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Read the bio. Found it (emphasis mine): > While at Columbia, he co-founded the university's effective altruism (EA) chapter.[5] Just another smart, yet ethica
by glitchc 2mo ago
Read the bio. Found it (emphasis mine):
> While at Columbia, he co-founded the university's effective altruism (EA) chapter.[5]
Just another smart, yet ethically challenged, individual. Nothing to see here.
- simianwords 2mo agoHow is he ethically challenged? This looks like an accusation that doesn't have merit
- glitchc 2mo agoAs per the article, he formed a trading company without any background in investing, and once his investments tanked, he sold the stocks for pennies on the dollar to a financial firm, leaving investors holding the bag while pocketing trading fees associated with a $45B USD portfolio.
- like_any_other 2mo agoHow is effective altruism related? I skimmed their wiki page [1], but didn't find anything endorsing such actions. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism
- kimixa 2mo agoNo, but to most people the only exposure they've had to the term "Effective Altruism" (if they've even heard of the it) is morality-washing personal greed that never quite seems to get past the "accumulation" or "self-serving boondoggle" stages. As a brand it's tainted. You might argue unfairly, but that's never mattered in "public brand perception" before.
- glitchc 2mo agoSam Bankman-Fried is an effective altruist (or was anyways, not sure what he is after they denounced him). The list of effective altruists reads like a who's who of scummy people. https://www.wired.com/story/deaths-of-effective-altruism/ https://www.wired.com/story/deaths-of-effective-altruism/
- simianwords 2mo ago> https://www.wired.com/story/deaths-of-effective-altruism/ https://www.wired.com/story/deaths-of-effective-altruism/ This is a joke of an article. It shows a few incidental deaths while ignoring the total number of saved lives due to EA. It literally points to ~2 incidental deaths while Give Well saves ~300k lives. Its remarkably ignorant. Is there a word for this kind of fallacy? Cherry picking sounds too Reddit-coded.
- simianwords 2mo agobad ethics is when you run a company in free market transparently and don't have a monotonically increasing revenue?
- jandrese 2mo agoEffective Altruism is one of those things that sounds smart on the surface, but in practice is a yellow flag. The fact that he started the club is a red flag. In short, Effective Altruism says you don't engage in charity until you have sufficient means to actually make a difference. Basically, you leverage capitalism to accumulate enough wealth to actually be able to solve a big problem, then you go all in on solving that problem. Sounds great right? In the real world these people never accumulate enough wealth to actually start solving problems. Even when they become billionaires. In practice it is a convenient excuse to act like the most depraved capitalist while still pretending to sit on the high horse and talk down to people who simply try to help with the means available to them.
- skavi 2mo agocan you support those claims?
- jandrese 2mo agoOne has to only look at the actual participants to find ample examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQZWMmINqxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQZWMmINqxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S54GrXDjokg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S54GrXDjokg https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/a-mirror-for-tech-bros https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/a-mirror-for-tech-br... https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-problem-with-effective-altruism https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-problem-with-effectiv...
- TimorousBestie 2mo agoIt’s the “tractability” part of the ITN framework: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/itn-framework https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/itn-framework In practice, it can be used as a fully-general counterargument to supporting most charities, since decisively and completely solving problems in this space is rare. It’s harder to split a problem into component parts than it is to throw up one’s hands and say, “well, this isn’t tractable.”
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- skavi 2mo agowhy does involvement with EA imply being ethically challenged? i’m personally not involved, but on its face it seems better than not doing any kind of charitable work.
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- JumpCrisscross 2mo ago> why does involvement with EA imply being ethically challenged? Because almost everyone prominent in the movement has had some combination of lack of judgment and morals. There various terms for rationally pursuing philanthropy; associating with effective altruism involves embracing its ideas, people and culture.
- wbl 2mo agoAnd yet they do more good than the moral critics do.
- JumpCrisscross 2mo ago> yet they do more good than the moral critics do Going to need a good source for that crowd having done more good than the frauds of even just their most-notorious members. Masquerading as an altruist to justify massive management fees for running a fund of concentrated, leveraged positions is one of the oldest lipsticks on financial pigs.
- glitchc 2mo agoMoral critics save a lot of lives by not doing. Sometimes not doing is the best moral option ex. I will not kill or I will not exploit. And it does not come cheap. Someone who says "I will not work for Facebook" is taking a stand at the expense of significant personal gain.
- YetAnotherNick 2mo agoI think the central finding in EA is donating money while earning good is better than donating time directly for charity. To me it seems correct but controversial for many people(likely because you are maximizing your personal income)