Ilya
Comments18
Hi Uri, I guess there is no modern (21st century) data yet on potential return of localized outreach because the Oxford-style EA mentality is very young, though the great minds thousand years ago have found the best answers to the challenge of best purpose/meaning of human life. My intuition tells me that the most effective way to actualize EA causes would be through creation of small teams/groups/collectives able of sustainable economical and ideological exchange with the environment. My assumption is that members of such a group recognize their need for harmonious interconnection. Think of a living organism in which all organs work in unity and harmony. A more or less normal organism does not have what you call “management overhead”. Complexity of physical human body, with all its “major and minor” organs, comprised of hundreds of millions of cells, is much greater than complexity of a small (3 to10 person) team. If you are interested and free in principle of forming a small project team for sustainable propagation, I’d like to chat with you in skype.
Uri, it is my understanding that a better EA model of a startup would be a collective one, than individualistic. Your business will grow faster by creating and growing a larger team. For example, if your current team needs 12 month of full time work to complete the startup phase, then by increasing the team 3 times, the work may be accomplished in 3 month.
I am interested to learn nature of your startup for more qualified communications with you.
Michelle, my great respect for work you and your organization are doing.
I am not a native English speaker, and it will take me long time to get 10 karmas, unless members of this forum accelerate me.
I am not a member of GWWC. Not Yet. I even did not know 3 weeks ago that EA-minded organizations exist. My remarks to you this post are as follows:
“to improve the lives of others” sounds better to me than ” to help people in developing countries”.
“Pledge” sounds heavy loaded of many meanings, confusing people and potential donors. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pledge Words like anticipate, intend, expect coordinates with more people.
By locking people into giving 10% or more of what they earn, you lock out people who may be willing to give less than 10%; and do not include people who may want to donate wealth they have not earned but inherited.
Phrase “I make this pledge freely, openly, and sincerely.” is a kind of artificial or antiquated or redundant. People volunteer to donate, so there is no point to impose pledges, unless you wish to have an elitist club, which has merits.
A version of improved text becomes more democratic, readable, and friendlier.
“I recognize that I can use part of my income to do a significant amount of good. Since I can live well enough on a smaller income, I anticipate that for the rest of my life or until the day I retire, I shall give percentage of what I earn, or whatever I can, to whichever organizations can most effectively use it to improve the lives of others, now and in the years to come.”
To me development of category "reducing suffering/connecting" is the most interesting and meaningful as a seed from which everything optimally (effectively) grows. I wish to see at least 1 out of 100 intellectuals to ask question about hierarchy of life purpose and meaning, and then what makes their life effective relatively to life purpose.