There are some schelling points in EA that aren’t a result of deliberate optimisation, but are instead a result of founder effects, path dependency etc
These equilibria may be suboptimal and hard to change by any individual, but with coordinated action we may be able to shift to a better equilibrium.
Put your ideas for ‘equilibrium shifts’ here and upvote ones you’d like to see happen - the most popular proposals will naturally be the easiest to implement.
Some examples:
- Everyone’s coming to the bay because all the cool EAs are already in the bay, is there a better schelling point (perhaps with cheaper cost of living/more political influence?) https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M5GoKkWtBKEGMCFHn/what-s-the-theory-of-change-of-come-to-the-bay-over-the
- Everyone’s on Facebook messenger as all the EAs are already on Facebook messenger, would another app be better? https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KbXS5qiQP7szLb26k/eas-should-use-signal-instead-of-facebook-messenger
Open Phil funds pro-housing advocacy, whose benefits are especially concentrated in areas like Berkeley, so these benefits will flow through to the EA and AIS communities as well.