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Com­mu­nity epistemic health

TagLast edit: Mar 16, 2022, 3:28 PM by Pablo

The community epistemic health tag applies to posts addressing the current state of epistemic health in the effective altruism community, as well as posts discussing how we might improve the epistemic health of the community.

Effective altruism is about working out how to do as much good as we can using evidence and reason and then taking action on that basis. Posts here are particularly concerned with how well the movement is able to use evidence and reason, norms that affect discourse between individuals and how individuals form beliefs.

If you have ideas for improving or retaining epistemic norms within the EA community please email Nicole Ross (community health team manager at CEA) at nicole[dot]ross[at]centreforeffectivealtruism.org .

In­group Deference

trammellMay 26, 2023, 4:44 PM
120 points
24 comments17 min readEA link

Do­ing EA Better

ConcernedEAsJan 17, 2023, 8:09 PM
261 points
383 comments70 min readEA link

Norms and fea­tures for the Forum

technicalitiesMay 16, 2022, 9:38 AM
62 points
16 comments3 min readEA link

Pro­duc­tive crit­i­cism: run­ning a draft past the peo­ple you’re criticizing

LizkaJun 15, 2023, 3:57 PM
38 points
7 comments7 min readEA link

Why defen­sive writ­ing is bad for com­mu­nity epistemics

EmrikOct 8, 2022, 11:38 PM
76 points
28 comments8 min readEA link

EA Ve­gan Ad­vo­cacy is not truth­seek­ing, and it’s ev­ery­one’s problem

ElizabethSep 29, 2023, 4:04 AM
124 points
39 comments22 min readEA link
(acesounderglass.com)

Straw­men, steel­men, and mithril­men: get­ting the prin­ci­ple of char­ity right

MichaelPlantJun 9, 2023, 1:02 PM
89 points
11 comments2 min readEA link

EA fo­rum con­tent might be de­clin­ing in qual­ity. Here are some pos­si­ble mechanisms.

Thomas KwaSep 24, 2022, 10:24 PM
130 points
46 comments2 min readEA link

Who is Un­com­fortable Cri­tiquing Who, Around EA?

Ozzie GooenFeb 24, 2023, 5:55 AM
150 points
15 comments11 min readEA link

[Question] What con­crete ques­tion would you like to see de­bated? I might or­ganise some de­bates.

Nathan YoungApr 18, 2023, 4:13 PM
35 points
50 comments1 min readEA link

My highly per­sonal skep­ti­cism brain­dump on ex­is­ten­tial risk from ar­tifi­cial in­tel­li­gence.

NunoSempereJan 23, 2023, 8:08 PM
436 points
116 comments14 min readEA link
(nunosempere.com)

The illu­sion of con­sen­sus about EA celebrities

Ben Millwood🔸Mar 17, 2023, 9:16 PM
131 points
12 comments2 min readEA link

Why Peo­ple Use Burner Ac­counts: A Com­men­tary on Black­lists, the EA “In­ner Cir­cle”, and Funding

BurnerExplainerFeb 8, 2023, 7:00 AM
48 points
98 comments6 min readEA link

Epistemic health is a com­mu­nity issue

ConcernedEAsFeb 2, 2023, 3:59 PM
12 points
11 comments9 min readEA link

EA should blurt

RobBensingerNov 22, 2022, 9:57 PM
155 points
26 comments5 min readEA link

EA’s don’t quan­tify much or very well

Noah ScalesDec 17, 2022, 9:47 AM
17 points
4 comments4 min readEA link

EA cul­ture is spe­cial; we should pro­ceed with intentionality

James LinMay 21, 2022, 9:55 PM
86 points
7 comments10 min readEA link

The case for build­ing more and bet­ter epistemic in­sti­tu­tions in the effec­tive al­tru­ism com­mu­nity

stefan.torgesMar 29, 2020, 5:01 PM
131 points
22 comments6 min readEA link

Choos­ing causes re Flynn for Oregon

Zach Stein-PerlmanMay 18, 2022, 3:59 AM
50 points
25 comments2 min readEA link

Smug­gled as­sump­tions in “de­clin­ing epistemic qual­ity”

