please see my comment reply to adamaero, “near-term EA” is a thesis, not a legitimate way to carve up the movement (the same goes for long-term EA), and it shouldn’t be entrenched as a kind of ideology—certainly not as a kind of identity, which is even worse. You are reinforcing a framing that will continue to cause deep problems that will be extremely difficult to undo. Consider focusing on poverty reduction instead, for instance.