I have historically found myself with few allies in the comment section of the EA Forum for most of the history of EA, when I tried to stand up for letting people speak their mind and not be subject to crippling PR constraints.
Also I have found myself supportive of people who I thought were in the EA ecosystem for the values and for doing what’s right, and then when I pointed out times that the ecosystem as a whole was not doing that, someone said to me “I try with a couple of percentage points of my time to help steer the egregore, but mostly I am busy with my work and life”, and I had the wind knocked out of my sails a bit.
And yet I think it often has outsized effects and the costs aren’t that big.
I think I never really responded to this but also it was probably the main generator of Ben’s opinion?
I’m not sure whether I would have said my initial “we” statement about EAs. (Part of this is just being less confident about what EA social dynamics are like; another is thinking they are less fractious than rationalists.)
I think I never really responded to this but also it was probably the main generator of Ben’s opinion?
I’m not sure whether I would have said my initial “we” statement about EAs. (Part of this is just being less confident about what EA social dynamics are like; another is thinking they are less fractious than rationalists.)