posted on December 19, 2022 10:29 PM by
u/GaiusLeviathanXV
57
u/JohnPaulJonesSoda85 pointsat 1671490364.000000
Someone who’s passionate about EA principles, but has little in the
way of resources, tries and fails to do EA things. They write blog
posts, and nothing happens. They apply to jobs, and nothing happens.
They do research, and don’t get that grant. Reading articles no longer
feels exciting, but like a chore, or worse: a reminder of their own
inadequacy.
Let me suggest one potential reason for this feeling of inadequacy -
maybe it’s because you claimed to want to do the most good for
other people but rather than just volunteering at or donating
to an actual charitable organization (and not a think tank), you decided
your only options were to “write a blog post, read an article, or apply
for a job”.
EA looks like a sort of cult.
Altruism has always been a dangerous disguise for selfishness: by doing for others what they should have done themselves, you enforce your domination and ensure their continual neediness. What I understand from EA is that they somehow understood this, and became very cynical, but didn't despair at the idea that THEY could do "better altruism" by... talking about efficiency in the dominating relationship ?
You help others when you can and they ask for it in the limit that it doesn't prevent them to figure it out themselves. You don't give rice, you don't build a rice field, you don't finance politicians who want to build a ricefield: maybe the ricefield doesn't make sense in the middle of the desert and that's not for you to artificially direct capital for the only argument that "someone else" asked for it (the very definition of "altruism"). But, you can drive someone who broke his car down to the next petrol station.
Make sure to tell your friends about MIRI, though. You don’t have to
talk about the stuff about doing altruism effectively to do it! Just
focus on the much more mainstream understandable “killer robots will
destroy humanity unless we promote Harry Potter fanfiction” club.
Scott is furiously writing “Don’t talk like a robot greedy
capitalist.” right now.
But apart from the iffy/lol title (congrats for not calling the
others ‘churn’ I guess) the article doesn’t seem that bad, tempering
expectations and preventing burnout/looking out for MH seems good.
(apart from just admitting they want ‘whales’, but we knew that
already).
Otoh, imagine if a different universe where SBF had not read
this:
The best thing you can possibly do for the community is make EA work
for you, rather than just making yourself work for EA.
FWIW I found out about this article because EAs were complaining that their leadership was actively discouraging "normal" people. I agree it's pretty tame compared to what we already know about e.g. Wytham Abbey.
The first half had me going however. When they started to call people churn/bycatch I was all ready to heavily sneer. Happy to see it wasn't that bad. Hope it helped some people to put it all in a bit of perspective.
I found out about this article from an EA who complained that
MacAskill was engaging in “whale hunting” and that EA leadership
actively opposes programs that would attract “normal” people.
To wit: I’ve heard that CEA leadership didn’t give their official
support for the relatively modest EA Hotel in Blackpool,
but had no problem with directly purchasing Wytham Abbey.
Let me suggest one potential reason for this feeling of inadequacy - maybe it’s because you claimed to want to do the most good for other people but rather than just volunteering at or donating to an actual charitable organization (and not a think tank), you decided your only options were to “write a blog post, read an article, or apply for a job”.
Make sure to tell your friends about MIRI, though. You don’t have to talk about the stuff about doing altruism effectively to do it! Just focus on the much more mainstream understandable “killer robots will destroy humanity unless we promote Harry Potter fanfiction” club.
Scott is furiously writing “Don’t talk like a
robotgreedy capitalist.” right now.But apart from the iffy/lol title (congrats for not calling the others ‘churn’ I guess) the article doesn’t seem that bad, tempering expectations and preventing burnout/looking out for MH seems good. (apart from just admitting they want ‘whales’, but we knew that already).
Otoh, imagine if a different universe where SBF had not read this:
I found out about this article from an EA who complained that MacAskill was engaging in “whale hunting” and that EA leadership actively opposes programs that would attract “normal” people.
To wit: I’ve heard that CEA leadership didn’t give their official support for the relatively modest EA Hotel in Blackpool, but had no problem with directly purchasing Wytham Abbey.
That’s some mission creep huh
They’re after boyfriend-free girls.
This doesn’t seem to be about the gaming company Electronic Arts, but would’ve been entirely fitting for them all the same.
Spear phishing? More like whale harpooning