#EffectiveAltruism is someone telling you that a number of imaginary scenarios are real because they require hard choices.

This is easily one of the weirdest and most disconcerting papers I read in a long time. It's applying #effectiveAltruism / #longtermism to moral questions of welfare of wild animals.

From the premise that most wild animals lead horrible, Hobbesian lifes (high mortality rates, predation, diseases, pain, etc) it conjures up a moral obligation to "help" them.

By, among others, genetically engineering them to feel less pain.Or, by genetically engineering carnivores into herbivores. All with the breezy enthusiasm of engineering rationality. It's a short version of a full book and not the only one arguing in this direction.

Johannsen, K. (2021) ‘Humanitarian Assistance for Wild Animals’, The Philosophers’ Magazine, 93, pp. 33–37. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5840/tpm20219336

#AI #ML #EA #EffectiveAltruism #xAI #Musk: "Elon Musk has brought on Dan Hendrycks, a machine learning researcher who serves as the director of the nonprofit Center for AI Safety, as an advisor to his new startup, xAI.

The Center for AI Safety sponsored a Statement on AI Risk in May that was signed by the CEOs of OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic and hundreds of other AI experts. The organization receives over 90% of its funding via Open Philanthropy, a nonprofit run by a couple (Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna) prominent in the controversial Effective Altruism (EA) movement. EA is defined by the Center for Effective Altruism as “an intellectual project, using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible.” According to numerous EA adherents, the paramount concern facing humanity revolves around averting a catastrophic scenario where an AGI created by humans eradicates our species."

https://venturebeat.com/ai/doomer-advisor-joins-musks-xai-the-4th-top-research-lab-focused-on-ai-apocalypse/

The future effective altruists want:

"'Mind controlling' parasitic worms are missing genes found in every other animal, researchers find"

#EffectiveAltruism

https://phys.org/news/2023-07-mind-parasitic-worms-genes-animal.html

Anthropic’s Claude Is Competing With ChatGPT. Even Its Builders Fear AI. - Anthropic, a safety-focused A.I. start-up, is trying to compete with ChatGPT while preven... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/technology/anthropic-ai-claude-chatbot.html #corporatesocialresponsibility #threatsandthreateningmessages #ethicsandofficialmisconduct #computersandtheinternet #artificialintelligence #effectivealtruism #anxietyandstress #bankman-friedsam #anthropicaillc #amodeidaniela #fear(emotion)

A reminder that power is organized and moved, not something that just happens

Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Andreessen, Thiel, Altman, et al. are duplicating forms of power from the "captains of industry" era...

...but they are also mimicking the monarchy, whether they specifically use "anointed by god" language or indirectly imply it via #Longtermism, #EffectiveAltruism, or similar narratives a la "only I/we captains of technology can see the future, and solve for it."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/style/cage-match-fight.html

New York’s Met Museum Agrees to Return $550K in FTX Donations - The bankrupt crypto company is seeking the return of funds sent by Sam Bankman-Fried’s em... - https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/06/05/new-yorks-met-museum-agrees-to-return-550k-in-ftx-donations/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines #effectivealtruism #regulations #bankruptcy #donations #policy #news #ftx

Honey, its 22:00, time for a vídeo desmontando la basura reaccionaria y peligrosísima del "altruismo efectivo" y el "largoplazismo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvpGdoKTK_I

#JohnTheDuncan #EffectiveAltruism #Longtermism #Capitalism #Billionaires

When the U.S. attacked Iraq in 2003 I stopped paying U.S. federal taxes, and haven't paid since.

The IRS has 10 years to try to collect before the statute of limitations kicks in.

Each year they fail, I donate the uncollected taxes to charity.

This year, my 2012 taxes became permanently uncollectable. I just donated $4,384 to the Top Charities Fund run by #GiveWell (https://www.givewell.org/top-charities-fund).