Wil PerkinsJan 16, 2023, 5:26 PM
28 points
44 comments2 min readEA link

EA is about max­i­miza­tion, and max­i­miza­tion is perilous

Holden KarnofskySep 2, 2022, 5:13 PM
494 points
59 comments7 min readEA link

Should The Un­jour­nal eval­u­ate 1+ re­search out­puts per rele­vant EA org?

david_reinsteinDec 3, 2024, 11:37 PM
21 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

The FTX Si­tu­a­tion: Wait for more in­for­ma­tion be­fore propos­ing solutions

D0TheMathNov 13, 2022, 8:28 PM
109 points
17 comments2 min readEA link

EA is Not Reli­gious Enough (EA should em­u­late peak Quak­erism)

Lawrence NewportOct 1, 2022, 10:55 AM
110 points
25 comments8 min readEA link
(precedents.substack.com)

Keep EA high-trust

Michael_PJDec 22, 2022, 2:58 PM
156 points
45 comments4 min readEA link

Maybe hous­ing is not our biggest issue

RamiroOct 3, 2022, 12:34 PM
25 points
2 comments2 min readEA link

Cool is No Longer Cool.

IzoDec 21, 2022, 7:44 PM
30 points
6 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] Would Struc­tured Dis­cus­sion Plat­forms for EA Com­mu­nity Build­ing Ideas be Valuable? (With Pro­to­type Ex­am­ple)

Marcel DMay 4, 2022, 6:49 PM
15 points
9 comments4 min readEA link

Ve­ganism, Op­ti­mal Health, and In­tel­lec­tual Honesty

Michael_2358 🔸Dec 19, 2022, 2:31 PM
33 points
19 comments1 min readEA link

Rea­son­ing Transparency

LizkaSep 28, 2022, 12:22 PM
117 points
8 comments17 min readEA link
(www.openphilanthropy.org)

In­ter­gen­er­a­tional trauma im­ped­ing co­op­er­a­tive ex­is­ten­tial safety efforts

Andrew CritchJun 3, 2022, 5:27 PM
82 points
2 comments3 min readEA link

The com­mu­nity health team’s work on in­ter­per­sonal harm in the com­mu­nity

Julia_Wise🔸Aug 19, 2022, 2:58 AM
277 points
16 comments9 min readEA link

EA Librar­ian: CEA wants to help an­swer your EA ques­tions!

calebpJan 17, 2022, 5:22 PM
108 points
18 comments7 min readEA link

On Epistemics and Communities

JP Addison🔸Dec 16, 2022, 7:11 PM
36 points
0 comments3 min readEA link

Per­ils of op­ti­miz­ing in so­cial contexts

Owen Cotton-BarrattJun 16, 2022, 5:23 PM
124 points
1 comment2 min readEA link

[Question] What EAG ses­sions would you like on epistemics?

Nathan YoungMar 20, 2022, 3:40 PM
10 points
3 comments1 min readEA link

Street Outreach

BarracudaJun 6, 2022, 1:40 PM
4 points
2 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] Ex­am­ples of some­one ad­mit­ting an er­ror or chang­ing a key conclusion

LizkaJun 27, 2022, 3:37 PM
47 points
14 comments1 min readEA link

Stop scold­ing peo­ple for wor­ry­ing about mon­key­pox (Vox ar­ti­cle)

LizkaMay 31, 2022, 8:37 AM
39 points
4 comments1 min readEA link
(www.vox.com)

Effec­tive Altru­ism’s Im­plicit Epistemology

Violet HourOct 18, 2022, 1:38 PM
129 points
12 comments28 min readEA link

Plan­ning and doc­u­men­ta­tion: should we do more (or less)?

david_reinsteinJan 2, 2023, 5:35 PM
4 points
0 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] How should EA nav­i­gate the di­vide be­tween those who pri­ori­tise epistemics vs. so­cial cap­i­tal?

