Note: This post was crossposted from the Coefficient Giving Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post.
Subtitle: On vegan advocacy, effective altruism, and FIFA
I turn 40 today. Here are some hot takes.
On factory farming
1. Our biggest challenge is salience. If factory farming led the evening news, it wouldn’t last lo...
This month effective altruism has gotten lots of attention, including a cover story in The Economist. It feels pretty surreal to be on the receiving end of it. But I feel grateful these ideas have caught on, and even more grateful for the drive, earnestness, and compassion of so many people who took strange but well-argued ideas seriously and then actually acted on them....
Previously: GiveWell raised less than its 10th percentile forecast in 2023 · GiveWell fundraising up 17% in 2024
GiveWell has published its...
EA is (again) having a moment:
The usual suspects are in the trenches fighting the good fight, but this is a great time for EAs to take some comms action. An example I particularly loved was @Andres Jimenez Zorrilla 🔸 's post on LinkedIn and Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andres-jimenez-zorrilla_im-a-longtime-effective-altruist-and-the-share-7512717228480413696-7Y_k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAINuQ8BRM6_FTbj8vR-viYZrP0S2TPoUEg
This is the sort of collective action problem that EAs think is some other EA's responsibility and comms isn't our traditional strong suit, but I'd love to see more EAs in the arena here, posting about their experiences, posting their arguments, or talking to friends and family about why these ideas matter.
Yeah, let's hope this moment goes better than the last one. Personally, I think it's exciting and that we need to be preparing for what's likely to come. I've seen lots of EAs saying the Economist's article is unfair/a hit job, but it was pretty flattering and positive, so if you think that's a hit job...
I agree people should be out there telling their story, if they can, not adopting a bunker mentality. I am/will be going various bits.
Got the same reaction. The Economist considers EA the "biggest idea of the century" but for some people that is still not flattering enough. How greedy can you be...
I broadly agree with you both but there's a nuance. There are a different articles:
Then there's the conquering the world article. I think this one has the intention of "presenting both sides" and I largely disagree with the way that it presents EA even if it is very far from being a hit piece
Overall, I think this issue of The Economist is positive for EA but still encourage people to speak up about the things they disagree with from the articles. Disclaimer: I have, so I'm probably biased.
I do think CEA has a special role here to coordinate and lead - as the safeguard of the EA brand and crucial community builder. I would love a Slack channel where key comms people from EA orgs can coordinate on things like this :) Maybe this already exists, and I am out of the loop?