I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s wondered if the effective altruist community is best off overtly telling everyone we are focused on things like Givewell, MIRI, etc. but covertly choosing to focus most of our resources on capacity-building, knowing that the goals we’ve set for ourselves are big enough that they aren’t going to be realistically accomplished with our current cohort.
I don’t think deception is even necessary here. Leverage Research is basically openly telling people they’re focused on capacity building and making humans smarter & more capable, and CFAR seems to be doing the same thing from a different angle.
I’m advocating deception in the sense of not telling people that a possible majority of the resources in the EA movement are devoted to expanding the EA movement, at least not right off. I think it’s fine that Leverage and CFAR are upfront about their mission.
Let us recall the maxim about people advocating big lies on the internet, the suitability of said people for propagating said lies, and their likelihood of success.
I don’t think deception is even necessary here. Leverage Research is basically openly telling people they’re focused on capacity building and making humans smarter & more capable, and CFAR seems to be doing the same thing from a different angle.
I’m advocating deception in the sense of not telling people that a possible majority of the resources in the EA movement are devoted to expanding the EA movement, at least not right off. I think it’s fine that Leverage and CFAR are upfront about their mission.
Let us recall the maxim about people advocating big lies on the internet, the suitability of said people for propagating said lies, and their likelihood of success.