3 ms·
EA is a way for wealthy and powerful people to feel good about being wealthy and powerful. It's a tool to resolve the cognitive dissonance of them taking a bigg
by kstenerud 2y ago
EA is a way for wealthy and powerful people to feel good about being wealthy and powerful. It's a tool to resolve the cognitive dissonance of them taking a bigger share of the national pie while others are struggling to survive, by saying "See? I give back!"
Like many other "rich people" movements of the past, it comes with a veneer of logic and altruism, but is ultimately self-serving and does nothing to resolve the wealth inequality problem (which is what the rich feel guilty over and need to salve their conscience somehow). In the old days, the poor would just rise up and kill them. We'd get around this problem by redistributing wealth (pot latch, jubilees, etc) but we don't have this anymore, thus the many philanthropic movements that target a specific tiny thing rather than the fundamental problem (which would threaten their wealth).
It gets flagged on HN because this whole thing already played out over the past 10 years, so we're over that.
- andai 2y agoActually I brought up this argument at the EA meeting. Someone mentioned that a disproportionate percentage of CEOs are psychopaths, and I said we should utilize that. If extremely powerful people have a need to look good for selfish reasons, why not help them achieve this selfish goal by saving lives? It sounds like a highly optimal outcome to me. Then this morning I've been reading the New Yorker article on EA and it sounds like they're already way ahead of me in that line of thinking...
- kstenerud 2y agoYep, the ends justify the means. Except that nobody ever checks the ends. Techies are attracted to EA's siren song because it offers such a simple and orderly view of the world. Kinda reminds me of Technocracy back in the day...
- yawpitch 2y agoIf there is a job that attracts psychopaths, we should seriously reconsider the existence of that job. If, on the other hand, there is a job that makes psychopaths, we should really seriously reconsider the existence of that job.
- latexr 2y agoThis is the weirdest argument. Psychopaths aren’t exactly know for caring about the lives of others or embracing being manipulated. “Hi, mr psychopath CEO, sir. A bunch of other people and I were discussing openly on a forum that we should manipulate you into doing the right thing by stroking your ego. What do you think? Surely as a psychopath you care about the opinions of others.“