How does the Effective Altruist community respond to critics? With threats and harassment. Even people who still call themselves "Effective Altruists" are afraid to openly criticize the community.
I mean, not to tar any groups with a broad brush, but like, if I had to be criticized by any one person, I'd prefer to be criticized by DAIR rather than EAs, because the EAs hang around the Rationalists, and the Rationalists birthed the Zizians, and those folks have *murders* attributed to them. Like, at least with Dr. Gebru I can be reasonably sure that no one's gonna come at me with a katana.
i linked it bc of james fodor. you may just skip bb's parts, but i linked it bc the way james responds to criticisms is entirely unlike this post characterized EAs' style.
Ah, okay -- that's good to know. I definitely don't think that all EAs are bad at responding to criticisms. Here's my impression, as someone who was in the community for several years, and even participated in a DC group that included Gabe Bankman-Fried: the sorts of EAs who, e.g., run local EA groups are generally great people. I've met some of them! One group literally invited me sometime around 2022 to give a talk to their group about my critiques. I have a generally very favorable impression of those EAs. However, as one climbs the power hierarchy within the community, one finds -- in my opinion! -- increasingly nefarious, elitist, snobby, overconfident, arrogant, and self-important people. It's the EA leadership class that I'm most worried about and frightened by. Does that make sense? Thanks again for sharing ... really appreciate it!
Yep it works BECAUSE many/most EAs are reasonable and well intentioned people who just want to make the world a better place. These people are a “Trojan horse” for the more extreme elements of the community who have radical utilitarian beliefs. That said there are certain biases and blind spots that are common to the community (eg a very shallow approach to sustainability problems).
Oh Brother don't I know it... A absolute vipers nest of scoundrels.
>They have published in outlets like The Washington Post, Aeon, and Los Angeles Review of Books.
They?
A free tool such as Grammarly can help you avoid errors like this.
I mean, not to tar any groups with a broad brush, but like, if I had to be criticized by any one person, I'd prefer to be criticized by DAIR rather than EAs, because the EAs hang around the Rationalists, and the Rationalists birthed the Zizians, and those folks have *murders* attributed to them. Like, at least with Dr. Gebru I can be reasonably sure that no one's gonna come at me with a katana.
https://youtu.be/S3WbXWZTK7o
Thanks, but I'm definitely not watching 5 hours of Bentham's Bulldog!
i linked it bc of james fodor. you may just skip bb's parts, but i linked it bc the way james responds to criticisms is entirely unlike this post characterized EAs' style.
Ah, okay -- that's good to know. I definitely don't think that all EAs are bad at responding to criticisms. Here's my impression, as someone who was in the community for several years, and even participated in a DC group that included Gabe Bankman-Fried: the sorts of EAs who, e.g., run local EA groups are generally great people. I've met some of them! One group literally invited me sometime around 2022 to give a talk to their group about my critiques. I have a generally very favorable impression of those EAs. However, as one climbs the power hierarchy within the community, one finds -- in my opinion! -- increasingly nefarious, elitist, snobby, overconfident, arrogant, and self-important people. It's the EA leadership class that I'm most worried about and frightened by. Does that make sense? Thanks again for sharing ... really appreciate it!
Yep it works BECAUSE many/most EAs are reasonable and well intentioned people who just want to make the world a better place. These people are a “Trojan horse” for the more extreme elements of the community who have radical utilitarian beliefs. That said there are certain biases and blind spots that are common to the community (eg a very shallow approach to sustainability problems).
"I had dinner with Donald Trump at Maralago and he was quite cordial."
Yes, I think this is an apt response, too!! :-)