I think an antagonistic tone actually works well in recruiting folks who are still EA-adjacent, and may still be somewhat-affiliated with the community, or otherwise care a lot about some EA-branded cause areas like AI, but are weary of the discourse and cultural norms and professionalization of the space. For a space that supposedly loves criticism, EA really doesn't make real space for criticizing a lot of key assumptions and orgs, and it often feels like, if you car about certain causes that aren't mainstream outside of the movement, you either stick around and keep your mouth shut, or stop seeking to help with those causes. Someone like Holly taking an antagonistic tone means that there are others out there who you could meet and organize with who might think about things in an EA-ish, systematic way...but who aren't contained by organizational allegiance. And, I'd argue, that integrity is a breath of fresh air and I suspect is very effective in attracting disillusioned EAs

I'm extremely saddened by the dismissal of Pause AI by mainstream EAs. While it was in 2019 and therefore basically another lifetime, I well remember a time when we had many enthusiastic people in EA with time and energy that we were struggling to put to work, leading to all that discussion of "Task Y" and whatnot, but we let them turn into bycatch instead. It seems now that something like Pause AI should always have been an option, and ideally THE option. Thank you for seeing clearly what others haven't and refuse to.

I would be curious to see this broken down by preexisting mental health status. I don't expect EA to have much negative mental health impact on people who already have ~normal mental health, but given the widespread normalization of e.g. scrupulosity, AI doomerism on the community level, i suspect that people coming into EA with preexisting mental health concerns might see them get worse, or face slower recovery.

My roommate is the chapter organizer for our city's Humane League Changemakers, inspired down that path because of involvement with effective altruism and having gone to previous EA Globals. He got a form letter rejection from EA Global saying he should learn more about EA and reapply in the future. Make it make sense.

 

This is cribbing a bit from Sam[]zdat's summary of Hoffer's "The True Believer", but in brief: I'm skeptical of pushes to make EA more normal because normal people don't join social movements or intentional communities. Alternative lifestyles like polyamory, atheism and veganism are already largely drawing from people who are alienated from mainstream society enough to start doing things differently. High tolerance for weirdness + a desire to sacrifice in favor of the cause enables abuse in EA, sure. It also enables abuse and grift in your local anarchist co-op, your local BLM circle, probably even your local fusion dance scene. 

Joining a demanding community or cause is something that is most appealing to people who are already having trouble fitting into society. That fact creates a lot of problems in any kind of intentional community or cause--I will always be the first to admit this. But not tolerating weirdness probably means paying the price of not really having a movement at all.