Chris LeongJan 16, 2023, 6:31 AM
22 points
52 comments1 min readEA link

Re­place Neglectedness

Indra Gesink 🔸Jan 16, 2023, 5:42 PM
52 points
4 comments4 min readEA link

How to be a good ag­nos­tic (and some good rea­sons to be dog­matic)

peterhartreeFeb 4, 2023, 11:08 AM
11 points
1 comment3 min readEA link

De­con­fu­sion Part 3 - EA Com­mu­nity and So­cial Structure

DavidmanheimFeb 9, 2023, 8:19 AM
84 points
4 comments8 min readEA link

Select Challenges with Crit­i­cism & Eval­u­a­tion Around EA

Ozzie GooenFeb 10, 2023, 11:36 PM
111 points
5 comments6 min readEA link
(quri.substack.com)

Free-spend­ing EA might be a big prob­lem for op­tics and epistemics

George RosenfeldApr 12, 2022, 8:30 PM
562 points
186 comments8 min readEA link

Ways money can make things worse

Jan_KulveitJun 21, 2022, 3:26 PM
167 points
3 comments9 min readEA link

On be­ing am­bi­tious: failing suc­cess­fully & less unnecessarily

Luke FreemanMay 26, 2022, 7:21 AM
173 points
10 comments25 min readEA link

Con­trol­ling for a thinker’s big idea

Vasco Grilo🔸Oct 21, 2023, 7:56 AM
60 points
11 comments8 min readEA link
(magnusvinding.com)

Some benefits and risks of failure transparency

Vaidehi Agarwalla 🔸Mar 27, 2022, 2:09 AM
53 points
3 comments12 min readEA link

How we can make it eas­ier to change your mind about cause areas

ClaireZabelAug 11, 2015, 6:21 AM
78 points
16 comments3 min readEA link

Prob­lems with free ser­vices for EA projects

LizkaAug 3, 2023, 3:28 PM
134 points
23 comments11 min readEA link

Some up­dates to my think­ing in light of the FTX col­lapse by Owen Cot­ton Bar­ratt [Link Post]

Nathan YoungMar 29, 2023, 3:23 PM
133 points
16 comments1 min readEA link
(docs.google.com)

How can we im­prove In­fo­haz­ard Gover­nance in EA Biose­cu­rity?

Nadia MontazeriAug 5, 2023, 12:03 PM
168 points
27 comments4 min readEA link

Truth­seek­ing when your dis­agree­ments lie in moral philosophy

ElizabethOct 11, 2023, 9:11 PM
46 points
1 comment4 min readEA link
(acesounderglass.com)

Why EA Will Be Anti-Woke or Die

Anon RationalistFeb 16, 2023, 7:17 PM
−25 points
32 comments3 min readEA link
(richardhanania.substack.com)

Epistemics (Part 2: Ex­am­ples) | Reflec­tive Altruism

Eevee🔹May 19, 2023, 9:28 PM
34 points
0 comments2 min readEA link
(ineffectivealtruismblog.com)

Prob­a­bly tell your friends when they make big mistakes

ChiJun 1, 2023, 2:30 PM
98 points
6 comments7 min readEA link

On the Dwarkesh/​Chol­let Pod­cast, and the cruxes of scal­ing to AGI

JWS 🔸Jun 15, 2024, 8:24 PM
72 points
49 comments17 min readEA link

Fo­cus­ing on bad crit­i­cism is dan­ger­ous to your epistemics

LizkaMar 15, 2024, 11:57 PM
70 points
4 comments5 min readEA link

(Linkpost) ‘No plat­form­ing’ by Simp­son & Srinivasan

Ben StewartJun 24, 2024, 12:10 PM
12 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Up­dates on Com­mu­nity Health Sur­vey Results

