Personally, I believe I know a whole community which collectively knows how to use resources (much) better than average, and at a larger/leveraged scale, if not for the whole world. This is because I’m concerned about (apparent) hubris and arrogance within effective altruism, but I identify as one regardless.
Most people believe they know better than others, even if they don’t claim to know better than everyone else.
I believe what may be overlooked in the original question is the base rate of people who believe they’re doing the best work. That is, humans have at least somewhat of a natural tendency towards privileging their own ideas for doing good as the best. Since effectiveness isn’t emphasized in most altruism, I believe most people don’t think their own approaches are ‘literally the best’, so much as naively thinking they’re just ‘very very good’.
If one individual is the only one to express their disagreement with some form of charity, especially if it’s represented by a big movement, they’re likely to be lambasted ad hominem. So, there’s a disincentive for publicly criticizing charity, even for correct opinions widely held in secret.
Promoting doing ‘the most good’ requires courage but has drawbacks.
In an civil and media environment when criticizing charitable endeavors is controversial, claiming to (try to) do the best may be taboo. I believe effective altruists have thought about what to do more than most others and, I don’t believe we’re missing out on some hidden heuristic for philanthropy that works really well for everyone else. People identify with the good they do, so they may get defensive. When pressed, we admit we don’t claim absolute confidence in our evaluations, that we seek to change our own minds, and that we’re merely doing the best we can.
Putting up the stronger front of advocacy that is trying to literally be the best comes at the cost of (apparently) having hubris. I believe this presents an image problem which will need to constantly be mitigated, and also a real problem we must constantly protect against.
Effective altruism seems to have good defense mechanisms against attracting arrogance.
I believe some effective altruists will be afflicted with over-confidence, and hubris. However, continually normalizing critical thinking, openness to (self-)criticism, and the proper use of humility mitigates this. In particular, being a self-critical movement includes effective altruists criticizing ideas of other effective altruists as they’re newly presented. I’ve observed even on Facebook effective altruists of all stripes are quick to neutralize cocky people, who tend to bring arguments that aren’t as well thought-out.
Personally, I believe I know a whole community which collectively knows how to use resources (much) better than average, and at a larger/leveraged scale, if not for the whole world. This is because I’m concerned about (apparent) hubris and arrogance within effective altruism, but I identify as one regardless.
Most people believe they know better than others, even if they don’t claim to know better than everyone else.
I believe what may be overlooked in the original question is the base rate of people who believe they’re doing the best work. That is, humans have at least somewhat of a natural tendency towards privileging their own ideas for doing good as the best. Since effectiveness isn’t emphasized in most altruism, I believe most people don’t think their own approaches are ‘literally the best’, so much as naively thinking they’re just ‘very very good’.
If one individual is the only one to express their disagreement with some form of charity, especially if it’s represented by a big movement, they’re likely to be lambasted ad hominem. So, there’s a disincentive for publicly criticizing charity, even for correct opinions widely held in secret.
Promoting doing ‘the most good’ requires courage but has drawbacks.
In an civil and media environment when criticizing charitable endeavors is controversial, claiming to (try to) do the best may be taboo. I believe effective altruists have thought about what to do more than most others and, I don’t believe we’re missing out on some hidden heuristic for philanthropy that works really well for everyone else. People identify with the good they do, so they may get defensive. When pressed, we admit we don’t claim absolute confidence in our evaluations, that we seek to change our own minds, and that we’re merely doing the best we can.
Putting up the stronger front of advocacy that is trying to literally be the best comes at the cost of (apparently) having hubris. I believe this presents an image problem which will need to constantly be mitigated, and also a real problem we must constantly protect against.
Effective altruism seems to have good defense mechanisms against attracting arrogance.
I believe some effective altruists will be afflicted with over-confidence, and hubris. However, continually normalizing critical thinking, openness to (self-)criticism, and the proper use of humility mitigates this. In particular, being a self-critical movement includes effective altruists criticizing ideas of other effective altruists as they’re newly presented. I’ve observed even on Facebook effective altruists of all stripes are quick to neutralize cocky people, who tend to bring arguments that aren’t as well thought-out.