This week, let’s dig into some ancient posts from the beginnings of the movement, and talk shop about what changed, and if it’s for the better or for worse.
My EA creds:
Started following EA writers in 2014
Started identifying as an EA ~2017, helped out the UWaterloo EA club with posters/boothing/etc throughout undergrad
theunitofcaring has made her tumblr blog private so I’m linking to a mirror on a public blog. The owner of the public blog is unfortunately a catholic with conservative viewpoints, and should not be considered a representative EA. But we can talk about this at the meetup too :-)
compare the embedded image with the section on total EA donations, “with large donors and foundations (such as Tuna and Moskowitz of Open Philanthropy accounting for a lion’s share”, and notice the relative difference in prioritized cause areas. come prepared to hear me bitch about billionaires and why whaling them was a mistake
“Old School EA” With EA Waterloo
This meetup is this Wednesday, from 7:00-9:30pm in QNC 2502. KWR is hosting this meetup jointly with EA Waterloo.
Please note: for KWR attendees, this is half an hour earlier than the usual starting time.
If you’ve never been to QNC 2502 before:
QNC 2502 is the large lecture hall closest to the stairs on the 2nd floor of QNC.
If you go to QNC through the bridge from MC, then QNC 2502 should be in front of the bridge exit.
Discussion
Man, EA has been in the public eye recently and it hasn’t been a good time, even while its core tenets remain unbelievably based. EA in more recent years have been more focused on longtermism and AI risk, but that wasn’t the community I joined way back in the mid-2010s. That one is typically called “old school EA” nowadays, but that’s a bit of a misnomer—EAs today still donate to global health and animal welfare charities way more than longtermist and AI ones.
This week, let’s dig into some ancient posts from the beginnings of the movement, and talk shop about what changed, and if it’s for the better or for worse.
My EA creds:
Started following EA writers in 2014
Started identifying as an EA ~2017, helped out the UWaterloo EA club with posters/boothing/etc throughout undergrad
Since starting work full time in 2021 I’ve donated 10% of my post-tax income to charity every year.
Readings
Effective Altruism is a Question (not an ideology) (Helen, 2014)
We are in triage every second of every day (Holly Elmore, 2016)
Optional:
I’m Not An Effective Altruist Because I Prefer… (Ozy, 2016)
500 Million, But Not A Single One More (Jai, originally posted 2014)
what it means to disagree with effective altruism (theunitofcaring, 2015[1])
EA Survey 2020 Series: Donation Data[2] (David Reinsten, 2021)
theunitofcaring has made her tumblr blog private so I’m linking to a mirror on a public blog. The owner of the public blog is unfortunately a catholic with conservative viewpoints, and should not be considered a representative EA. But we can talk about this at the meetup too :-)
compare the embedded image with the section on total EA donations, “with large donors and foundations (such as Tuna and Moskowitz of Open Philanthropy accounting for a lion’s share”, and notice the relative difference in prioritized cause areas. come prepared to hear me bitch about billionaires and why whaling them was a mistake