Melanie Brennan
Bio
Participation5
I'm an Australian generalist with a background in linguistics, education, and music, now focused on community building in Barcelona.
Since 2023, I’ve been leading EA Barcelona, focussed on growing a vibrant local group through impactful events, programs, and collaborations.
I'm especially interested in how we can blend creativity, education, and effective altruism to reach new audiences and spark meaningful action.
Outside of EA, I write songs, produce music & videos, and often busk & donate my tips to effective charities.
Posts 6
Comments34
As a vegan woman of menstruating age who struggles to absorb non-heme iron (the kind found in plants) despite careful supplementation, I can say I wholeheartedly endorse Kat's recommendation! I've also heard that mussel farming may have positive impacts on ocean ecosystems, but I haven’t looked into it deeply - if anyone has good sources on that, please feel free to share :)
A huge congratulations to the EAID team for successfully running your first national retreat! We are eagerly planning our first retreat for EA Spain soon, and will be drawing from your experience shared here to help us plan effectively. Thanks a lot for sharing and good luck with the many follow-ups that I'm sure will result from this event :)
Thanks for sharing this, James. I haven't read the book yet, so what I'm about to write is based on following RB and MA's activites on Linkedin, looking at the MA website and talking to someone who attended one of their online onboarding sessions. So please take some aspects of my comment with a grain of salt.
As an EA city group organiser, I think what would be helpful for me (and likely for other community builders) is guidance on how to position our work in light of the new MA movement. I'm hopeful that the two can co-exist and even amplify one another. You've mentioned that several of MA’s co-founders have roots in the EA community (including one who co-directed EA Netherlands), which I personally find really encouraging.
However, I do feel some concern around the intentional distancing from EA (for PR reasons we assume), particularly the decision not to publically disclose the close ties between the two, the pretty blatant repackaging of the ITN framework under a new label (SSS - I found the third S - "sorely overlooked" - a bit of a stretch!), with no mention as to the origin, the omission of 80,000 hours and now, (from what I’ve heard), the recent promotion of Effective Giving without mentioning GWWC, etc. It's my worry that all of this, from a local community building perspective, has the potential to create real friction.
For example, I can imagine a Moral Ambition Circle starting up here in Barcelona. If we from EA Barcelona try to connect or collaborate, we may be met with confusion, or worse, even suspicion. People might say, "What's that you say? You're part of another movement doing almost the same thing? But with a way worse reputation? Why should I believe you given that there's no mention of EA on the MA website, etc". That lack of transparency could lead to mistrust, even if our intentions are aligned.
Anyway, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on how to navigate this emerging dynamic in a positive and constructive way, especially in terms of messaging and collaboration with MA. Thank you!
Update: I have since finished the book. Overall, I really enjoyed reading it, and agree that it’s essentially EA repackaged for a broader audience, which I find genuinely exciting. After finishing it, I felt a renewed, strong motivation to continue striving to build a better world.
At the same time, the lack of explicit acknowledgement of EA’ obvious influence still feels quite off to me. In fact, "influence" is too weak a word - it's clear that this book probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for the groundwork of EA. Others have said that Rutger speaks positively about EA in different contexts, so I can't help but wonder: why not use this book, which looks likely to reach a huge new audience, to improve EA’s optics, rather than reinforce outdated criticisms? Like, he mostly critiques EA for being too “nerdy,” too focused on earning to give, and references SBF as a warning against extreme utilitarianism (fair), but to me it sounds like he got a bit put off by “old EA” and stopped updating his view on how the movement has expanded over the past few years.
Some things also come across uncomfortably close to plagiarism for my liking (maybe this is too deontological a stance for many people on this forum, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due). For example, the SSS model is essentially a copy of the ITN framework, but he doesn’t acknowledge that anywhere. He dedicates a full chapter to Charity Entrepreneurship and how amazing it is, without once mentioning its strong ties to the EA movement. Then later, in his one chapter where he mostly criticises EA, he says "oh, btw, remember that awesome organisation I mentioned before? That was founded through the EA movement - now, moving on...", as if it was so... incidental. He's clearly very impressed by Joey Savoie (fair) but Will MacAskill, Toby Ord and others don't get much praise (unfair). And, the most serious omission in my opinion, is that 80,000 Hours isn’t referenced at all, except in a couple of footnotes, despite the book’s entire premise (and, in particular, the introduction) basically echoing 80k's core message i.e. “You have 80,000 hours in your career. Why not use them to make a difference?”
So, while I’m still overall very excited about MA and the new energy/talent it could bring into our work and shared mission, I'm still concerned about the pretty serious lack of attribution and the strategic distancing. I think it could make it harder for us to build bridges and create a shared, transparent narrative between these two clearly very aligned communities.
Great, thanks!