Effective Altruism has been a controversial topic on social media, so today my guest and I are going to settle the question once and for all: Is it good or bad?
Jonas Sota is a Software Engineer at Rippling, BA in Philosophy from UC Berkeley, who’s been observing the Effective Altruism (EA) movement in the San Francisco Bay Area for over a decade… and he’s not a fan.
00:00 Introduction
01:22 Jonas’s Criticisms of EA
03:23 Recoil Exaggeration
05:53 Impact of Malaria Nets
10:48 Local vs. Global Altruism
13:02 Shrimp Welfare
25:14 Capitalism vs. Charity
33:37 Cultural Sensitivity
34:43 The Impact of Direct Cash Transfers
37:23 Long-Term Solutions vs. Immediate Aid
42:21 Charity Budgets
45:47 Prioritizing Local Issues
50:55 The EA Community
59:34 Debate Recap
1:03:57 Announcements
Show Notes
Jonas’s Instagram: @jonas_wanders
Will MacAskill’s famous book, Doing Good Better: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/doing-good-better
Scott Alexander’s excellent post about the people he met at EA Global: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/16/fear-and-loathing-at-effective-altruism-global-2017/
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