There are a couple of reasons for the concern that effective altruism may grow too big too fast:
If effective altruism ‘goes viral’, some of us worry that it will become decentralized too quickly for the principles to adjust, and then an ‘effective altruist’ would just be anybody ‘who donates $10 to Oxfam’. That would counteract effective altruism’s initial mission.
This is just my speculation, but I believe effective altruists who believe the best cause for bettering the world is an unconventional one. If effective altruism grows too fast for anyone to stay on top of, unconventional but important causes may be discarded. If effective altruism was a grassroots movement supported by millions, we can’t be sure that a cause like ensuring superhuman machine intelligence will safeguard humanity, or ending factory farming, would be (sufficiently) supported.
Note that these aren’t my own opinions, and I’m just reporting my impression from the Effective Altruism Summit.
There are a couple of reasons for the concern that effective altruism may grow too big too fast:
If effective altruism ‘goes viral’, some of us worry that it will become decentralized too quickly for the principles to adjust, and then an ‘effective altruist’ would just be anybody ‘who donates $10 to Oxfam’. That would counteract effective altruism’s initial mission.
This is just my speculation, but I believe effective altruists who believe the best cause for bettering the world is an unconventional one. If effective altruism grows too fast for anyone to stay on top of, unconventional but important causes may be discarded. If effective altruism was a grassroots movement supported by millions, we can’t be sure that a cause like ensuring superhuman machine intelligence will safeguard humanity, or ending factory farming, would be (sufficiently) supported.
Note that these aren’t my own opinions, and I’m just reporting my impression from the Effective Altruism Summit.