Viewed in this light, the absence of any competing explicitly beneficentrist movements is striking. EA seems to be the only game in town for those who are practically concerned to promote the general good in a serious, scope-sensitive, goal-directed kind of way.
Before EA, I think there were at least two such movements:
a particular subset of the animal welfare movement that cared about effectiveness, e.g., focusing on factory farming over other animal welfare issues explicitly because it’s the biggest source of harm
AI safety
Both are now broadly considered to be part of the EA movement.
Before EA, I think there were at least two such movements:
a particular subset of the animal welfare movement that cared about effectiveness, e.g., focusing on factory farming over other animal welfare issues explicitly because it’s the biggest source of harm
AI safety
Both are now broadly considered to be part of the EA movement.
Also cost-effectiveness analyses in general, of which only a subset is in EA.