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>Perhaps if the CEO had gone to Stanford, he would have been better educated in effective altruism and have placed their needs higher Careful, some might infer

>Perhaps if the CEO had gone to Stanford, he would have been better educated in effective altruism and have placed their needs higher Careful, some might infer a snide on their church and bite back to you. Not me, I share your view.

autotune 4y ago
Is anyone actually defending effective altruism right now? SBF has effectively flushed it down the drain along with the investors he scammed.
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  Anyone I've seen in the IDW camp is still very much defending effective altruism. It's kind of terrifying.
- concordDance 4y ago
  Me. The movement and ideas are good even if the most famous person connected to it is bad. You don't hear about the vast majority of EAs who just quietly try and improve girl's education in Indian or distribute malaria nets (to mention two I know personally).
  - Spellman 4y ago
    Adding to this, groups like 80000 Hours and Evidence Action are EA and still worth it.
  - throw_pm23 4y ago
    This is like "communism is good, it was just badly implemented". For a movement that prides itself on being evidence-based, there is a lot of evidence EA is willing to ignore.
    - hahaxdxd123 4y ago
      Isn't effective altruism just max_a E[benefit to society | a]? I don't see how that can be discredited as a personal moral philosophy, even if you don't personally disagree with it. SBF and FTX fraud doesn't discredit that it's more cost effective to educate people in certain areas than others.
      - throw_pm23 4y ago
        I discredit this philosophy because E[..] cannot be accurately estimated. So it should be P(no harm|a) > 1-eps before anything.
- awinder 4y ago
  Why would one conman’s association with an ideology condemn the entire ideology? Because he said he was using it as a ruse? Why are you still selectively believing the conman?
  - autotune 4y ago
    Practically nobody in the mainstream had ever really heard of the ideology before said conman adopted it and tried to make it popular. Who are the most influential backers of it right now? Convince me it's worth doing some searching on and I will, but if you tell anyone outside of small circles that you are affiliated with the movement, you are going to be on the defensive side for the foreseeable future.
    - buggy6257 4y ago
      (disclaimer: no idea what effective altruism is about) You seem to believe that "truly good" causes have a requirement to have "influential backers" behind them in order for you to consider doing them. That seems like a pretty silly way to decide what things are good/bad to do -- People did the same thing with FTX when Matt Damon's commercial aired, and look how that ended up for them. Maybe just research concepts for yourself and decide what's a good idea rather than waiting for a celebrity or rich person to tell you it's worth doing. Chances are, things celebrities tell you to do are the things LEAST worth doing.
      - autotune 4y ago
        It's not that "truly good" causes need an "influential backer," it's that I don't want to have to get into an argument with someone in real life who decides I am some kind of scammer due to being affiliated with a movement that has been getting nothing but bad press thanks to one individual. Time is precious, just like I can't spend time researching every single tool that gets posted on HN for production viability, I can't spend time researching every relatively obscure social movement out there to adopt for myself. I ignored the crypto craze due to listening to the right people, just like I can ignore EA by listening to the same ones.
  - 4y ago

autotune 4y ago

Is anyone actually defending effective altruism right now? SBF has effectively flushed it down the drain along with the investors he scammed.

seattle_spring 4y ago
Anyone I've seen in the IDW camp is still very much defending effective altruism. It's kind of terrifying.
concordDance 4y ago
Me. The movement and ideas are good even if the most famous person connected to it is bad. You don't hear about the vast majority of EAs who just quietly try and improve girl's education in Indian or distribute malaria nets (to mention two I know personally).
- Spellman 4y ago
  Adding to this, groups like 80000 Hours and Evidence Action are EA and still worth it.
- throw_pm23 4y ago
  This is like "communism is good, it was just badly implemented". For a movement that prides itself on being evidence-based, there is a lot of evidence EA is willing to ignore.
  - hahaxdxd123 4y ago
    Isn't effective altruism just max_a E[benefit to society | a]? I don't see how that can be discredited as a personal moral philosophy, even if you don't personally disagree with it. SBF and FTX fraud doesn't discredit that it's more cost effective to educate people in certain areas than others.
    - throw_pm23 4y ago
      I discredit this philosophy because E[..] cannot be accurately estimated. So it should be P(no harm|a) > 1-eps before anything.
awinder 4y ago
Why would one conman’s association with an ideology condemn the entire ideology? Because he said he was using it as a ruse? Why are you still selectively believing the conman?
- autotune 4y ago
  Practically nobody in the mainstream had ever really heard of the ideology before said conman adopted it and tried to make it popular. Who are the most influential backers of it right now? Convince me it's worth doing some searching on and I will, but if you tell anyone outside of small circles that you are affiliated with the movement, you are going to be on the defensive side for the foreseeable future.
  - buggy6257 4y ago
    (disclaimer: no idea what effective altruism is about) You seem to believe that "truly good" causes have a requirement to have "influential backers" behind them in order for you to consider doing them. That seems like a pretty silly way to decide what things are good/bad to do -- People did the same thing with FTX when Matt Damon's commercial aired, and look how that ended up for them. Maybe just research concepts for yourself and decide what's a good idea rather than waiting for a celebrity or rich person to tell you it's worth doing. Chances are, things celebrities tell you to do are the things LEAST worth doing.
    - autotune 4y ago
      It's not that "truly good" causes need an "influential backer," it's that I don't want to have to get into an argument with someone in real life who decides I am some kind of scammer due to being affiliated with a movement that has been getting nothing but bad press thanks to one individual. Time is precious, just like I can't spend time researching every single tool that gets posted on HN for production viability, I can't spend time researching every relatively obscure social movement out there to adopt for myself. I ignored the crypto craze due to listening to the right people, just like I can ignore EA by listening to the same ones.
- 4y ago