Peter Singer > Effective Altruism > Longtermism > AI bros > Technofeudalist Palantir bullshit

  • bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de
    10·
    11 days ago

    I doubt the first arrow, and the direction of subsequent ones. More like tech billionaires > effective “altruism”… > tax evasion…

    • Oofnik@kbin.earthOP
      91·
      11 days ago

      That’s interesting, as that would be the arrow I feel most confidently about. EA grew pretty explicitly out of Singer’s Giving Pledge and Giving What We Can book, and Will MacAskill’s (his student) networking with finance and tech bros. (That isn’t to say the tech bros weren’t just exploiting the idea for their own benefit.)

      The rest of the arrows, I agree, it seems plausible to me but I have no hard evidence

      • bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de
        2·
        5 days ago

        Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that direct connection, so you’re right with the first arrow! My point was mainly that very rich people tend to adopt and promote any philosophy or ideology that supports their being rich and/or getting richer. Which in the case of Peter Singer is ironic, because you cannot, of sound mind, subscribe to his ideas and be/stay rich at the same time. Those people claiming to practice effective altruism in the vein of Singer is ofc a contradiction in itself. Possibly they have developed a billionaire-branded offshoot of it that makes work in their favor. Coincidentally, I’ve heard of Singer’s moral argument in one context, and of EA only ever in the tech billionaire context until today - hence my first comment.