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Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’

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  • Gleiberman, Mollie

Abstract

This paper presents some of the initial empirical findings from a larger forthcoming study about Effective Altruism (EA). The purpose of presenting these findings disarticulated from the main study is to address a common misunderstanding in the public and academic consciousness about EA, recently pushed to the fore with the publication of EA movement co-founder Will MacAskill’s latest book, What We Owe the Future (WWOTF). Most people in the general public, media, and academia believe EA focuses on reducing global poverty through effective giving, and are struggling to understand EA’s seemingly sudden embrace of ‘longtermism’, futurism, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and ‘x-risk’ reduction. However, this agenda has been present in EA since its inception, where it was hidden in plain sight. From the very beginning, EA discourse operated on two levels, one for the general public and new recruits (focused on global poverty) and one for the core EA community (focused on the transhumanist agenda articulated by Nick Bostrom, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and others, centered on AI-safety/x-risk, now lumped under the banner of ‘longtermism’). The article’s aim is narrowly focused on presenting rich qualitative data to make legible the distinction between public-facing EA and core EA.

Suggested Citation

  • Gleiberman, Mollie, 2023. "Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’," IOB Discussion Papers 2023.01, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    • Handle: RePEc:iob:dpaper:2023.01
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    File URL: https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/files/8518/61565cb6-e056-4e35-bd2e-d14d58e35231.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berkey, Brian, 2018. "The Institutional Critique of Effective Altruism," Utilitas, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 143-171, June.
    2. Nick Bostrom, 2013. "Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 4(1), pages 15-31, February.
    3. Côté, Nicolas & Steuwer, Bastian, 2023. "Better vaguely right than precisely wrong in effective altruism: the problem of marginalism," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 152-169, March.
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