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by jnsaff2 1296 days ago
I mean "effective altruism" is really just "I know things better than you. See the amount of money I have made is proof, therefore I'll make the decisions on how to spend the money on shaping the future of those peons I took the money from instead of them, you know, doing it themselves".

Good old wish to tell others how to live in a cozy fuzzy warm blanket of dogood. See also politician, dictator, clergy etc.

1 comments

> I mean "effective altruism" is really just "I know things better than you.

No. It's rather "the marginal utility of this money for me is much less than it is for others". As far as effective altruism is imposing anything on anyone else, it's more of "It's immoral to spend money on things you don't need. You could be saving people's lives instead."

Note I'm not part of the movement. I'm using money to buy free time for myself.

Your interpretation is quit a bit more charitable than mine (pun not intended). I don't disagree with it and I guess it is really hard to judge motivations.

For me, the quota for benefit of the doubt has been mostly used up.

> For me, the quota for benefit of the doubt has been mostly used up.

By what?