How to improve Effective Altruism?Posted by Altruist League on February 3rd, 2021 Not all altruism is “Effective”About a quarter of all young people who approach us for jobs have heard of, or are members of, the Effective Altruism (EA) community or some adjacent ones, such as 80,000 hours. Somehow, because of the work the Altruist League does, or perhaps just because of the mention of the altruism in our name, they assume that we must be associated with the EA movement as well. We are not, although we have working relationships with a number of local EA chapters. I love hearing from the EA crowd. I am often impressed by their passion for improving the world, their open mind to divergent points of view and self-criticism, as well as their scientific and level-headed approach to the world. That said, at the Altruist League we do not necessarily believe in EA as a viable way for solving the systemic issues of our time or reforming philanthropy. But we don’t agree with critics who dismiss it either. We believe that some aspects of EA can have a role to play in improving our societies. Effective Altruism: the valueThe Effective Altruism movement arose out of a desire to professionalize philanthropy services and make it more efficient. Its founders posed the question: how do we improve the world in the best possible way, doing the most good?
And fair enough – this is obviously part of the Altruist League’s mission as well. Plagued by pet project focus, lack of strategic or scientific base, and focused on the warm glow and the social prestige, philanthropy is certainly ripe for a shake-up. From a theoretical standpoint, EA was theoretically established chiefly through the writings of the likes of Peter Singer and William MacAskill. They urged for prioritizing problems (often neglected ones) which have the highest potential impact while being realistically solvable. Such thinking requires a rigorously scientific approach and produces ideas that combine scale and measurability, such as maximizing the number and happiness of people in future generations (hence a focus on poverty reduction), easing the suffering of animals, etc. In some cases, EA’s arguments are strikingly relevant. For example, in the context of ensuring the well-being of future generations, EA insists on prioritizing the so-called existential risks to the civilization (nuclear war, biological weapons, artificial intelligence, etc.) and has been calling for a more serious approach to preventing and dealing with pandemics. How relevant that sounds in the era of COVID-19! Effective altruism: the habitual criticismIt’s not hard to find flaws with the EA approach, and many have done so. The EA community is hermetic and depends on funding from a handful of donors. The movement gives the Silicon Valley types and privileged youths a safe space to theorize about improving the world and feel good about it. All the while, it remains silent on the core reasons of why the world is messed up in the first place, i.e. all the historical considerations of wealth inequality, race relations, gender, etc.
Read More:- https://www.altruistleague.com/the-problems-with-effective-altruism/
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