James Herbert
Bio
Participation1
I'm currently a co-director at EA Netherlands (with Marieke de Visscher). We're working to build and strengthen the EA community here.
Before this, I worked as a consultant on urban socioeconomic development projects and programmes funded by the EU. Before that, I studied liberal arts (in the UK) and then philosophy (in the Netherlands).
Hit me up if you wanna find out about the Dutch EA community! :)
Posts 14
Comments204
So you think so far it's mostly been OK? If that's the case, and if it's plausible that high-quality discussions about politics would be valuable, shouldn't we lean towards loosening the policy and seeing what happens?
Best case, good discussions happen and the forum does a better job of meeting its objective. Worst case, bad discussion happens, but then it should be pretty simple to tighten the policy up and no lasting harm would be done.
Could you provide examples of political discussions on the EA Forum that appear to have negatively impacted the forum’s environment or impaired its ability to achieve its objectives? While I find this plausible, I’d also expect the EA Forum to be one of the most conducive spaces online for constructive political discourse.
My understanding is that the forum’s primary goal is to support discussions relevant to effective altruism and facilitate the coordination of related projects. Given that politics is highly relevant to these aims, I believe there should be a strong(er) justification for any restrictions on political topics.
What do you see as the potential for non-EA funding opportunities for community building organisations like EA Netherlands? Currently, 95% of our funding comes from CEA, OP, and EA IF.
My sense is that non-EA funding might be viable for specific initiatives, like talent development programmes, but securing such funding for core EA community building activities — like community events, office spaces, organiser support, and outreach — seems much more challenging.
Thanks! And yeah, I didn't find it valuable. It's been a while since I read it but I wrote some thoughts here recently.
Delft have done in-depth fellowships if I’m not mistaken. Have you chatted with Brooke? Or people from the previous boards, e.g., Annemieke, Nils, Joep, or Jan?
Oh and also check out Impact Makers. A few ex-uni organisers from NL (Lotte et al.) set it up to solve exactly this problem.
Ping me if you’ve got any questions about the above!
This doesn't really answer your question but there is a Dutch org with a very similar model to GD: 100weeks.
There's a good chance you're already in touch with Paul Smeets via Bram at Doneer Effectief but, if not, check out his work on the effectiveness of different messaging strategies. His takeaway: use the ”100x more impactful” argument, but do not use the ”$5,000 per life saved”. He gave a talk at EAGxUtrecht on the subject.
Great stuff! Many thanks to the team and whoever commissioned this! Looking forward to future research in this direction.