Learning from Inspiring Figures in Our Community
Background
This post emerged from discussions during the EA values project, where we observed that many community members cite specific individuals (whether EA founders, organization leaders, or mentors) as key influences in their journey into effective altruism. Understanding who inspires us and why can help us identify the values and approaches that make EA compelling to newcomers and sustaining for existing members.
Historical movements have often been shaped by individuals who embodied their core principles in compelling ways. From Gandhi's commitment to nonviolence to scientists like Marie Curie who persevered despite systemic barriers, these figures serve not just as leaders but as concrete examples of abstract values in action.
The Value of Role Models in EA
Role models serve several important functions:
- They make abstract EA principles concrete and relatable.
- They demonstrate how EA values translate into career and life decisions.
- They provide inspiration during challenging periods of community involvement.
- They help newcomers envision what an EA-aligned life might look like.
However, we should approach this topic thoughtfully. People are complex, and even our most admired figures have limitations and make mistakes. The goal isn't to create unrealistic pedestals but to learn from examples of EA values lived out imperfectly by real humans.
Categories for Discussion
Rather than simply listing names, it would be best to organize this around qualities that make these figures inspiring (feel free to include more qualities you see as important in EA):
Intellectual Humility and Truth-Seeking
Who demonstrates exceptional commitment to following evidence even when it challenges their prior beliefs?
Scope Sensitivity and Moral Circle Expansion
Who has effectively helped others care about neglected populations or causes?
Personal Sacrifice for Greater Good
Who has made significant personal sacrifices to maximize their positive impact?
Bridge-Building and Communication
Who excels at making EA ideas accessible to diverse audiences?
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Who has created new institutions or approaches that significantly advanced EA causes?
Some Starting Examples
Within EA
William MacAskill - for pioneering EA outreach through accessible writing and speaking.
Toby Ord - for intellectual leadership on existential risk and personal giving commitments.
Holden Karnofsky - for systematic thinking about charity evaluation and cause prioritization.
Julia Wise - For community health leadership and modeling sustainable EA engagement.
Adjacent to EA
Peter Singer - for foundational work on effective giving and animal ethics.
Paul Farmer - for demonstrating how to combine academic rigor with direct service to the global poor.
Hans Rosling - for data-driven optimism about global development progress.
Guidelines for discussions and comments
- Focus on specific actions, decisions, or approaches rather than general praise.
- Consider both public figures and personal mentors who've influenced you.
- Feel free to discuss both strengths and limitations (complexity makes role models more relatable).
- Include people at different career stages and from different backgrounds.
- Remember that being inspiring doesn't require perfection.
The hope moving forward
Understanding who inspires us can help the EA community:
- Identify the values and approaches that resonate most with people.
- Recognize diverse pathways into EA engagement.
- Support community members in finding mentors and role models.
- Celebrate the human side of our movement's foundations
It would be great to know who has inspired your EA journey and what people in EA can learn from their examples.
I note that the suggested role models are all thinkers rather than doers. I worry that in a world of influencers and celebrities, we celebrate public profile more than concrete impact. Yes, influencers can lead to concrete impact- but if everyone wants to be an influencer or a public intellectual, and sees that as the most impactful thing to do, then who's actually going to do the hard work of changing laws, of earning to give, of actual concrete steps that reduce suffering.
All of which to say: show me your role models who have directly improved the world, not just the people who have told others that they should.
I’m surprised to read this. Although an important part of their job is thinking, some of those figures have founded organisations like Giving What We Can, 80,000 hours or GiveWell, which is actually (a lot of) doing. Also, pledging to donate at least 10% of their income until they retire, thus saving several lives and helping thousands of people by preventing that they get terrible diseases is “improving the world directly” rather than thinking. (Although that impact is probably neglegible compared what they achieved in other ways, it is still a lot of good).
I want to be clear - I don't think these people haven't achieved anything or done good, but e.g. 80,000 hours' impact is indirect rather than direct. I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate these people, but if we only focus on community building/meta level activity, then there's a risk EA ends up in a level of abstraction/MLM kind of space. My point was I don't think we should only celebrate EAs who create public discourse and the infrastructure to support more people becoming (better) EAs.
This somewhat related to mainanence and operations and how credit/respect is apportioned, but often the people doing the work are lower level employees who aren't famous or well-known. They aren't necessarily acknowledged at an annual organizational celebration, or in the local media. As an example, we might think that Rob Mather is great for founding/running the Against Malaria Foundation, but we don't know the names of the people who manufactured or delivered those anti-malaria bednets.
But here are some examples of people that I sort of, vaguely [1] consider moral role models:
Generally I don't really have role models. I've seen enough people express good traits and bad traits that I try to focus on specific behaviors/actions rather than on people as a whole. Think of all the people who work in virtuous fields/vocations who are also real assholes.
For example, Jeff Kaufman seems like a great guy from what I've read. But imagine that he has really bad emotional regulation, or he is really rude to strangers, or he isn't considerate to others, or he is a compulsive liar. If any of those things were true, that wouldn't change the fact that his earning to give is admirable. I try to not boil people down to a simple god/bad judgement, and instead look at people as a collection of their actions.
