73 | Effective Altruism is Terrible w/ John Duncan

What's Left of Philosophy

In this episode, we are joined by researcher and video essayist John Duncan (@Johntheduncan) to talk about the Effective Altruism movement and why it is so comprehensively awful. Granted, it’s got some pretty solid marketing: who could be against altruism, especially if it’s effective? But consider: from its individualism to its focus on cost-effectiveness and rates of return, from its idealist historiography to its refusal to cop to its obvious utilitarianism, from its naive empiricism to its wild-eyed obsession for preventing the Singularity—it’s really just the spontaneous ideology of 21st century capitalism cosplaying as ethics. Look, if your moral project involves you working in finance or for DARPA, sees new sweatshops in the global south as a good thing, and is beloved by tech bro billionaires, you’ve made a wrong turn somewhere. It’s deeply embarrassing and accordingly we drag it for filth.

leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil

https://www.youtube.com/@JohntheDuncan

References:

William MacAskill, “The Definition of Effective Altruism”, in Effective Altruism: Philosophical Issues, eds. Hilary Greaves and Theron Plummer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

William MacAskill, What We Owe the Future (New York: Hachette, 2022)

Adams et. al., The Good It Promises, The Harm It Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023).

Music:

Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com