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All of kottsiek's Comments + Replies

Kirsten's Quick takes
kottsiek2y5
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Can you elaborate on the criticism? There have been a ton of bad decisions made by all kinds of groups affecting all kinds of other groups who have not been involved in the decision making process. The most charitable argument, I can come up with, is something like this: 

  1. Group X has acted badly in some way.
  2.  EA is sufficiently similar to Group X.
  3.  Sufficiently similar groups are likely to act the same. 

          C: EA is likely to act badly in some way.

So group X needs to be specified and "white people" seems far too general. 

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Kirsten
2y
I agree, except I think stage 1 implies something more like "Group X acts badly in about 80% of examples of Situation Y." I think the criticism tends to be something like "white people" or "rich white men", which I agree is very vague. I'm really keen we get better at predicting how likely EA is to screw up in particular ways by finding a better reference class.
Open and Welcome Thread: February 2021
kottsiek3y2
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Thank you for the links. I signed up for the workshop. 

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BrianTan
3y
No problem!
Open and Welcome Thread: February 2021
kottsiek3y5
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Hey all!

I'm studying for a bachelor in Philosophy & Economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.  I first read Singers Essay "Famine, Affluence and Morality" in school and was impressed with the shallow pond argument.  That was the start of my interest in practical ethics and the EA Movement alligns nicely with most of my views. 

I'm still quiet unsure about my future (apart from wanting to do good) and am currently struggling with procrastination and a missing sense of direction. Conseqently, I'm especially interested in meeting EAs, who... (read more)

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BrianTan
3y
Hi Kottsiek, welcome to the Forum! Have you connected with someone from EA Berlin, such as Manuel Allgaier? Here's their website: https://ea-berlin.org/. You can also reach out to NEAD, which connects people interested in EA in Germany : https://ealokal.de/. You will likely be able to connect with EAs with a similar background or at least in the same region/country as you through EA Berlin or NEAD. Regarding struggling with procrastination, I found the Complice's Goal-Crafting Intensive Workshop useful. It's a 5-hour event where you listen and work through content with others to help you set and prioritize goals for yourself, and come up with strategies to achieve them, among other topics. It only costs a minimum of $25. The next session is still in April, but you can already book for a class ahead and they can give you content that you can work through ahead.  You might also like to read this EA Forum post about finding an accountability buddy to meet or chat with every week, to help you overcome procrastination: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2RvpoWWQDiFpptpam/accountability-buddies-a-proposed-system-1. In the Complice event, they invite attendees to find an accountability buddy at the end. You can also join the EA Life Coaching Exchange facebook group, and try to find an accountability. buddy there. A couple of people in EA Philippines have found an accountability buddy/group through there.  Hope this helps!