Hi Teddy, it’s great that you’re sending these out again. I was introduced to your newsletter by my Uncle Ken many moons ago. Both the AI Jay-Z and graph showing the decline in value towards having children left me in awe. Excellent links!!
I’d be curious to hear more about your specific qualms with effective altruism. It’s definitely in the “backlash” stage of the hype cycle right now and SBF did not help that at all. But I do think it’s fair to separate the basic principles from the state of the “movement” today and from its biggest leaders. Longtermism is pretty suspect to me and FTX really soured me on the band of EA celebrities. That said, I still think the guiding ideas are useful and not even all that related to the weird stuff. Most people should give more, and they should be mindful about giving effectively. Maybe that message needs a rebrand to EA Classic.
I'd say my qualms are with the philosophical foundations of EA. Specifically, I don't find utilitarianism/consequentalism very persuasive at all as a system of morality although I know you can be EA without being a utilitarian/consequentialist. I think Matt's essay actually articulates really well a lot of the problems I have with it. That being said, I am really impressed with any mass movement that makes people at least ask themselves what it is to live a moral life and persuade some to donate significantly and effectively to charity. That's why I think I feel the same way about longtermism too insofar as I'm skeptical about the AI doomsday beat and how much it's diverted money and attention away from what I think are more urgent causes. EA Classic has a nice ring to it
Excellent discussion of the Hunter Biden misinformation saga.
Hi Teddy, it’s great that you’re sending these out again. I was introduced to your newsletter by my Uncle Ken many moons ago. Both the AI Jay-Z and graph showing the decline in value towards having children left me in awe. Excellent links!!
I’d be curious to hear more about your specific qualms with effective altruism. It’s definitely in the “backlash” stage of the hype cycle right now and SBF did not help that at all. But I do think it’s fair to separate the basic principles from the state of the “movement” today and from its biggest leaders. Longtermism is pretty suspect to me and FTX really soured me on the band of EA celebrities. That said, I still think the guiding ideas are useful and not even all that related to the weird stuff. Most people should give more, and they should be mindful about giving effectively. Maybe that message needs a rebrand to EA Classic.
Hey Sam, thanks for reading!
I'd say my qualms are with the philosophical foundations of EA. Specifically, I don't find utilitarianism/consequentalism very persuasive at all as a system of morality although I know you can be EA without being a utilitarian/consequentialist. I think Matt's essay actually articulates really well a lot of the problems I have with it. That being said, I am really impressed with any mass movement that makes people at least ask themselves what it is to live a moral life and persuade some to donate significantly and effectively to charity. That's why I think I feel the same way about longtermism too insofar as I'm skeptical about the AI doomsday beat and how much it's diverted money and attention away from what I think are more urgent causes. EA Classic has a nice ring to it