if you see people making large life decisions that look like they’re pretending to try (e.g. satisficing on donations or career choice), this should be a red flag.
I don’t think this is as bad as it looks. An underrated benefit to pretending to try is that those who pretend to try still often do more good than they would if they didn’t pretend at all.
Before I encountered EA, I wanted to be a college professor. After I encountered EA and was convinced by 80K-style career choice, I “pretended to try” (subconsciously, without realizing it) by finding EA arguments for why it was optimal to be a college professor (pay is decent, great opportunity to influence, etc.). Of course, this wasn’t really my EA-optimal career path. But it was a whole lot better than it was before I considered EA (because I was aiming to influence when before I was not, because I was planning on donating ~30% of my expected salary when before I was not going to donate anything, etc.). Definitely not EA-optimal, but significantly better.
Additionally, many people are willing to give up some things, but not all things. Once I noticed to myself that I was merely pretending, I thought to myself that maybe I should just be comfortable ignoring EA considerations when it came to careers and make sure I did something I wanted. Noted EA superstar Julia Wise has this kind of career—she could do much better money wise, if only she was willing to sacrifice more than she’s willing to give up.
Of course, now I think I am on an EA-optimal career path that doesn’t involve pretending (heading towards web development), so things did turn out ok. But only after pretending for awhile.
Yes, I noted throughout the post that pretending to actually try gets you farther than following social defaults because it rules out a bunch of ideas that obviously conflict with EA principles. I still think it’s quite bad in the sense of adding epistemic inertia.
I don’t think this is as bad as it looks. An underrated benefit to pretending to try is that those who pretend to try still often do more good than they would if they didn’t pretend at all.
Before I encountered EA, I wanted to be a college professor. After I encountered EA and was convinced by 80K-style career choice, I “pretended to try” (subconsciously, without realizing it) by finding EA arguments for why it was optimal to be a college professor (pay is decent, great opportunity to influence, etc.). Of course, this wasn’t really my EA-optimal career path. But it was a whole lot better than it was before I considered EA (because I was aiming to influence when before I was not, because I was planning on donating ~30% of my expected salary when before I was not going to donate anything, etc.). Definitely not EA-optimal, but significantly better.
Additionally, many people are willing to give up some things, but not all things. Once I noticed to myself that I was merely pretending, I thought to myself that maybe I should just be comfortable ignoring EA considerations when it came to careers and make sure I did something I wanted. Noted EA superstar Julia Wise has this kind of career—she could do much better money wise, if only she was willing to sacrifice more than she’s willing to give up.
Of course, now I think I am on an EA-optimal career path that doesn’t involve pretending (heading towards web development), so things did turn out ok. But only after pretending for awhile.
Yes, I noted throughout the post that pretending to actually try gets you farther than following social defaults because it rules out a bunch of ideas that obviously conflict with EA principles. I still think it’s quite bad in the sense of adding epistemic inertia.