Thank you for the wonderful job you did - the Forum's navigation and ease of use is remarkable!

I am curious about one aspect which is not clear to me from the post. Assuming EA is really in decline, do you personally regret it or not?

Why not form an informal group within EA which shares the values and views that you outlined in your post?

"For those whose EA retreat experience is mostly pre-2023 like me, both the numbers and reactions here are kind of shocking. I would have expected the retreat to be ~70% vegetarian and for most of the response to be hard-nosed questions about the most effective interventions, not “huh, so do you think any charities actually work?” 

Hi Tyler, this is something that can significantly strengthen EA community. I think the idea is excellent as demonstrated by history of different groups and networks you named and also for example the Inklings, the Bloomsbury Group and Fabian Society. I also have a concept that could complement it, I'll send you details for discussion by DM.

I read this cross-post with great interest. I wonder if I can buy a franchise from Michael Huemer—I’d like to write a whole series of articles using his brilliant line of reasoning.

The first installment would be provisionally titled: “Be Grateful to Your Lord, You Lowly Serf.”
It would explain why the wealth gap between lords and serfs wasn’t a problem at all. After all, the lords protected their serfs from raiders, settled disputes, and maintained order. They trained for years to become warriors, risking their lives to preserve peace. Their horses and armor were expensive! True, the serfs did labor on the land, but the land was granted to the lords by God himself to own and protect - as any honest priest would be happy to confirm.

Besides, the lords carried superior genes and noble heritage, which they even generously shared with some serfs through the occasional exercise of droit du seigneur—not so much a “right,” really, as a touching act of feudal philanthropy.

Surely it’s only fair they received a larger share of the surplus!

Next in the series: “Ancient Rome—Slaves’ Paradise Lost.”

Excellent post, thanks for sharing your experience! Strongly recommend for all group organisers

Let's take the next decisive step and turn it into a proper guerilla underground movement! We must all scatter and during the day pretend to be effective egoists, but when the night falls we will show our real faces...

It’s nice to see this level of strategic leadership—thank you for sharing your plans. In my view, one of the top priorities for sustainable growth is attracting and retaining participants who have both strong commitment to altruistic causes and also the knowledge and good judgment to advance effective approaches. Perhaps we could start a focused discussion on EA Groups Slack about practical steps on how to improve outreach and bring in people who will genuinely strengthen the movement.

On a related note, I have a proposal (with some valuable inputs from @David_Moss) for a new event format designed to deepen connections in the EA community. In short, it's retreat-style gatherings in informal settings during holidays (like Cyprus) that will feature plenty of open-ended social time, to spark fresh ideas and foster collaboration. Such interactions often build the kind of relationships that sustain long-term commitment. We prepared a detailed concept and I'd be glad to discuss this in more detail with CEA team how it can be piloted to complement existing EA Global events.

Why not add to this highly interesting event an option for online participation?

Vasco, I absolutely agree with you. My idea was just a small thought experiment to let those people who disagree to view this from another angle.