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> ... but the effect EA has had on my life so far is that it gave me motivation and an easy framework to donate thousands of dollars a year to fund deworming, v

> ... but the effect EA has had on my life so far is that it gave me motivation and an easy framework to donate thousands of dollars a year to fund deworming, vaccination, and other direct relief in underdeveloped countries TFA literally explains how a $18m donation with stolen money was used by the EA movement to buy a lavish mansion. TFA also explains of the EA movement was lauding SBF for driving in a beaten up Toyota Corolla even though they fully knew he was living in a $40m luxury mansion in the Bahamas while flying private. What makes you think most of the money you donate to such gurus actually end up to charitable causes ? If you want to donate, donate directly to charitable causes instead of donating to obvious charlatans. The EA movement tarnished its reputation by being accomplice in defrauding people's money in the FTX scam. They played the "SBF is an altruistic genius driving a Toyota Corolla" card while they knew it wasn't true and people fell for it. Turns out: there was no altruistic genius. And that's a decision of justice: guilty on seven criminal counts. Maybe "EA" should be renamed "EC": "Effective Criminals"?

fourmajor 3y ago
I didn't see any reference in the parent comment about donating to EA the institution or "gurus" rather than directly to charitable causes.
- TacticalCoder 3y ago
  GP was defending EA even though TFA clearly explains how stolen money by SBF was used to buy a $16 mansion in the UK by the EA movement, all the while knowing SBF was living a lavish lifestyle but presenting him as an altruistic genius. In other words: GP's comment defends EA without taking into account the facts shown in TFA.
  - kdmccormick 3y ago
    GP here. Article is BS, that money wasn't stolen. The decision making behind the purchase was transparant. Furthering the cause of EA itself was a goal of the specific fund from which they drew that money [1]. It gives them a place to have big nice conferences, which drives donations which will well exceed $16M. Anyway, I didn't donate to that fund. I donated to the Global Dev fund [2]. If you donated to fund [1], then you knew your money would be spent on stuff like conferences. [1] https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/ea-community https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/ea-community [2] https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/global-development https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/global-development

fourmajor 3y ago

I didn't see any reference in the parent comment about donating to EA the institution or "gurus" rather than directly to charitable causes.

TacticalCoder 3y ago
GP was defending EA even though TFA clearly explains how stolen money by SBF was used to buy a $16 mansion in the UK by the EA movement, all the while knowing SBF was living a lavish lifestyle but presenting him as an altruistic genius. In other words: GP's comment defends EA without taking into account the facts shown in TFA.
- kdmccormick 3y ago
  GP here. Article is BS, that money wasn't stolen. The decision making behind the purchase was transparant. Furthering the cause of EA itself was a goal of the specific fund from which they drew that money [1]. It gives them a place to have big nice conferences, which drives donations which will well exceed $16M. Anyway, I didn't donate to that fund. I donated to the Global Dev fund [2]. If you donated to fund [1], then you knew your money would be spent on stuff like conferences. [1] https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/ea-community https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/ea-community [2] https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/global-development https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/global-development