Substack roundup edition: On working with thoughts and emotions, letting go, expressing your uniqueness, EA overclaiming and the implications of being embedded in dense networks.
Thanks for the links. I agree with you very much on Effective Altruism. Some of the biggest monsters I've known have been people who thought that what really mattered was large-scale social impact, at the expense of the sanity of the people around them.
I've been interested in Richard Chappell's blog here, which basically advocates philosophically for an Effective Altruist perspective. He and I had a first round of sparring that laid some groundwork. I'm hoping that in the coming months or years I can get more down into the fundamentals of what's wrong with that worldview.
I read his blog too and often find myself bristling at it in various ways :) Good opportunity to work with my own emotional reactions. I would very much enjoy reading your writing on this topic! May it be written in months and not years.
One more point about this -- when I read EAs responding to critics of EAs it's mostly just responding to be people being snarky and unfortunately not getting into these more fundamental issues. There's a real need for more than just sneering.
Thanks for the links. I agree with you very much on Effective Altruism. Some of the biggest monsters I've known have been people who thought that what really mattered was large-scale social impact, at the expense of the sanity of the people around them.
I've been interested in Richard Chappell's blog here, which basically advocates philosophically for an Effective Altruist perspective. He and I had a first round of sparring that laid some groundwork. I'm hoping that in the coming months or years I can get more down into the fundamentals of what's wrong with that worldview.
I read his blog too and often find myself bristling at it in various ways :) Good opportunity to work with my own emotional reactions. I would very much enjoy reading your writing on this topic! May it be written in months and not years.
One more point about this -- when I read EAs responding to critics of EAs it's mostly just responding to be people being snarky and unfortunately not getting into these more fundamental issues. There's a real need for more than just sneering.
That's where Chappell is really helpful: he wants to engage in real, meaningful dialogue. His comments on my response to him are well worth a read if you haven't seen them: https://loveofallwisdom.substack.com/p/in-defence-of-moral-laxity/