David_MossMar 20, 2024, 11:56 AM
149 points
19 comments8 min readEA link

Public Fundrais­ing has Pos­i­tive Externalities

LarksDec 26, 2023, 2:39 PM
82 points
9 comments4 min readEA link

In favour of ex­plor­ing nag­ging doubts about x-risk

Owen Cotton-BarrattJun 25, 2024, 11:52 PM
89 points
15 comments2 min readEA link

1 Ques­tion, 90 Minutes

Neil CrawfordMar 31, 2024, 9:03 PM
14 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

The Scout Mind­set and Epistemic Health

Sgt.ChucklesApr 11, 2024, 2:27 AM
9 points
1 comment10 min readEA link

Thoughts on EA Epistemics Projects

hbesceliJul 31, 2024, 8:31 AM
31 points
16 comments4 min readEA link

Truth­seek­ing is the ground in which other prin­ci­ples grow

ElizabethMay 27, 2024, 1:11 AM
106 points
17 comments1 min readEA link

Value capture

Erich_Grunewald 🔸Oct 26, 2024, 10:46 PM
37 points
0 comments2 min readEA link
(jesp.org)

Un­jour­nal eval­u­at­ing 1+ re­search out­put per rele­vant ~EA-funded or­ga­ni­za­tion: next steps

david_reinsteinDec 29, 2024, 7:36 PM
30 points
3 comments3 min readEA link

Wok­ism, re­think­ing pri­ori­ties and the Bostrom case

Arturo MaciasJan 13, 2023, 11:18 AM
−51 points
6 comments4 min readEA link

Ben Garfinkel: How sure are we about this AI stuff?

bgarfinkelFeb 9, 2019, 7:17 PM
128 points
20 comments18 min readEA link

EA is too New & Im­por­tant to Schism

Wil PerkinsFeb 23, 2023, 2:56 PM
59 points
68 comments2 min readEA link

EA needs Life-Veter­ans and “Less Smart” people

Jeffrey KursonisMar 8, 2023, 3:59 PM
81 points
38 comments4 min readEA link

We can’t put num­bers on ev­ery­thing and try­ing to weak­ens our col­lec­tive epistemics

ConcernedEAsMar 8, 2023, 3:09 PM
9 points
0 comments11 min readEA link

Large episte­molog­i­cal con­cerns I should maybe have about EA a priori

LuiseJun 7, 2023, 2:11 PM
115 points
16 comments8 min readEA link

[Question] What are some mea­surable prox­ies for EA com­mu­nity health?

michelJul 14, 2022, 6:26 AM
32 points
8 comments1 min readEA link

Not­ing an un­sub­stan­ti­ated be­lief about the FTX disaster

YitzNov 13, 2022, 5:37 AM
93 points
34 comments1 min readEA link

Pro­posal for im­prov­ing the global on­line dis­course through per­son­al­ised com­ment or­der­ing on all websites

Roman LeventovDec 7, 2023, 9:11 AM
9 points
1 comment6 min readEA link

My take on What We Owe the Future

eliflandSep 1, 2022, 6:07 PM
354 points
51 comments26 min readEA link

How avoid­ing dras­tic ca­reer changes could sup­port EA’s epistemic health and long-term effi­cacy.

nat goldthwaiteAug 31, 2022, 6:58 AM
7 points
0 comments7 min readEA link

Scouts need sol­diers for their work to be worth anything

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Nov 7, 2024, 7:23 AM
107 points
21 comments3 min readEA link

Im­prov­ing EA with More, Bet­ter De­bates | Recorded Dis­cus­sion be­tween Elliot and Emrik

Elliot TempleNov 22, 2022, 9:15 PM
17 points
2 comments4 min readEA link
(www.youtube.com)

The Wizard of Oz Prob­lem: How in­cen­tives and nar­ra­tives can skew our per­cep­tion of AI developments

AkashMar 20, 2023, 10:36 PM
16 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

The Seeker’s Game – Vignettes from the Bay

YuliaJul 9, 2023, 8:31 PM
155 points
7 comments16 min readEA link
(www.lesswrong.com)

Univer­sity EA Groups Need Fixing

Dave Banerjee 🔸Aug 3, 2023, 9:06 PM
376 points
110 comments10 min readEA link

EA: Re­nais­sance or Di­as­pora?

