Thanks for this comment. I really appreciate what you said about just being excited to help others as much as possible, rather than letting insecurities get the better of you.
Interesting that you mentioned the idea of an EA webzine because I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog that shares EA ideas in a way that would be accessible to lots of people. I’m definitely going to put some more thought into that idea.
Thank you so much! I so appreciate this comment.
Your talk really is great. This weekend I’m facilitating my first introductory fellowship session and I’ve recommended it to those coming along because I think it’ll be great to inspire and get them interested in EA, like it did for me.
Hey, I just wanted to say I’m glad you posted this. It made me laugh and I’m glad you’ve voiced something that’s probably pretty common but rarely talked about—I appreciate that.
I appreciate you highlighting that most EA’s didn’t go to top level uni’s—I wish this was out there more!
And I think (from reading other comments too) I was definitely getting a bit too wrapped up in not understanding highly complex stuff (when a lot of EA’s don’t either).
I agree there’s a huge need for more sympathetic people and that’s why I think it’s a shame that the community does feel like it has such a high bar to entry. I hope this changes in future.
Hey thanks for this post. I think this kind of perspective is really important and one I wish I would see more of in the EA community.
As you probably gathered from my post, I felt like the high impact jobs that are promoted feel out of reach to me—and I probably shouldn’t bother getting upset about this as there likely are people who are a better fit than me and would do a better job. I feel as though the idea of finding out on a more personal level how you can make the most impact should be promoted more in EA—I know that is what it’s about at its core, but it does get lost in all the info out there about being an AI alignment researcher or stopping the next pandemic.
Thank you so much for this comment! The points you made about the community needing different types of skills is great and I totally agree...your comment (and lots of others) has definitely helped open my mind up and think a bit more about ways in which I could be useful here...even if it’s outside the traditional view I had of what an EA is...so thank you for that!!
That’s really great advice, thank you! I can definitely be a bit hard on myself but recognising that I can still contribute is probably better than getting down about not being an Oxford PhD grad!!
Hey no I haven’t thought about setting up a group like that but I definitely think it could be a good idea! The original ideas I learnt about right when I got involved are the most exciting to me...I’m sure others feel the same
If aiming at dumb (I really just used this as a title, I just meant averagely intellingent) people, I don’t think using the phrase ‘epistemic deference’ is ideal :D
Thank you so much! I really appreciate this—it can definitely be challening to see good qualities I have sometimes...so thank you for posting this.
Thank you for this comment and the article recommendation, I will definitely be checking it out. And thank you for highlighting the other ways to get involved, I could definitely do a bit more thinking about the options available to me, as I’m sure I can find my place somewhere!!
Hi Moritz, thank you for this kind comment, it’s really made me smile!! I will definitely reach out.
Agree, and I do donate a part of my income—my issue was that I wanted to do more than just donate, I wanted my career to be commited to making the world a better place, and that is where I was getting stuck.
Thank you for this comment!! The points you make are really great, and I hadn’t considered the importance of other types of intelligence so that’s something for me to think about a bit more.
I agree there needs to be more resources out there, and I hope this is something that changes over time.
Hi Howie, thanks so much for sending those resources over! I’ll definitely be reading those before my next conference.
I agree, and reading other comments—I think I may have got a bit down on myself (unnecessarily) for not understanding a lot of the stuff on the forum, as that seems to be pretty common. I guess as this is sort of the ‘main place’ (as far as I’m aware) for EA discussion, this contributed to my feelings of not being ‘smart enough’ to fit in.