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Effective Altruism - Wikipedia
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Useful background reference for understanding the philosophical and funding ecosystem surrounding AI safety; many AI safety researchers and organizations are embedded within or closely affiliated with the EA movement.
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Summary
Wikipedia's comprehensive overview of Effective Altruism (EA), a philosophical and social movement that uses evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others. The article covers EA's history, core principles, major cause areas (including global poverty, animal welfare, and existential risk), and prominent organizations and figures. It also addresses criticisms and controversies surrounding the movement.
Key Points
- •EA emphasizes using evidence-based reasoning to maximize positive impact, prioritizing causes by scale, tractability, and neglectedness.
- •Existential and catastrophic risks from advanced AI are considered a major cause area within EA, linking the movement closely to AI safety.
- •Key EA-affiliated organizations include GiveWell, Open Philanthropy, the Future of Humanity Institute, and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
- •EA has faced criticism for longtermism's speculative nature, potential neglect of present-day suffering, and concerns about wealth concentration in philanthropy.
- •The movement has significantly funded AI safety research, making EA a major financial and intellectual driver of the field.
Cited by 4 pages
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| EA and Longtermist Wins and Losses | -- | 53.0 |
| Longtermism's Philosophical Credibility After FTX | -- | 50.0 |
| EA Global | Organization | 38.0 |
| LessWrong | Organization | 44.0 |
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# Effective altruism
Effective altruism
Philosophical and social movement
**Effective altruism** ( **EA**) is a 21st-century [philosophical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_movement "Philosophical movement") and [social movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_movement "Social movement") that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using [evidence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence "Scientific evidence") and [reason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason "Reason") to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis".[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#cite_note-MacAskill-intro-1)[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#cite_note-2)
People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, who are sometimes called _effective altruists_,[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#cite_note-3) follow a variety of approaches proposed by the movement, such as donating to selected [charities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charities "Charities") and choosing careers, with the goal of maximising positive impact. The movement has spurred the creation of [research centers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_centers "Research centers"), advisory organizations, and charities, which collectively have donated several hundred million dollars.[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAdamsCraryGruen2023xxii-4)
A defining feature of effective altruism is impartiality, specifically the global [equal consideration of interests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_consideration_of_interests "Equal consideration of interests") when choosing beneficiaries. Popular [cause priorities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#Cause_priorities) within effective altruism include [global health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_health "Global health") and [development](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_development "Economic development"), [social](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality "Social inequality") and [economic inequality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_inequality "Economic inequality"), [animal welfare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_welfare "Animal welfare"), and [risks to the survival or flourishing of humanity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risks "Global catastrophic risks") over the [long-term future](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longtermism "Longtermism"). Only a small portion of all charities are affiliated with effective altruism, except in niche areas such as [farmed-animal welfare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_welfare#Farmed_animals "Animal welfare"), [AI safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_safety "AI safety"), and [biosecurity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosecurity "Biosecurity").[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism#cite_note-5)
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