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by tptacek 1299 days ago
That's sort of begging the argument proposed upthread. This is the standard line about EA, but it has clearly led some people --- people important to the movement, to "institutional" EA --- to some weird, dark places. And those dark ideas are in a sense dicta to parts of the wider EA community.
2 comments
zozbot234 1299 days ago
"EA" didn't do this. The EA-pursuing community in particular places may well be deeply flawed in all sorts of ways, but this has no bearing on the validity of EA principles more broadly.
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tptacek 1299 days ago
Then, if it helps you, just mentally substitute "EA-pursuing community" for "EA" in these discussions.
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onos 1299 days ago
I would accept the theme if you used “many of those claiming to follow EA”. But you don’t, you say “EA”. It’s on you to make your statements accurate.
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tptacek 1299 days ago
You can't have a curious conversation when you've committed yourself to not understanding the points other people are making.
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humanistbot 1299 days ago
And Jesus Christ didn't personally cause a lot of wars, the Jesus Christ fanclubs did that....
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jasonwatkinspdx 1299 days ago
Yes, exactly. I have a purely secular worldview as an adult, but there are good things worth paying attention to in the bible, at least in the new testament. What's different about the evangelical extremists I grew up around is this complex of mutually buttressing beliefs/behaviors like biblical literalism, believing in direct communication of absolute truth from the holy spirit, that prayer can cause supernatural miracles, etc.

With EA I'd cite longtermerism, the rhetoric around coin flips and risk, and in particular how all of this becomes a normative standard: if you aren't maximizing your earning potential you are a moral failure!

As I said, many of these beliefs and behaviors functionally serve to give the believer an all purpose source of moral righteousness. No one has a problem with Jesus saying you should not just do no harm but have a burden to help those in need. The problem comes exactly in that institutionalization that adopts this as a banner while behaving in the complete opposite way in practice.

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