Meditations on Collectivity

I wrote five different paragraphs to start this post and couldn’t stitch any of them together. So here are all five fragments.

My ability to do good is limited by my ability to work with others.

Three years ago multiple earthquakes devastated the southeastern region of Turkey. The things we saw were unimaginably bad. Within a few days people started organizing to collect food, clothes, sanitary products etc. I participated in none of it. One day, I felt disgusted with myself. A disaster happened; people were trying to collectively do what they can and I did nothing. Was I really this distant from the people around me? The answer was yes—I was that distant and alienated. I guess it’s no coincidence that I was also depressed as fuck.

There are some words that crumble if I try to define them. Agency is one. I’ll try anyways, even though it feels a bit cringey: Agency is your ability to enforce your will on the world. This definition might sound authoritarian, but I don’t think it is. “Enforcing” takes multiple forms. A ruler enforcing their will upon subjects is definitely the authoritarian version. But can’t there be a collaborative version? Like encouraging or even persuading others? Walking the path for a few steps, then turning back and waving for others to join you?

There is a motto in software development that I really like: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It highlights the importance of collective agency. People getting together to build something is a powerful force that no individual can compete with, no matter how “agentic” they are. Unfortunately we’ve buried this feeling. But it’s down there and always ready to be rekindled. Collectivity is the core of the human condition. We are collective beings. We help, influence, persuade, abuse and oppress each other. No matter what we want to accomplish, it involves “the other” in some way or another.

Jenn writes about this collectivity of Effective Altruists (EAs) choosing the most effective charities for donations. It used to involve arguments over complicated spreadsheets in forums. Choosing the most effective way to use money to help others was a collective effort. Now, this is left to “professionals” who curate lists for EAs to choose from. I don’t think being a middle-class philanthropist is what Effective Altruism is truly about.