Defective altruism

currentaffairs.org

Posted by smallpond in Politics

The first thing that should raise your suspicions about the “Effective Altruism movement” is the name. It is self-righteous in the most literal sense. Effective altruism as distinct from what? Well, all of the rest of us, presumably—the ineffective and un-altruistic, we who either do not care about other human beings or are practicing our compassion incorrectly.

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spektor wrote

Sounds like a whole lot of useless commentary that could be summed up as "Do unto others".

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smallpond OP wrote

I basically disagree with the author, but I found the discussion interesting as I'm familiar with EA.

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takeheart wrote

Trying so hard to be good? How about don't be evil. That would be a good start for pretty much everyone.

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smallpond OP wrote

Right, if only people had a clear idea of what good and evil are. It's not so clear.

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