Hi Matthew, I appreciate you trying to pin-point the root cause of my disconnect, but I'd like to push back a bit: "it seems you are prioritizing early retirement and a luxurious lifestyle over EA causes and giving" - yes to the "early retirement" part and no to the "luxurious lifestyle" part. I'm very frugal even compared to those under poverty line in US/Canada; however, I want to leave a large cushion for emergency since I'm stopping work at such a young age. If I have more intrinsic desire to work, I'd be much more open to work a normal 80k-hr career and donate a larger % of my income at an ongoing basis. 

"Knowing many people in the movement - most do have an intrinsic altruistic motivation." - I don't find it unbelievable that people have an intrinsic altruistic motivation and I respect the EA community for their service. My critique is more so that EA seems to be focused on "how to" for the in-group (those already super into the EA concept) and less so on outreach to near-groups, let alone out-groups. In other words, how can EA turn 90% of people into semi-altruists instead of turning 1% of people into perfectly effective altruists? I think the 10% pledge in its current structure isn't very appealing to 90% of people.

Hi Yarrow - thank you for taking the time to reply so thoroughly! I love your new emoji flair.

talk to enough random people about EA online or in real life and you'll eventually hear something unexpected

Yes, I always enjoy talking to people about EA and usually find more diversity in thoughts when people converse in real life than writing online (perhaps this is because of in-group vs. out-group: while most causes have more in-fighting among the in-group, the EA community seems to have dodged this problem at the expense of in-group high conformity, but this constraint can be relaxed when talking to the out-group irl).

Is the little orange or blue diamond so different from someone having an emoji in their username, or, in real life, wearing a little pink or red ribbon for breast cancer of HIV/AIDS awareness?

I have no issues with people advertising their identity or interest or quirkiness with some kind of flair. I used a cross and astrological signs as an analogy because, like the orange diamond, they convey a sense of superiority like "I will be saved (while non-believers go to hell)" or "I'm in tune with the cosmos (while low-vibration people slave through life)". I acknowledge these are stereotypes and not everyone uses these symbols with the same judgmental intention.

On the 10% pledge itself, my point is not that no one should donate now, but that the "official" EA pledge has too rigid of a structure. To me, the vibes are similar to most vegan activists telling people "going vegan" is the only right way and hating on vegetarians or reducetarians because they're not meeting the standard. I think for most causes, two things are true at the same time: (1) people who have hardly thought about it should do way more about it and (2) people who have thought much about it, besides directly addressing the cause, should probably focus on effective outreach to people in (1) but chill on policing others in (2).

"Sounds like AI" is the wrong way to put this.

You're right, the point should be more about sounding too formal/academic rather than sounding too AI. I often use AI to help me polish my writing, so I tend to associate AI writing with more structure and more serious tone, but this is a usage bias. I think doing public dialogues on the EA Forum is a great idea.

Hi JoA - I see you're interested in animal welfare and invertebrate welfare, so I just want to say these are causes I consistently prioritize in my donations. I'm also looking into the AI x animal welfare space (I mentioned I'm not generally interested in AI safety but I am interested in applications/implications on animals) and my preliminary takeaway is that AGI doesn't substantially change how we should approach animal welfare in the near term (i.e., what helps animals now/soon will likely continue to help them with AGI, likely more). 

Hi Kestrel - thank you for your thoughtful reply and I agree with your hot takes :) There're definitely similarities between FIRE and EA communities as both agree that a certain level of wealth/comfort is enough, but the trade-off is that the more one gives in the near term, the further out this person can FIRE with the same cushion for emergency and/or the less continuous giving this person can draw from investments. I'm totally in support of letting effective givers figure out what works for them. My point is not that no one should donate now, but that the "official" EA pledge has too rigid of a structure.