It’s not a scalable solution to be doing analyses to investigate every source of funding in the ecosystem. It is scalable to have an overarching framework of governance requirements that must be in place for the institutions (FTX, CEA, etc.) that we interact with. Mandates around transparency in budget, inclusion of multiple stakeholders on boards, whistleblower infrastructure, etc.
I see this as a symptom of a larger problem that exists within the movement, which others have made light of over the past few days: We think we’re special.
Sure, we are approaching a different set of problems, often in a pretty substantially different way, with epistemic norms that we aspire to, etc.
But at the end of the day, I think we often write off the fact that we are all also human. Whatever happened at FTX, be it mistake or mislead, is a human error, and it’s core to human nature. That’s why companies have boards. Because when we have no oversight, sometimes dumb stuff happens.
I also see this reflected in movement-building dynamics. EA is ultimately a social movement. Sure, it’s lots of other things too, but at the end of the day, if people don’t like EA’s, or don’t feel socially accepted here, they will leave. I feel like we often over-rationalize this part of the movement and think that if we can only show enough people enough right arguments, then they will understand and join. But really, the growth dynamics of our movement are not too different from those of any other social movement. There is a lot that we can learn from this, from others’ mistakes, and I fear that we will continue to think that we are different and not learn the lessons that history can teach us.
Despite what some of us might hope, we are people just like all the other people in the world. So let’s acknowledge that and work with it!
Exactly this.
It’s not a scalable solution to be doing analyses to investigate every source of funding in the ecosystem. It is scalable to have an overarching framework of governance requirements that must be in place for the institutions (FTX, CEA, etc.) that we interact with. Mandates around transparency in budget, inclusion of multiple stakeholders on boards, whistleblower infrastructure, etc.
I see this as a symptom of a larger problem that exists within the movement, which others have made light of over the past few days: We think we’re special.
Sure, we are approaching a different set of problems, often in a pretty substantially different way, with epistemic norms that we aspire to, etc.
But at the end of the day, I think we often write off the fact that we are all also human. Whatever happened at FTX, be it mistake or mislead, is a human error, and it’s core to human nature. That’s why companies have boards. Because when we have no oversight, sometimes dumb stuff happens.
I also see this reflected in movement-building dynamics. EA is ultimately a social movement. Sure, it’s lots of other things too, but at the end of the day, if people don’t like EA’s, or don’t feel socially accepted here, they will leave. I feel like we often over-rationalize this part of the movement and think that if we can only show enough people enough right arguments, then they will understand and join. But really, the growth dynamics of our movement are not too different from those of any other social movement. There is a lot that we can learn from this, from others’ mistakes, and I fear that we will continue to think that we are different and not learn the lessons that history can teach us.
Despite what some of us might hope, we are people just like all the other people in the world. So let’s acknowledge that and work with it!