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Are EA billionaire philanthropists actually effective in their 'altruism'? (spoilers: no)
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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
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SneerClub
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Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.
AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)
This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.
[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]
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It’s somewhat non-trivial to create a billionaire, let alone an EA variant; what other ideas do you have for improving EA?
The point I was trying to make was that the article isn't really about EA not working, it's more about billionaires claiming to donate effectively not actually doing so.
it can’t be that stupid, you must be donating wrong
Champion sneer
It’s almost as if the wealthy by and large don’t actually care about doing good or improving society!!!
Exactly
yeah, so we agree, EA, which is predicated on the wealthy actually giving away their money, is a flawed concept as that is something the wealthy cannot be compelled to do without force
EA isn't a political framework, it's a moral framework. It tells you what a morally good action looks like. Usually that doesn't involve compelling you to perform that action by any other means than appealing to your desire to be moral.
It for sure is morally good to spend any extra money you have in a way that does the most good, billionaire or not. Not sure I see the flaw in that. Especially if you don't do it instead of being an activist of systemic change, but in addition to that.
EA is absolutely a political framework. You're just too lazy or smooth-brained to see it.
You... don't know what a moral framework is.
"Duuuuuuuh it's good to do thing that do most good duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh" <- that's you
Nah, just wrinkled.
Even if it were possible, it’s not my job to educate you.
My stars! Good job googling “political framework”! You seem to be under the impression that charities are a black box that do nothing other than save lives. Perhaps you should look into that.
it's a good thing charities don't distribute resources within societies or communal frameworks!
dear gods how does one type that with a straight face and not pass out from sheer intellectual exertion
Yeah. One thing I’ve realised since participating in Sneerclub is that when someone comes in thinking it’s debate club and 1. starts saying shit, and 2. you start coming up with counterarguments, and 3. you realise everything you come up with is just first order, basic stuff, then you have to remind yourself that this isn’t debate club, and that this person is stupid, and you don’t owe them intellectual energy.
In this case, in the broadest sense, politics is about getting a bunch of people to do something they might not initially agree with. Guess what a moral framework is designed to do?? Especially utilitarianism, which is literally just economics and accounting with a moral/ethical veneer. And that’s just first order shit!!! It’s not hard to go up the ladder from base theory to reality and come up with all kinds of examples and counterarguments or what have you. It’s just a waste of time with these people! They are either stupid or intentionally ignorant or both.
So yeah sometimes I’m ankle deep in drafting something offsite when I remember “it’s sneer club” and then I stop myself. You won’t convince these people, so just clown on them.
oh 100%. on the flipside of that, the advantage is that usually it's relatively easy to flip basic constructions into sneers. the combination of getting their arguments picked apart while being mocked usually causes the monocle to fall off the seal reeeal quick.
maybe there should be some kind of scoring system. perhaps a golf-like. par for three comments before they complain about your tone (sneering in a sneer club, my gods!), four for getting themselves banned. a bonus sticker in the shape of a star if "ad hominem" is typed verbatim
If we start doing Awful Gold^TM^ I will die a little inside