We are not investing in grass-roots advocacy, protests, demonstrations, and so on.
I like this, I’d be really interested to ask you, given that you’re taking a first principles no bullshit approach to outreach, what do you think of protest in general?
Every protest I’ve witnessed seemed to be designed to annoy and alienate its witnesses, making it as clear as possible that there was no way to talk to these people, that their minds were on rails. I think most people recognize that as cult shit and are alienated by that.
A leftist friend once argued that protest is not really a means, but a reward, a sort of party for those who contributed to local movementbuilding. I liked that view. Perhaps we should frame our public gatherings to be closer to being that. If there is to be chanting of slogans, it must be an organic ebullition of the spirit of a group that was formed around some more productive purpose than that, maybe the purpose of building inclusive networks for shared moral purpose? (EA but broader?)
Every protest I’ve witnessed seemed to be designed to annoy and alienate its witnesses, making it as clear as possible that there was no way to talk to these people, that their minds were on rails. I think most people recognize that as cult shit and are alienated by that.
In the last year, I’ve seen a Twitter video of an AI risk protest (I think possibly in continental Europe?) that struck me as extremely good: calm, thoughtful, accessible, punchy, and sensible-sounding statements and interview answers. If I find the link again, I’ll add it here as a model of what I think a robustly good protest can look like!
A leftist friend once argued that protest is not really a means, but a reward, a sort of party for those who contributed to local movementbuilding. I liked that view.
I wouldn’t recommend making protests purely this. A lot of these protests are getting news coverage and have a real chance of either intriguing/persuading or alienating potential allies; I think it’s worth putting thought into how to hit the “intriguing/persuading” target, regardless of whether this is “normal” for protests.
But I like the idea of “protest as reward” as an element of protests, or as a focus for some protests. :)
I like this, I’d be really interested to ask you, given that you’re taking a first principles no bullshit approach to outreach, what do you think of protest in general?
Every protest I’ve witnessed seemed to be designed to annoy and alienate its witnesses, making it as clear as possible that there was no way to talk to these people, that their minds were on rails. I think most people recognize that as cult shit and are alienated by that.
A leftist friend once argued that protest is not really a means, but a reward, a sort of party for those who contributed to local movementbuilding. I liked that view. Perhaps we should frame our public gatherings to be closer to being that. If there is to be chanting of slogans, it must be an organic ebullition of the spirit of a group that was formed around some more productive purpose than that, maybe the purpose of building inclusive networks for shared moral purpose? (EA but broader?)
In the last year, I’ve seen a Twitter video of an AI risk protest (I think possibly in continental Europe?) that struck me as extremely good: calm, thoughtful, accessible, punchy, and sensible-sounding statements and interview answers. If I find the link again, I’ll add it here as a model of what I think a robustly good protest can look like!
I wouldn’t recommend making protests purely this. A lot of these protests are getting news coverage and have a real chance of either intriguing/persuading or alienating potential allies; I think it’s worth putting thought into how to hit the “intriguing/persuading” target, regardless of whether this is “normal” for protests.
But I like the idea of “protest as reward” as an element of protests, or as a focus for some protests. :)