effective altruism is the funniest philosophical movement possible. a justification to get as rich as possible at anyone else's expense under the premise that you will give it away "later" in a way to "do the most good" as judged by a guy who got preposterously rich at everyone else's expense.
Reposted from
journeyman folklorist
Just learning now that SBF’s brother Gabe tried to buy Nauru, a sovereign nation, so that he could construct a bunker for fellow ‘effective altruists’ to live in case of an apocalypse. Also he wanted to do genetic experiments there
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https://youtu.be/nUJ9-_tPxw4?si=xSVsnQtxOKbZKQBl
"How can you justify your bad business practices?"
"Ah consider, I've invented 100 billion imaginary future people whose lives will be saved by this!"
You can also work on a career that helps those in need, either directly or indirectly.
EA is one of the few motivational and action-driven movements out there rn.
"I'd love to help make the world a better place but I'm working three jobs just to keep my head above water"
Excessively rich people who exploit those people:
"Do a fourth job for me and maybe I'll write a cheque to the rohingya"
On paper.
It's just one approach to addressing global problems, and it is pretty action-driven.
I was commenting how most social movements lack the last part — there is lots of chatter, but not much work done.
There already were people in such careers. The rich already pointed to their outsized philanthropy
There is a lot to uncover with non-profits. Huge diff working on a non-profit that has proven interventions (eg: glaucoma reduction) vs. make-a-wish.
The other thing EA does is creating new research/non-profit opportunities, and encouraging folks to consider that as a career path.