Hi, guys. I've written a short promotional article focused on GiveWell, and Effective Altruism in general. In relation to other charitable causes, the EA movement is not widely known and this is my humble contribution to an important and neglected area.
Feedback always welcomed.
Thanks.
-Tom
Feedback: I love the idea behind the piece, since it very closely tracks with what motivated me to join the EA movement in the first place. Other art I've found that makes use of the same idea: This essay by Julia Wise and the film Life in a Day. I hope you'll keep thinking about and writing on similar topics; I want to see more work on the sheer emotional force of effective altruism.
As for the piece itself: I liked the progression of ideas and the sharing incentives at the end, but I found the language to be a little too abstract and poetic to follow in some places. I'm also wary about the phrase "our women"; I understand it to mean "the women who belong to our species, the human species", but paired with "our children" it adds an accidental hint of patriarchy.
Thanks for the feedback and the links. I'll check them out. I'm likely guilty here of overly poetic language and I should keep it in check so that it doesn't distract from the message. Your point about my language: 'our women', is worth some thought on my part and I'll give it that.
Your comments were sincerely appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks Tom and greetings to everybody here at EA.. i'm really amazed that there could ever be a group that holds such values.. values that represents the best of us as human.. i'm Wei Lun, an undergraduate living in Singapore who has had the opportunity to challenge myself at some of the high stakes level.. and that has shaped my core belief of how human lives should be.. as unbelievably as thisseems.. i feel and love people tremendously.. to the point that i have embarked on a career path to eventual large scale value creation to positively impact people's life through ventures which i believe can disrupt industries (i work in a acquisition intermediary capacity ). I have long wanted to go to places which holds such values and beliefs.. and Canada was where i felt could embrace such principles.. and as such.. i have started some initiatives which i hope could eventually allow mw to get there.. it's an amazing piece.. aarongertler made a good point about the emotional force.. but i will think the poetry's abstraction was a perfect touch to put us to feel through other's capacity.. thank you all very much for showing me that what i always believed in has a place in this world.. i would love to chat and hear about some of your beliefs and experiences..
Wei Lun
Hello Wei Lun! Thanks very much for that feedback and the kind words. I've had little feedback on anything I've written to the The Pulp and the Pit as I have not really "launched" it per se but likely will soon as I've been working on essays.
I enjoyed reading about your plans to promote those values that matter so much to you and the rest of us here. Wishing you luck in your hopes to find a country to grow with.
After coming back to that short essay I wrote on "The Goods Of The Human Saga" I've edited it for greater clarity. I also added a subtitle to help guide: Stories. Connection. Altruism. I really appreciate the time aarongertler took to give some thoughts on it. I had sent it to Givewell to get their take on it as well and used their suggestions.
I don't post much here but that this forum exists and this resource is available is a wonderful thing.
-Thanks, Tom