Eric Hansen: Growing Effective Altruism
Consider an individual who, over the course of her/his life, has spread the message of effective altruism to hundreds of individuals. He has developed an uncanny ability to present EA, with all of its quirks, as an ideology of love and respect for others. Though many take issue with certain ideas and subcultures within the EA community, they still embrace EA’s principles of thoughtful giving and lifting people up. Collectively, the people he’s reached donate $25 million to charitable causes, spread the message of EA to thousands more, and even devote their careers to EA through work in diverse industries. Incredibly, these efforts could have been made in this individual’s spare time, through casual conversations and the occasional opportunity to address an audience, supplementing an already impactful career or personal dedication to philanthropy.
This individual serves to show how spreading the EA message to new communities may be the best way to have an impact. Given the relative infancy of the movement, sparking growth could significantly increase the size of the EA community, supplying more resources to impactful causes. Moreover, growth could attract more diverse voices and perspectives to EA, leading to better defined goals and a more welcoming community.
Effective Altruism has been branded by some as a calculated, patronizing ideology because of its analytical nature and claim to “doing good better.” There is an implicit elitism in this claim, which devalues others’ efforts to do good and suggests a moral superiority even over people that have dedicated their lives to helping others.
The community, especially in its outreach, should rebrand Effective Altruism as a philosophy that revolves around “doing good” - period. We should applaud existing efforts to “do good” and strive to expand awareness of causes that may be especially effective or impactful. By presenting EA as an open dialogue on how to best help others, we can grow the EA community.
Everyone feels drawn towards being a good person. Presenting Effective Altruism in this light will help us resonate with that feeling. Whenever the opportunity to explain EA arises, the best outcome is to have sparked enough interest that your friend or colleague feels compelled to explore EA on their own. It depends on the audience, but a detailed explanation of the three cause-prioritization criteria may turn people off from EA before they appreciate its well-meaning principles.
Ultimately, not everyone will feel drawn to Effective Altruism, but the current EA community threatens to become secluded from a much larger population of well-meaning individuals. By presenting a more open-minded picture of EA, we can connect with a more diverse audience, encouraging more people to make EA a part of their lives.
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Eric (erichansen@college.harvard.edu) is a sophomore studying Computer Science at Harvard College and has been a member of HCEA since the fall of 2019.