Thank you for the post. I’ve joined Less Wrong less than a year ago, so personally I appreciated getting more context around it.
I’d like to respond to your last point, on whether EA is innate. I agree that those who join EA should have at least a strong common denominator. From my own experience, I’d say that EA should easily catch the interest of anyone curious enough. When I mentionned the movement to my professors or friends, they were very much intrigued. As you mentionned, however, it wasn’t enough for them to actually join the movement. They see the usefulness but do not act on it. I was (and still am) very confused by that. If I have to put it into words, I would say they do not identify with the movement. They have their life plans, their own visions of the world, and adhering to EA would change too much. It would change them. And that’s too steep a price.
So I think that if there’s any answer to be found in my experience, it’s that EA requires the willingness to change yourself.
(important note: I have a severe depression characterized by low motivation/energy and resistance to treatment)
I take relatively frequently moderate doses of amphetamine-class stimulants, which gives me more cognitive bandwidth to work with. As such it’s much easier for me to thoroughly examine a belief and update based on that examination, as it takes motivation/energy to do that in my case.