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Also curious about who would oppose EA. My first thought is people who would be threatened by expectation that we measure the actual impact of social efforts.

by onos 4y ago

astrange 4y ago
Since EA is a kind of philosophy-from-scratch attempt by STEM types, actual trained philosophers would be the "loyal opposition". https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/economics-and-philosophy/article/better-vaguely-right-than-precisely-wrong-in-effective-altruism-the-problem-of-marginalism/3FE3A694EEAF686194AB22A941691205 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/economics-and-philos... The unloyal opposition being people who want to donate to local charities, people who hate charities because they're billionaire conspiracies, people who want to keep their money, and humanities types who don't like STEM types and want to do radical poetry reading meetings instead[0]. And people who've noticed the "longtermists" don't actually have positions that involve being "long term"[1]. [0] https://twitter.com/lastpositivist/status/1469254670862495748 https://twitter.com/lastpositivist/status/146925467086249574... [1] https://www.slowboring.com/p/whats-long-term-about-longtermism?r=av61o&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email https://www.slowboring.com/p/whats-long-term-about-longtermi...
- mst 4y ago
  My view tends towards not finding the philosophy of EA particularly convincing in and of itself, but the money raised for causes I appreciate highly laudable. (yes, some of that money goes to thinks I consider complete kookery, but that's always going to happen because humans, and EA seems to me to be less lossy than average in that regard)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  EA is adjacent to Yudkowsky LessWrong Rationality-as-a-Lifestyle/Asimov's Second Foundation LARPing, which leads to some weird places like Roko's Basilisk and expensive places like the Center for Applied Rationality [0]; and it's also a fad among Silicon Valley VC/founder types [1], so it does have a rather specific techno-psuedo-intellectual sheen to it that can be suspect to those who aren't into such subcultures or scenes. [0] $3,900 for four nights https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-happiness-code.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-happiness-co... [1] https://haseebq.com/why-i-became-an-effective-altruist/ https://haseebq.com/why-i-became-an-effective-altruist/

Also curious about who would oppose EA. My first thought is people who would be threatened by expectation that we measure the actual impact of social efforts.

by onos 4y ago

Also curious about who would oppose EA. My first thought is people who would be threatened by expectation that we measure the actual impact of social efforts.

astrange 4y ago

Since EA is a kind of philosophy-from-scratch attempt by STEM types, actual trained philosophers would be the "loyal opposition". https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/economics-and-philosophy/article/better-vaguely-right-than-precisely-wrong-in-effective-altruism-the-problem-of-marginalism/3FE3A694EEAF686194AB22A941691205 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/economics-and-philos... The unloyal opposition being people who want to donate to local charities, people who hate charities because they're billionaire conspiracies, people who want to keep their money, and humanities types who don't like STEM types and want to do radical poetry reading meetings instead[0]. And people who've noticed the "longtermists" don't actually have positions that involve being "long term"[1]. [0] https://twitter.com/lastpositivist/status/1469254670862495748 https://twitter.com/lastpositivist/status/146925467086249574... [1] https://www.slowboring.com/p/whats-long-term-about-longtermism?r=av61o&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email https://www.slowboring.com/p/whats-long-term-about-longtermi...

mst 4y ago
My view tends towards not finding the philosophy of EA particularly convincing in and of itself, but the money raised for causes I appreciate highly laudable. (yes, some of that money goes to thinks I consider complete kookery, but that's always going to happen because humans, and EA seems to me to be less lossy than average in that regard)
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
Apocryphon 4y ago
EA is adjacent to Yudkowsky LessWrong Rationality-as-a-Lifestyle/Asimov's Second Foundation LARPing, which leads to some weird places like Roko's Basilisk and expensive places like the Center for Applied Rationality [0]; and it's also a fad among Silicon Valley VC/founder types [1], so it does have a rather specific techno-psuedo-intellectual sheen to it that can be suspect to those who aren't into such subcultures or scenes. [0] $3,900 for four nights https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-happiness-code.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-happiness-co... [1] https://haseebq.com/why-i-became-an-effective-altruist/ https://haseebq.com/why-i-became-an-effective-altruist/