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Agreed. IN particular, William MacAskill[1] is worth particular interest. Closer to abstract low tier cult than serious philosophy. The fact he changed his nam

Agreed. IN particular, William MacAskill[1] is worth particular interest. Closer to abstract low tier cult than serious philosophy. The fact he changed his name (his real name is William Crouch) to sound more like a marketable philosopher should be indicative enough to anyone with an ounce of sense that one should be guarded engaging with this supposed philosophy. That so many people at FTX called themselves "EAers" or "subscribe to the philosophy of EA" screams charlatanism to me. That it became entwined with the Crypto community is no surprise to me. It reminds me of the many many "churches" in Africa that tell people great fortune will come their way if they are loyal to this particular preacher or whatnot. [2] It is obvious to me those are a scam. Perhaps more akin to Scientology - creation of a VIP club - the less sense it makes the better? I've tried to read about Effective Altruism and my conclusions are that it is immature gibberish and these proponents are not fully formed emotionally intelligent adults. [3] > SBF ended up hanging out a lot with his younger brother Gabe, who was living in an EA commune on nearby Stuart Street. Communes - but it isn't a cult right? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_MacAskill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_MacAskill [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/13/world/africans-fill-churches-that-celebrate-wealth.html https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/13/world/africans-fill-churc... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20221027180943/https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-spotlight/ https://web.archive.org/web/20221027180943/https://www.sequo...

paul80808 4y ago
I hear a lot of critiques around effective altruism that boil down to attacks on people who practice it as being immature, naive, or cult like. At its core, EA asks what the most effective way to contribute to humanity is. Some of the thinkers are mature and have produced amazing projects, givewell being an obvious example. There are definitely some weirdos affiliated with the movement, but I don't think that that discredits its approach or philosophy.
- jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
  It's performative in exactly the same way I grew up among with evangelical extremists. You can't reduce moral decisions and ethics to some sort of karmic account balance. Functionally EA allows its promotors to rebrand self interest as actually altruism. It becomes an all purpose end to justify any means. A thought ending cliche to avoid engaging with the actual complexity.
  - fallingknife 4y ago
    And yet no one ever seems to be able to actually define a better moral decision making process or describe what the argument defeating "complexity" actually is. Just a longer way of saying "I disagree."
    - RandomLensman 4y ago
      What is the evidence that we actually truly know what is most effective in a lot of situations? If "effectiveness" is just a hypothesis then the whole thing becomes quite shaky in terms of resource allocation.
    - Emma_Goldman 4y ago
      I think the OP is being unfair to Will and EA, but your statement is pretty outrageous. No one's ever come up with a moral or political philosophy other than utilitarianism - are you serious?
dan-robertson 4y ago
Didn’t he change his name when he was first married (to some more distant family name) instead of only one spouse changing name?
- selimthegrim 4y ago
  I think it is his ex-wife’s name?
  - easytiger 4y ago
    No, it isn't.

paul80808 4y ago

I hear a lot of critiques around effective altruism that boil down to attacks on people who practice it as being immature, naive, or cult like. At its core, EA asks what the most effective way to contribute to humanity is. Some of the thinkers are mature and have produced amazing projects, givewell being an obvious example. There are definitely some weirdos affiliated with the movement, but I don't think that that discredits its approach or philosophy.

jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
It's performative in exactly the same way I grew up among with evangelical extremists. You can't reduce moral decisions and ethics to some sort of karmic account balance. Functionally EA allows its promotors to rebrand self interest as actually altruism. It becomes an all purpose end to justify any means. A thought ending cliche to avoid engaging with the actual complexity.
- fallingknife 4y ago
  And yet no one ever seems to be able to actually define a better moral decision making process or describe what the argument defeating "complexity" actually is. Just a longer way of saying "I disagree."
  - RandomLensman 4y ago
    What is the evidence that we actually truly know what is most effective in a lot of situations? If "effectiveness" is just a hypothesis then the whole thing becomes quite shaky in terms of resource allocation.
  - Emma_Goldman 4y ago
    I think the OP is being unfair to Will and EA, but your statement is pretty outrageous. No one's ever come up with a moral or political philosophy other than utilitarianism - are you serious?

dan-robertson 4y ago

Didn’t he change his name when he was first married (to some more distant family name) instead of only one spouse changing name?

selimthegrim 4y ago
I think it is his ex-wife’s name?
- easytiger 4y ago
  No, it isn't.