#TaxResistance #TaxRedirection #EffectiveAltruism

"Consider the value of 1 extra waking hour per day, times 365 days per year. Imagine that 100 million people ended up taking the drug; if we say each hour is worth at least $1 (a lowball), then that's $36 billion per year."
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7bd33/effective-altruists-want-to-engineer-people-to-sleep-less-so-they-can-work-more
#effectivealtruism #EA #Sleep #Science #Abstract

@DrALJONES Effective altruism (EA), aligned with longtermism, is a movement to change the world through making carefully-targeted charitable donations — not only through making carefully-targeted charitable donations, but that is the overwhelming focus. Philosopher Peter Singer started the idea and buys into it big time, pushing it hard wherever he goes. Effective Altruism is also pushed by Bay Area technolibertarians, and artificial intelligence existential risk groups, including MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute). The latter, of course, consider themselves an obvious beneficiary — if not the obvious beneficiary (i.e., self-dealing).

…

#RationalWiki #effectivealtruism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Effective_altruism

@baldur #RationalWiki has a critical article on Effective altruism

#effectivealtruism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Effective_altruism

#EffectiveAltruism #FTX #Crypto #Cryptocurrencies: "Leaders of the Effective Altruism movement were repeatedly warned beginning in 2018 that Sam Bankman-Fried was unethical, duplicitous, and negligent in his role as CEO of Alameda Research, the crypto trading firm that went on to play a critical role in what federal prosecutors now say was among the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history. They apparently dismissed those warnings, sources say, before taking tens of millions of dollars from Bankman-Fried’s charitable fund for effective altruist causes."

https://time.com/6262810/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-alameda-ftx/

I’ve figured out the #EffectiveAltruism motivation…
A bunch of people who were Objectivists in college and Libertarians when they flunked out, had Daddy back their 1st startup and rapidly got a lesson that they were dependent on SOME parts of the "nanny" state and needed a way to rationalize it without the tired old "job creator" bullshit that would have required them to create jobs.

Fair and entertaining breakdown of #EffectiveAltruism and #LongTermism.
#PhilosophyTube
https://youtu.be/Lm0vHQYKI-Y

Yes! I should have linked to the research @florianjehn mentions: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-ubi.

My point was precisely that some in the #EffectiveAltruism movement(s)* are working for a #UBI or other institutional reforms.

My comment was in reply to @zephyranth's suggestion that #EA "seeks to solve the wealth distribution problem through private action ."

* EA is not monolithic.
@effectivealtruism@a.gup.pe @EffectiveAltruism@chirp.social @scottsantens

#EffectiveAltruism should not detract from work to address structures of #inequality.

Let's prioritize that work! Let's work to institute a #UniversalBasicIncome (#UBI).

#EA is a stopgap. *While* working for political reforms to distribute wealth more widely, how much can I give this year to relieve suffering?

@zephyranth @effectivealtruism@a.gup.pe @EffectiveAltruism@chirp.social @scottsantens
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/why-we-should-all-have-a-basic-income/

I always enjoy Abigail Thorne's videos. They're educational, force me to think, and she has an infectious personality that I love.
If you're subscribed to Nebula/Curiousity Stream, you can see her new Philosophy Tube now (or like next week on youtube)

#PhilosophyTube #abigailthorne #EffectiveAltruism

https://nebula.tv/videos/philosophytube-the-rich-have-their-own-ethics-effective-altruism-the-crypto-crash

If the phrase "effective altruism" is new or you need a refresher, @timnitGebru's
recent write-up for WIRED is a must-read

It includes several examples of how billionaires like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are using AI to push what are essentially scams into education, technology, and everyday life.

https://www.wired.com/story/effective-altruism-artificial-intelligence-sam-bankman-fried/

#AI #EffectiveAltruism #Technology #Startups #OpenAI

Makerdao Co-Founder Proposes $14 Million Fund to Combat Climate Change; Crypto Supporters Mock Idea - Cryptocurrency advocates have been discussing a proposal by the founder of Makerda... - https://news.bitcoin.com/makerdao-co-founder-proposes-14-million-fund-to-combat-climate-change-crypto-supporters-mock-idea/ #scientificsustainabilityfund #globalenvironmentalrisks #financialinfrastructure #climatechangeactivism #climatefinanceproject #blockchaingovernance #effectivealtruism #$14million