TimothyTelleenLawtonOct 26, 2024, 10:59 PM
52 points
10 comments1 min readEA link

De­sen­si­tiz­ing Deepfakes

PhibMar 29, 2023, 1:20 AM
22 points
10 comments1 min readEA link

Meta Co­or­di­na­tion Fo­rum (2024) /​ Ta­lent Need Survey

David_MossJan 29, 2025, 10:16 AM
91 points
14 comments19 min readEA link

Disagree Smarter, a schema:

kungfuhobbitMar 6, 2025, 1:53 AM
20 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

Thread for Sense-Mak­ing on Re­cent Mur­ders and How to Sanely Respond

Matrice JacobineJan 31, 2025, 9:53 PM
2 points
2 comments1 min readEA link
(www.lesswrong.com)

Do we know suc­cess rates for or­ga­ni­za­tions/​ini­ti­a­tives?

Deena EnglanderDec 22, 2022, 3:46 PM
18 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

Our Bor­ing Ad­vice For Teens

ChanaMessingerOct 7, 2022, 11:13 AM
20 points
15 comments1 min readEA link
(docs.google.com)

Tips for build­ing a net­work out­side of the EA move­ment (in par­tic­u­lar for EU policy)

JOMG_MonnetMay 6, 2023, 6:40 AM
19 points
0 comments7 min readEA link

Fu­ture peo­ple might not ex­ist

Indra Gesink 🔸Nov 30, 2022, 7:17 PM
18 points
0 comments4 min readEA link

Be less trust­ing of in­tu­itive ar­gu­ments about so­cial phe­nom­ena

Nathan_BarnardDec 18, 2022, 1:11 AM
43 points
20 comments4 min readEA link

Read The Sequences

Quadratic ReciprocityDec 23, 2022, 11:54 AM
46 points
42 comments5 min readEA link

[Question] I’m col­lect­ing con­tent that show­cases epistemic virtues, any sug­ges­tions?

Alejandro AcelasJul 31, 2022, 12:15 PM
10 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] What is the top con­cept that all EAs should un­der­stand?

Nathan YoungJul 5, 2022, 11:56 AM
29 points
15 comments1 min readEA link

A note of cau­tion on be­liev­ing things on a gut level

Nathan_BarnardMay 9, 2023, 12:20 PM
41 points
5 comments2 min readEA link

What I wish I had said about FTX

AppliedDivinityStudiesOct 31, 2024, 2:54 PM
162 points
17 comments5 min readEA link

Quan­tified In­tu­itions: An epistemics train­ing web­site in­clud­ing a new EA-themed cal­ibra­tion app

SageSep 20, 2022, 10:25 PM
86 points
8 comments2 min readEA link

FTX prob re­lated: Strongly Recom­mend­ing Creat­ing An In­ter­nal Au­dit Com­mit­tee that will Pe­ri­od­i­cally Assess EA Or­ga­ni­za­tions, Its Ob­jec­tives And Pro­cesses Based on IIA Standards

MiguelNov 13, 2022, 1:42 AM
10 points
6 comments1 min readEA link
(www.theiia.org)

Epistemics-Im­prov­ing Ac­tivi­ties for Groups and Friends

ChanaMessingerOct 10, 2022, 1:11 PM
46 points
7 comments1 min readEA link

How I Formed My Own Views About AI Safety

Neel NandaFeb 27, 2022, 6:52 PM
134 points
12 comments14 min readEA link
(www.neelnanda.io)

