In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the philosophical bankruptcy of effective altruism and the movement’s role in FTX’s financial collapse.
Among the topics covered:
• The connection between FTX’s financial collapse and the effective altruism movement, including CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s goal of “earning to give”;
• What effective altruism advocates and why its offshoot, “longtermism,” champions some unusual causes;
• Why some of the common criticisms of effective altruism, such as the idea that it is a cynical ploy or that it is Utopian, miss the mark;
• The real problem with effective altruism, as shown by some of its major advocates, as its demand for self-effacement and sacrifice;
• How even secular altruists approach morality like a religion;
• How effective altruism is a form of debased morality, which empties morality of meaningful guidance relevant to our everyday lives;
• How a rational morality can be grounded in observable facts, not intuitions.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s article “Moral Inflation,” published in The Ayn Rand Letter (https://estore.aynrand.org/products/the-ayn-rand-letter-1971-1976-hardcover ), and our episode of New Ideal Live, “Why MacAskill is Wrong about What We Owe the Future” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmmurQN_BgM).
This episode was recorded on December 16, 2022.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:50 FTX and effective altruism
0:05:55 Effective altruism and longtermism
0:15:35 Bad criticism of effective altruism
0:24:15 Self-effacement and sacrifice
0:38:58 Effective altruism like religion
0:47:00 Morality’s guidance in life
1:04:46 Grounds of rational morality