Effective Altruism is just rationalizing greed for wealth obtained by extraction.
People who follow this warped world view will try very hard to convince you that this is not the case. That their stance has good sound moral footing. It doesn't. It's something for people who want to feel absolved of their responsibilities for how they obtained their wealth. It is a way of viewing life that attempts to ignore everything we know about human behavior.
No matter how much wealth people will always think they'll be "good" if they have double what they have now. This is true for someone making $50,000, $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000 etc. What we have now is never quite enough. Applying this knowledge to Effective Altruism easily shows one of the belief system's biggest flaws; that fundamentally people will have a concept of "enough" and start donating their money away. People will always think they need a little more to be good. Effective Altruism compounds this by attempting to say "It's okay if you extract more and consolidate more wealth, when you have "enough" you'll donate and make up for all the pain you're causing now". It takes a stance that is greedy and attempts to make it appear generous.
It's like the parent that makes up for forgetting your birthday by promising a larger gift for Christmas. That gift never actually comes.
Wealth should be put to better the whole as it's created. It should not be horded with the future promise of assistance when we've found a status that will never come. Instead of diluting yourself into thinking that you're ultimately helping the world, focus on making a positive impact now. There is no time like the present.
Don't let the people peddling this world view fool you, they are just trying to get a free pass to do whatever they want.
People who follow this warped world view will try very hard to convince you that this is not the case. That their stance has good sound moral footing. It doesn't. It's something for people who want to feel absolved of their responsibilities for how they obtained their wealth. It is a way of viewing life that attempts to ignore everything we know about human behavior.
No matter how much wealth people will always think they'll be "good" if they have double what they have now. This is true for someone making $50,000, $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000 etc. What we have now is never quite enough. Applying this knowledge to Effective Altruism easily shows one of the belief system's biggest flaws; that fundamentally people will have a concept of "enough" and start donating their money away. People will always think they need a little more to be good. Effective Altruism compounds this by attempting to say "It's okay if you extract more and consolidate more wealth, when you have "enough" you'll donate and make up for all the pain you're causing now". It takes a stance that is greedy and attempts to make it appear generous.
It's like the parent that makes up for forgetting your birthday by promising a larger gift for Christmas. That gift never actually comes.
Wealth should be put to better the whole as it's created. It should not be horded with the future promise of assistance when we've found a status that will never come. Instead of diluting yourself into thinking that you're ultimately helping the world, focus on making a positive impact now. There is no time like the present.
Don't let the people peddling this world view fool you, they are just trying to get a free pass to do whatever they want.