EA should unequivocally condemn race science

EA should unequivocally condemn race science — EA Forum 
 
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 by JSc Aug 1 2024 13 min read 26 7

 Building effective altruism Community Diversity and inclusion Frontpage EA should unequivocally condemn race science Why might one tolerate this? Why does it have to be this thing in particular? On the subject of good faith Where do we go from here? 26 comments I wrote an initial draft of this post much closer to the Manifest controversy earlier this summer. Although I got sidetracked and it took a while to finish, I still think this is a conversation worth having; perhaps it would even be better to have it now since calmer heads have had time to prevail. 

  

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 I can’t in good faith deny being an effective altruist. I’ve worked at EA organizations, I believe many of the core tenants of the movement, and thinking about optimizing my impact by EA lights has guided every major career decision I’ve made since early 2021. And yet I am ashamed to identify myself as such in polite society. Someone at a party recently guessed that I was an EA after I said I was interested in animal welfare litigation or maybe AI governance; I laughed awkwardly, said yeah maybe you could see it that way, and changed the subject. I find it quite strange to be in a position of having to downplay my affiliation with a movement that aims to unselfishly do as much as possible to help others, regardless of where or when they may live. Are altruism and far-reaching compassion not virtues? 

  

 This shame comes in large part from a deeply troubling trend I’ve noticed over the last few years in EA. This trend is towards acceptance or toleration of race science (“human biodiversity” as some have tried to rebrand it), or otherwise racist incidents. Some notable instances in this trend include: 

 The community’s refusal to distance itself from, or at the very least strongly condemn the actions of Nick Bostrom after an old email came to light where he used the n-word and said “I like that sentence and think that it is true” in regards to the statement that “blacks are more stupid than whites,” followed by an evasive, defensive apology. 
 FLI’s apparent sending of a letter intent to a far-right Swedish foundation that has promoted holocaust denial. [1] 
 And now, most recently, many EAs’ defense of Manifest hosting Richard Hanania, who  pseudonymously wrote about his opposition to interracial marriage, cited neo-Nazis, and expressed views indicating that he didn’t think Black people could govern themselves. [2]  
 I’m not here to quibble about each individual instance listed above (and most were extensively litigated on the forum at the time). Maybe you think one or even all of the examples I gave has an innocent explanation. But if you find yourself thinking this way, you’re still

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