Focusing EA action on an issue as technically complex as AI safety, on which there isn’t even a scientific consensus comparable to the fight against climate change, means that all members of the community make their altruistic action dependent on the intellectual brilliance of their leaders, whose success we could not assess. This is a circumstance similar to that of Marxism, where everything depended on the erudition of the most distinguished scholars of political economy and dialectical materialism.
Utilitarianism implies an ethical commitment of the individual through unequivocal action, in which altruistic means and ends are proportionate. It is unequivocal that there are unfortunate people in poor countries who suffer avoidable suffering and who could be helped with a little of the money we have to spare in rich countries. Altruistic action also implies—and this is extremely important—a visualization of moral change, especially if it is culturally organized in the form of a social movement. Community action for unequivocal moral progress can, in turn, lead to successful long-term action.
Focusing EA action on an issue as technically complex as AI safety, on which there isn’t even a scientific consensus comparable to the fight against climate change, means that all members of the community make their altruistic action dependent on the intellectual brilliance of their leaders, whose success we could not assess. This is a circumstance similar to that of Marxism, where everything depended on the erudition of the most distinguished scholars of political economy and dialectical materialism.
Utilitarianism implies an ethical commitment of the individual through unequivocal action, in which altruistic means and ends are proportionate. It is unequivocal that there are unfortunate people in poor countries who suffer avoidable suffering and who could be helped with a little of the money we have to spare in rich countries. Altruistic action also implies—and this is extremely important—a visualization of moral change, especially if it is culturally organized in the form of a social movement. Community action for unequivocal moral progress can, in turn, lead to successful long-term action.