Sunday, November 19, 2023

The least effective expression of altruism

I cannot say I know a lot about "Effective Altruism". It seems a lot like the practice of Secular Humanism; in its turn a philosophy which atheists often take on, so as to find meaning in their god-free lives. Ayaan Hirsi Ali found meaning mostly in being anti-Islamic and pro-Western. She didn't have much to say about what "Western" meant. Now Ali is a Christian (likely mainline). Samuel Bankman-Fried was an Effective Altruist and, inasmuch as his life is cautionary, perhaps succeeded at it.

This blog has noted Richard Hanania as aligned with EA. He is also contrarian, which lends him to utilitarian thought-experiments (occasionally sexual). He maintains that EA still has a future. His thought is that EA exists by being anti#woke. On that much he is probably right. But.

I am reminded of the secular Right, middle-2000s. This existed by not being Atheism-Plus. Ali was secular and aligned with the Right, by default; her worldview has collapsed.

I do not see EA's soulless utilitarianism as having any more future than the Secular Right's blog had.

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