At least some of the people listed are either doers, or are a sort of combination of thinkers and doers. I'm do view these people mostly as thinkers, but I also have a sort of bias in that I didn't know about Hans Rosling in the 80s or about Paul Farmers work in the 90s. These people have done much more than simply give talks and write blog posts; they have also done things to directly improve the world.
Some of the people on the list
The suggested role models was to start the discussion and sharing of role models. Yes, role models can be doers, thinkers, or both and they all have influence to people especially on values. Since values are in words, thoughts and actions, it would be great to know also more EA doers.
"Thinker" vs "Doer" gets pretty fuzzy: "changing laws" certainly involves a lot of thinking, as do ~all of the highest-impact things you might be considering "directly improving the world". I especially have trouble seeing how you could classify Farmer's work in Haiti as something other than an attempt to directly improve the world.
But riffing on your "not just the people who have told others that they should", and emphasizing the "that", perhaps the line is whether someone's primary work has been persuading other people to be more altruistic and/or effective? In which case I'd probably put MacAskill, Ord and Singer, and Rosling as "Thinkers" and Karnofsky, Wise, and Farmer as "Doers". But several of the folks in the "Thinker" category still did substantial "Doer" work (Rosling's hands-on public health work in Africa, MacAskill's co-founding 80k, Ord's cause prioritization, Singer's political advocacy and donations).
Here are some people who are currently particularly inspiring to me:
I loved meeting Nick at EAG! I knew he worked on public health in Uganda, but we also chatted about choices he and his wife have made to better fit in with their local community, like spending at a level comparable to the better-off of their Ugandan neighbors rather than more typical expat levels. His energy and positivity wowed me.
I'm disproportionately drawn to people who demonstrate their radical empathy both with their lifestyle and their actions/giving. These aren't all strictly EAs and 2 of them aren't alive any more...
1) EAs who don't earn huge amounts and give lots away. I especially respect when people set caps on how much they keep from their salaries - so much discipline required. @Vasco Grilo🔸 @Henry Howard, the Wises... Ages ago I was drawn to @William_MacAskill doing this, but I'm not sure if that's still a practice of his? And all the hundreds of you out there I don't know of!
2) Dr. Edrick Baker who ran perhaps the most cost-effective hospital of the 20th century. He trained poorly educated local people to do most of the medical work at the hospital. Great and unappreciated biography about him here.
3) The founders of Wave and Humantix. Growing profit-making businesses which either directly help people, or to give the money away is no joke and I have huge respect for this.
4) (Top of mind from the book "How Asia Works") Wolf Ladejinsky, who advised the land reform of Japan and Taiwan, which redistributed landlord's land to individual farmers, massively increasing productivity and setting up their industrial revolutions - before the USA accused him of being a communist :(. Seemed like a dude!
5) Bill Gates (to break the mold). Yeah he lives a bit like a Diva but billionaires don't usually give all their money away, and he's doing it pretty darn well.
Thanks for the mention, Nick! I appreciate your contributions, and pushback on some of my points too.
I think Humantix cofounder Josh Ross is dope.
In this podcast with Peter Singer he says he got into the digital ticketing space with the purpose of developing software that can be scaled up into a tremendous source of charity.
In that podcast he also was incredibly honest that he is also motivated by a fear of Hell
To be honest I can relate to that but unlike him I haven't donated over $10,000,000 yet. That's according to Humantix's site today, which says it donates virtually all its profits, to nonprofits including Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save.
P.S. In various interviews like this one he says his long-term goal is to create more tech innovations that can generate more for charity and disrupt more industries than just ticketing. So maybe get in touch if you want to help him out with that.
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jgspXC8GKA7RtxMRE/on-living-without-idols
Agreed that idolatry is unhelpful. *And* I don't think having role models is inherently/always harmful, as long as we remember that everyone is fallible.
Both posts are great, especially in conversation with each other.
I've noticed local role models in your community are important in addition to the big-name leaders that you mentioned. I'm a community builder in Finland, and members of our community have often said that seeing and talking to people from the same country who do impressive stuff has helped them be more ambitious in their careers or even consider that they can have an impact instead of just being passive observers of EA.
This is true, we also had some people who shared that attending EAGx helped them to see clearer other cause areas, especially what is being done by local organizations in the region. We just started with some known leaders, but it will be great to know the local leaders, and we believe they bring great value as big-name leaders.
The QURI people
luisa rodriguez
arepo
vasco grillo
michael st jules
The moral weights people at RP
brian tomisik
carl schuman
Love this question! Some role models for me:
There are many others in/around the community who I greatly admire and respect, but don't think of as personal role models. E.g. Paul Farmer did incredible work, but I don't especially see myself reflected in him, or aspire to live like him in the particulars. I guess I tend to gravitate towards role models who are in some sense "me-but-better".
There are also many people who exemplify particular virtues/principles, but who I wouldn't call "EA role-models" per-se. E.g. I consider Darwin a role model in terms of intellectual humility and truth seeking, but he wasn't exactly EA.
Rowan, this is enormously sweet! I just logged in to the EA Forum for the first time in ages and I'm really honoured! Being public about my health has felt like a tough decision but knowing that it's resonated with you and others makes it feel really worth it!