I co-founded EA Eindhoven (NL) and I am a mentor for other EA group organizers through UGAP. I was an intern for EA Virtual Programs (CEA) in the summer of 2023 and am currently working part-time as a contractor for them alongside my MSc in Chemical Engineering.
Irene H
Karma: 370
The idea of selling books for a token sum is really interesting! I usually offer to loan books first indeed.
And I also definitely agree that EA people from different backgrounds can all add something. That’s also why I’m so excited about all the local groups that have popped up everywhere recently :).
Nice post! I’m looking forward to the next posts.
One question: I’m wondering why you say EAs not taking a specific action because it might harm our reputation (e.g., coming across as too elitist) is a risk (under “Unwillingness to trade reputation for impact”), while at the same time saying that coming across as too elitist is a risk (under “Internal disenchantment”). To me, these things seem in conflict with each other.
If you want to do this, I think you should also be confident the money you save now and donate later will have an impact that is just as big as the money you would donate right now if you hadn’t saved it. I do not have a strong opinion on this myself, but if you think the current moment is especially influential (e.g. hinge of history hypothesis) and donations made right now could have an especially large impact, this might influence your decision.
This post explains a framework for thinking about these questions. It’s about AGI timelines but maybe the framework explained there could have wider applicability, and it also has a lot of references.
Lessons from taking group members to an EAGx conference
I incorporated all of the links from the list above and many more in the syllabi collection of EA Eindhoven. Might also be interesting to check out :)
Thanks for sharing this and I appreciate the attention to detail and completeness in your post. You’ve done amazing work. Best of luck in the new year!
I fixed it! Hope it’s helpful :)
If there is anyone who ends up making a reading group discussion guide or a list of discussion prompts (whether it’s comprehensive or not!), I’d love to check it out and add it to my collection of EA syllabi!
If there is anyone who ends up making a reading group discussion guide or a list of discussion prompts for this book (whether it’s comprehensive or not!), I’d love to check it out and add it to my collection of EA syllabi!
If there is anyone who ends up making a reading group discussion guide or a list of discussion prompts (whether it’s comprehensive or not!), I’d love to check it out and add it to my collection of EA syllabi!
re: Forecasting Guide: Juan Cambeiro and Michael Hewlett are launching a class on forecasting that is expected to have a pilot round in March 2023
Masterdocs of EA community building guides and resources
The EA Opportunities Board also has a list of EA and EA-adjacent organizations: https://ea-internships.pory.app/orgs
Thanks for sharing! One small thing: the link behind “This is a linkpost for” doesn’t work for me
Super interesting, thanks for putting this together! I’d also be curious about a comparison of the number of EAs per country normalized by country population (i.e., per capita data).
Great, looking forward to it!
I really appreciated this post, so thank you for sharing your experience! I am from the Netherlands but also recognized some elements (e.g., my feelings about moving for work or caring about the status/ranking of a university).
Something else I have experienced in the Netherlands is that people are very suspicious of organizations handing out freebies, like EA local groups giving away free books to attract people. Maybe that’s just the Dutch cheapskate mentality, but I have noticed people become skeptical of your approach when they feel you’re not careful about how you spend your money. I think it’s worth considering that this could put some people off and might actually be counterproductive.
Sometimes I also feel kind of uncomfortable about how people from the US can, in my experience, be very “jovial”/outgoing and “give out” hugs much more easily. Something else is that they tend to ask “how are you doing?” as a conversation starter all the time, but the answer is always “I’m good, how are you” and then the conversation turns to what they really want to talk about. Maybe it’s a bit cynical, but if I feel like asking how someone is doing is made such a casual thing and there is not a lot of empathy involved, I become kind of disconcerted (especially if I am feeling kind of low that day but think it would be inappropriate to mention) and wish the other person never asked the question in the first place. I think people in the Netherlands tend to reserve these kinds of questions for when they are closer to someone and when they really have the time to actually listen to the answer, whatever it might be.
All in all, I hope that, as EA grows, people outside of the US/UK might find their own approach to EA and it might feel less like all the other “cool” things that blow over from the US/UK but are not really part of our own culture, and more like something that feels welcoming to everyone.