History of Effective Altruism - EA Forum

History of effective altruism - EA Forum 
 
 This website requires javascript to properly function. Consider activating javascript to get access to all site functionality. Hide table of contents History of effective altruism

 Edit History Discussion 0 Subscribe Edit History Discussion 0 History of effective altruism Precursors Ethical philosophy Randomista development The rationality community GiveWell 2009-2012: the movement crystallizes 2013-2015: the movement matures 2016-2022: shifting priorities and strategies Shift towards longtermism and existential risk From earning to give to direct work Public reception FTX crisis Further reading Related entries Random Topic Contributors 8 Amber Dawn 2 Pablo 2 MichaelA🔸 2 Aaron Gertler 🔸 1 Leo Parent Topic : Building effective altruism Apply the history of effective altruism  topic to posts about the origins and development of   effective altruism . This article describes the formation of the effective altruism movement and community, some of its precursors, and some major developments from 2010-22. 

 Precursors 

 The Centre for Effective Altruism and other central EA organizations were founded in the 2000s and 2010s, but effective altruism has much earlier roots in various philosophical theories and communities related to doing good and rationality. 

 Ethical philosophy 

 Effective altruism has been influenced by older philosophical ideas and traditions. 

 Academic philosopher Peter Singer wrote ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’ in 1972, partly in response to a contemporary famine in Bangladesh. He argues that if one can use one’s wealth to reduce another’s extreme suffering at small cost to oneself, then one is obligated to do so. In this work, Singer introduces the well-known ‘drowning child’ thought experiment: most of us, if we passed a child drowning in a shallow pond, would consider ourselves obligated to dive in and rescue them, even if we ruined a nice suit to do so. Similarly, we should feel obligated to sacrifice luxuries to save ‘drowning children’ living far away from us: people dying of poverty , disease , or other preventable ills. [1]  Written in 1996, Peter Unger’s Living High and Letting Die  makes similar arguments [2] . Arguments such as these inspired philosopher Toby Ord to form the effective giving community Giving What We Can , and are often cited in effective altruism outreach . 

 Philosophy has also influenced effective altruists to care about the long-term future . Nick Bostrom argued in ‘Astronomical waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development’ (2003) that delaying technological development might have extremely large (astronomical) opportunity costs, since it hinders humanity from colonizing the stars and creating many billions of happy lives [3] . This idea has been influential on longtermism and on many EAs who prioritize the mitigation of existential and catastrophic risks . 

 Many who would go on to be interested in EA congregated on Felifici

... (truncated, 15 KB total)