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My opinion is that Effective Altruism is effectively a late-stage capitalist cult of convenience. Anything Sam Altman is near, I stay away from.

whatshisface 3y ago
I can write the following comment about basically anything: The community is a piece of work but the founding ideas are worth learning from.
- VHRanger 3y ago
  Peter Singers founding ideas, sure. Will MacAskill, nope.
  - whatshisface 3y ago
    I had never heard of the latter.
  - rrherr 3y ago
    Peter Singer, nope. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/magazine/unspeakable-conversations.html https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/magazine/unspeakable-conv... https://archive.ph/OXXQb https://archive.ph/OXXQb
    - whatshisface 3y ago
      If saying some crazy things means everything they say is wrong then you'd have to be a Christian Atheist once you put the bible and the complete works of Thomas Paine together.
    - ellrob88 3y ago
      Can you explain your opposition to Singer's views? I understand he argues in favor of legalising voluntary euthanasia, and increased abortion rights. As a non-religious person, his arguments generally seem quite rational to me, but I'm keen to understand more.
    - boxed 3y ago
      It's not clear she's not just trolling against abortion. Is that what the article is? Because I looked up the author and she was disabled her entire life to to a genetic disease. It seems pretty reasonable to allow abortion for cases like this. Which is why it IS legal and even recommended in most of the western world.
      - chrisdirkis 3y ago
        I disagree with Harriet Johnson in at least a few cases, but the entire thrust of that piece and her argument within is "it's insane that people make judgements on my quality of life, without asking me, and say that I should not be born". You can make that argument and also believe that abortion is an appropriate tool for some cases.
- eru 3y ago
  What you say rings true, but the opposite is also often true. Eg the founding ideas of almost all religions are nuts [0], but the communities are often worth learning from. [0] Most religions' ideas are mutually exclusive, so at most one or zero can be true. The rest must be nuts. Figuring out which, if any, religion is not nuts is left as an exercise for the reader.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
boxed 3y ago
He was also near to bread and water. Best stay away!
- brewdad 3y ago
  I’m gluten intolerant, so I’m halfway there.
BobbyJo 3y ago
I can do more good, long term, sitting on wealth at 7% until I'm old and tired, than if I spent it pulling kids out of the third world today. /s
mtc010170 3y ago
HN may not be the best forum to maximize your distance from Sam Altman, if that’s truly a goal.
Utkarsh_Mood 3y ago
Sam isnt really a proponent of EA, for what its worth. https://twitter.com/sama/status/1593046526284410880?lang=en https://twitter.com/sama/status/1593046526284410880?lang=en

whatshisface 3y ago

I can write the following comment about basically anything: The community is a piece of work but the founding ideas are worth learning from.

VHRanger 3y ago
Peter Singers founding ideas, sure. Will MacAskill, nope.
- whatshisface 3y ago
  I had never heard of the latter.
- rrherr 3y ago
  Peter Singer, nope. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/magazine/unspeakable-conversations.html https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/magazine/unspeakable-conv... https://archive.ph/OXXQb https://archive.ph/OXXQb
  - whatshisface 3y ago
    If saying some crazy things means everything they say is wrong then you'd have to be a Christian Atheist once you put the bible and the complete works of Thomas Paine together.
  - ellrob88 3y ago
    Can you explain your opposition to Singer's views? I understand he argues in favor of legalising voluntary euthanasia, and increased abortion rights. As a non-religious person, his arguments generally seem quite rational to me, but I'm keen to understand more.
  - boxed 3y ago
    It's not clear she's not just trolling against abortion. Is that what the article is? Because I looked up the author and she was disabled her entire life to to a genetic disease. It seems pretty reasonable to allow abortion for cases like this. Which is why it IS legal and even recommended in most of the western world.
    - chrisdirkis 3y ago
      I disagree with Harriet Johnson in at least a few cases, but the entire thrust of that piece and her argument within is "it's insane that people make judgements on my quality of life, without asking me, and say that I should not be born". You can make that argument and also believe that abortion is an appropriate tool for some cases.
eru 3y ago
What you say rings true, but the opposite is also often true. Eg the founding ideas of almost all religions are nuts [0], but the communities are often worth learning from. [0] Most religions' ideas are mutually exclusive, so at most one or zero can be true. The rest must be nuts. Figuring out which, if any, religion is not nuts is left as an exercise for the reader.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

boxed 3y ago

He was also near to bread and water. Best stay away!

brewdad 3y ago
I’m gluten intolerant, so I’m halfway there.

BobbyJo 3y ago

I can do more good, long term, sitting on wealth at 7% until I'm old and tired, than if I spent it pulling kids out of the third world today. /s

mtc010170 3y ago

HN may not be the best forum to maximize your distance from Sam Altman, if that’s truly a goal.

Utkarsh_Mood 3y ago

Sam isnt really a proponent of EA, for what its worth. https://twitter.com/sama/status/1593046526284410880?lang=en https://twitter.com/sama/status/1593046526284410880?lang=en