Who are your people?

"Who are Your People?"

Santino Maguire inspired me by asking me the excellent question "Who are your people?" and (roughly) "what communities are they associated with or to find in?"


Thinking further about this question resulted in immense gratitude as actually today is one of the days where I interact with all three communities in Vienna, that are "my tribes":

• SCIENCE & RATIONALITY COMMUNITY

At 3 pm I will go to a talk at Complexity Science Hub Vienna about "collective belief updating processes" with other people from the Rationality Vienna group. This reflects my values of scientific integrity, epistemic responsibility and constant seeking of mental "updates" (changing one's mind and overcoming biases).
(Today's talk there is by Mirta Galesic from the Santa Fe Institute about this topic: https://www.santafe.edu/rese…/projects/science-belief-change)

• GLOBAL SHAPERS COMMUNITY

Later in the evening, I have the monthly internal meeting of the Global Shapers Vienna (the current amazing curator is Mathias Haas) with a diverse group of motivated, successful people who drive social impact in various ways, who constantly "burst my filter bubbles" and who support each other like family. Imagining what I would have missed if I had not met these people, makes me grateful, that I live in the branch of reality where I didn't miss it.
"The Global Shapers Community is a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change."

• EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM COMMUNITY

Before that evening program, I will spend my early evening at WU Gründungszentrum where Jona Glade gives an introduction talk to Effective Altruism (Effective Altruism - How to multiply your social impact x100). The Effective Altruism Community combines both values mentioned above: scientific and rational thinking and practically creating ethical output.
Locally this community also has a big overlap with the animal rights and vegan community, and, yes, surprisingly, the strength training community.
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Yes, all three groups are fallible in some ways. There are people in the science and rationality community, who neither think very rational (or have a straw Vulcan conceptualisation of it) nor have ethical values I agree with. In the Global Shapers Community, I see both people who have values I don't agree with as well as a lack of epistemic responsibility. And in the effective altruism community, there are people who either lack the evidence-based/science-based part or completely neglect to take any action (no, reading books and writing Facebook posts/blogs and having internal meetings is not taking action).
Why do I stick around?

“When a wise man points at the moon
​the imbecile examines the finger.”

I think together they point in the right direction.
They try to approximate the right goals in the right way. And I am incredibly happy to have them.
They are "my people".
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Who are YOUR people?