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Effective Altruism is bullshit and here is why; because, the invisible hand has already shown itself to be a far better lever of human good through the acceptan
by chatterhead 4y ago
Effective Altruism is bullshit and here is why; because, the invisible hand has already shown itself to be a far better lever of human good through the acceptance of human nature. "Helping people" implies you know what people need. It's a power position to begin with and thus designed to fulfill the doers goals of doing good not the receivers 'need' of being helped.
Each of us, individually, pursuing our own self-interests produce value to society and others as a whole. Whether through producing products, offering services, performing labor, or consuming goods, we all seek our own interests to the betterment of the whole.
EA is just a new sort of chivalry for a new wannabe class of Nobles. That's it.
- thundergolfer 4y agoHow’d you like Atlas Shrugged? That speech goes on and on, doesn’t it.
- chatterhead 4y agoNever read it. But, I did buy my brother a 1st edition cause he liked it. I'm aware of the theme.
- yanderekko 4y ago>"Helping people" implies you know what people need. No it doesn't. I'm content to outsource my charitable decision-making to recommenders that I think align with my values. A competitor is free to come along and convince me that they'd make a better recommendation and I'll shift my money accordingly, just like buying any other product. They can even skim a bit off the top if I really trust them and give to their funds! That's the invisible hand.
- metta2uall 4y agoThe concept that seeking our own interests is to the betterment of the whole seems to be demonstrably false.. For example consider the tobacco and fossil fuel executives who are trying to delay the phase-out of their products. Or the people who buy/sell meat in spite of the resulting ecological damage & animal suffering. By the way, a charity quite popular in mainstream Effective Altruism is Give Directly - which aims to avoid trying to figure out what poor people need by giving them cash.
- bendbro 4y ago> For example consider the tobacco Smelly, dead hands, liberal > fossil fuel Polluting, dead hands, liberal > buy sell meat Greasy, dead hands, liberal On good terms I would have permitted the fossil fuel claim, but in the context of the others I'd rather be a militant.
- notahacker 4y agoEA is about the most "invisible hand"-friendly school of philanthropic thought going, complete with ethical arguments generally siding in favour of individuals preferring to take the best paid private sector job going to raise funds rather than working directly for nonprofits.