Effective Altruism

About

Effective Altruism, sometimes shortened to EA, is a philosophical movement that suggests charitable giving and human action, in general, should be directed towards doing the most good for the most people. It is strongly utilitarian and derives from utilitarian philosophies about how the “ends justify the means.” Effective Altruism is particularly influential in the tech community. One of its biggest supporters and advocates was Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Following FTX's collapse and allegations of wrongdoing against Bankman-Fried in November 2022, many in the EA community and outside of it criticized the philosophy.

History

The person often credited with starting Effective Altruism is philosopher William MacAskill, who gave a TED Talk about the topic in 2018 (seen below).^[1] On October 3rd, 2018, TED uploaded the seminar to its official YouTube channel, where it accumulated over 250,000 views and 5,200 likes in roughly four years.

According to the underlying philosophy, effective altruists see human history as a progress narrative and view the last century as a time of increasing prosperity and abundance. Much of this, they argue, is due to technological advances and capitalism.

The image on the homepage of the Centre for Effective Altruism's website is a chart making this argument (seen below). For effective altruists, the solution to many of the world’s problems will come about through wiser and more effective use of technology and capitalism. EA advises rich people to donate their money strategically to causes where they can have the maximum impact.^[2]

Many effective altruists also believe in the ethical stance of "longtermism," which is the idea that we should prioritize the welfare of future humans by doing things like preventing climate change or investing in spacefaring technology.^[3] Some have argued that this position justifies hurting people in the present if you can guarantee a good life for many more people in the future.

MacAskill’s organization, Giving What We Can, decided upon the name of “Effective Altruism” by a vote in 2011.^[4] His first book, Doing Good Better, which outlines the ideas of Effective Altruism, was published in 2015 and received glowing reviews from notable individuals like Bill Gates and other tech industry figures.^[5]

Highlights

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX

FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried were major donors to Effective Altruism following the company's creation in 2019. SBF said a lunch with MacAskill inspired him to go into a career where he could make a lot of money that he might then donate to charitable causes.^[7] By July 2021, upwards of $46 billion had been committed to Effective Altruism causes, largely thanks to “the creation of FTX,” according to a report published by MacAskill’s other charity, 80,000 Hours.^[6]

Following the collapse of FTX, many criticized Effective Altruism and longtermism, arguing that the philosophy gave SBF permission to do what he did. They also argued that because much of the charitable work done by Effective Altruist organizations (and the salaries paid to their staff) was funded by money from SBF, the movement was complicit in his alleged crimes. For example, Twitter user @growing_daniel made this point on November 13th, 2022, earning over 1,200 likes in three days (seen below).^[8]

The entire board of FTX’s Future Fund, which oversaw philanthropy, including MacAskill, resigned on November 11th, 2022.^[9]

Online Presence

Effective Altruism and various organizations have maintained websites describing their goals, mission and philosophy. On Reddit, /r/Effectivealtruism has been a hub for enthusiasts since its creation in September 2012.^[10]

Following the collapse of FTX, many online posted memes mocking Effective Altruism and notable followers such as Sam Bankman-Fried. For example, Twitter user @Bisswissey1 joked about the philosophy and earned just under 20 likes on November 16th, 2022 (shown below).^[11]

External References