EA and AI Safety Schism: AGI, the last tech hu­mans will (soon*) build

PhibMay 15, 2023, 2:05 AM
6 points
6 comments5 min readEA link

A new Heuris­tic to Up­date on the Cre­dences of Others

aaron_maiJan 16, 2023, 11:35 AM
22 points
4 comments20 min readEA link

Effec­tive Altru­ism Read­ing List In­for­ma­tion De­sign Poster (2/​2)

annaleptikonJan 6, 2023, 2:49 PM
54 points
1 comment5 min readEA link

Dangers of defer­ence

TsviBTJan 8, 2023, 2:41 PM
46 points
7 comments2 min readEA link

Up­date your be­liefs with a “Yes/​No de­bate”

jorgesNov 3, 2022, 12:05 AM
18 points
4 comments4 min readEA link

Speak the truth, even if your voice trembles

RobertMJan 14, 2023, 6:10 AM
93 points
12 comments5 min readEA link

A gen­eral com­ment on dis­cus­sions of ge­netic group differences

anonymous8101Jan 14, 2023, 7:09 AM
23 points
13 comments3 min readEA link

EA is bad for men­tal health (and I’m tired of pre­tend­ing it’s not)

VictorWOct 31, 2024, 2:58 PM
22 points
24 comments21 min readEA link

EA cause ar­eas are likely power-law dis­tributed too

StianMay 25, 2023, 8:25 PM
38 points
1 comment3 min readEA link
(stiangronlund.substack.com)

Or­ga­nized Cause Evaluation

Elliot TempleNov 28, 2022, 8:31 PM
5 points
2 comments2 min readEA link
(curi.us)

[Question] What im­prove­ments should be made to im­prove EA dis­cus­sion on heated top­ics?

Ozzie GooenJan 16, 2023, 8:11 PM
54 points
35 comments1 min readEA link

Con­formism in EA

monadicaJan 18, 2023, 8:35 PM
−1 points
1 comment2 min readEA link

[Question] How Should EA Govern It­self?

John ColemanJan 23, 2023, 3:19 AM
4 points
1 comment2 min readEA link

EA should seek out more crit­i­cism of key EA concepts

freedomandutilityAug 30, 2022, 3:14 PM
7 points
4 comments1 min readEA link

Do­ing EA Bet­ter: grant-mak­ers should con­sider grant app peer re­view along the pub­lic-sec­tor model

ben.smithJan 24, 2023, 3:01 PM
50 points
7 comments9 min readEA link

[Question] Is the EA com­mu­nity re­ally ad­vo­cat­ing prin­ci­ples over con­clu­sions ?

Solal 🔸Dec 11, 2024, 4:31 PM
73 points
8 comments2 min readEA link

EA Librar­ian Update

calebpMar 11, 2022, 1:22 AM
31 points
4 comments5 min readEA link

Democratis­ing Risk—or how EA deals with critics

CarlaZoeCDec 28, 2021, 3:05 PM
273 points
311 comments4 min readEA link

[Question] How can I ac­cess in­for­ma­tion about FTX Fund grants that were made be­fore the fund was wound up?

ben.smithDec 21, 2022, 11:44 PM
2 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

Judge­ment as a key need in EA

Benjamin_ToddSep 12, 2020, 2:48 PM
30 points
16 comments1 min readEA link

Cut­ting AI Safety down to size

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Nov 9, 2024, 11:40 PM
86 points
5 comments5 min readEA link

We are in­cred­ibly homogenous

ConcernedEAsFeb 16, 2023, 4:05 PM
22 points
17 comments6 min readEA link

Prior X%—<1%: A quan­tified ‘epistemic sta­tus’ of your pre­dic­tion.

tcelferactJun 2, 2023, 3:51 PM
11 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Ele­ments of Ra­tion­al­ist Discourse

RobBensingerFeb 14, 2023, 3:39 AM
68 points
12 comments9 min readEA link
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