As somebody who’s spent the last 4.5 years as Chief of Staff at the Centre for Effective Altruism, I second this.
Believing meta is woefully neglected doesn’t require you to believe the people currently working on it are asleep at the wheel. Whether we are or we aren’t, there’s so damn much to do no single organisation could touch the sides. Not to mention that nobody really knows yet what works best, so we need lots of people taking shots from different angles until we see what hits. There are surely so many good ideas nobody has had or even tried to have! More of our best minds should try!
I loved this post, and it's even got me thinking about whether I should completely switch direction altogether and make the most of the generalist in me to work on a meta project.
As someone who came into EA from a filmmaker/comms angle, and despite a rush of efforts to fill the communications gap in EA/AIS in recent years, It still strikes me as the route with the least infrastructure to onboard new talent. I’m actually pretty agnostic as to whether I remain in comms or work on other important generalist projects, but I wonder what you think doing meta infrastructure for comms might look like?
I am very bullish on the filmmaker angle and have recently talked to a couple other filmmakers who want to use their talents in the space. Maybe you could join forces and make something cool? PM me and we can discuss.
Wholeheartedly agree. The call-to-action feels a bit dampened if one reads the "third wave could be a puddle" article. Founding is scary and founding on uncertain funding promises is scarier, still.
I do sometimes wonder if one angle of attack should be scaling existing or new organizations *really big*. New orgs are great but each one comes with operational overhead, spending time on branding, accounting, and competing for largely the same talent pool. I believe the largest orgs in the effective giving space still rarely exceed 100 employees (thinking of Centre for Effective Altruism, Coefficient Giving, Rethink Priorities). Is there value in helping an org scale to 1000+ employees?
As somebody who’s spent the last 4.5 years as Chief of Staff at the Centre for Effective Altruism, I second this.
Believing meta is woefully neglected doesn’t require you to believe the people currently working on it are asleep at the wheel. Whether we are or we aren’t, there’s so damn much to do no single organisation could touch the sides. Not to mention that nobody really knows yet what works best, so we need lots of people taking shots from different angles until we see what hits. There are surely so many good ideas nobody has had or even tried to have! More of our best minds should try!
Very well said @Oscar Howie! Couldn’t agree more.
Hi Devon.
I loved this post, and it's even got me thinking about whether I should completely switch direction altogether and make the most of the generalist in me to work on a meta project.
As someone who came into EA from a filmmaker/comms angle, and despite a rush of efforts to fill the communications gap in EA/AIS in recent years, It still strikes me as the route with the least infrastructure to onboard new talent. I’m actually pretty agnostic as to whether I remain in comms or work on other important generalist projects, but I wonder what you think doing meta infrastructure for comms might look like?
Thank you Harrison, I am glad you liked it.
I am very bullish on the filmmaker angle and have recently talked to a couple other filmmakers who want to use their talents in the space. Maybe you could join forces and make something cool? PM me and we can discuss.
Wholeheartedly agree. The call-to-action feels a bit dampened if one reads the "third wave could be a puddle" article. Founding is scary and founding on uncertain funding promises is scarier, still.
I do sometimes wonder if one angle of attack should be scaling existing or new organizations *really big*. New orgs are great but each one comes with operational overhead, spending time on branding, accounting, and competing for largely the same talent pool. I believe the largest orgs in the effective giving space still rarely exceed 100 employees (thinking of Centre for Effective Altruism, Coefficient Giving, Rethink Priorities). Is there value in helping an org scale to 1000+ employees?