Executive summary: The author reflects on moving from a confident teenage commitment to Marxism toward a stance they call evidence-based do-goodism and explains why Effective Altruism, understood as a broad philosophical project rather than a political ideology, better matches their values and their current view that improving the world requires empirics rather than revolutionary theory.
Key points:
The author describes being a committed Marxist from ages 15–19, endorsing views like the labor theory of value and defending historical socialist leaders while resisting mainstream economics.
They explain realizing they were “totally, utterly, completely wrong” about most of these beliefs, while retaining underlying values about global injustice and unfairness toward disadvantaged groups.
They argue that violent or rapid revolutionary change cannot shift economic equilibria and has historically produced brutality, leading them to leave both revolutionary and reformist socialism.
They say they now identify with “Evidence-Based Do-Goodism,” making political judgments by weighing empirical evidence rather than adhering to a totalizing ideology.
They present Effective Altruism as a motivating, nonpolitical framework focused on reducing suffering for humans, animals, and future generations through evidence-supported actions.
They emphasize that people of many ideologies can participate in Effective Altruism and encourage readers to explore local groups, meetups, and concrete actions such as supporting foreign aid, AI risk reduction, or reducing animal product consumption.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The author reflects on moving from a confident teenage commitment to Marxism toward a stance they call evidence-based do-goodism and explains why Effective Altruism, understood as a broad philosophical project rather than a political ideology, better matches their values and their current view that improving the world requires empirics rather than revolutionary theory.
Key points:
The author describes being a committed Marxist from ages 15–19, endorsing views like the labor theory of value and defending historical socialist leaders while resisting mainstream economics.
They explain realizing they were “totally, utterly, completely wrong” about most of these beliefs, while retaining underlying values about global injustice and unfairness toward disadvantaged groups.
They argue that violent or rapid revolutionary change cannot shift economic equilibria and has historically produced brutality, leading them to leave both revolutionary and reformist socialism.
They say they now identify with “Evidence-Based Do-Goodism,” making political judgments by weighing empirical evidence rather than adhering to a totalizing ideology.
They present Effective Altruism as a motivating, nonpolitical framework focused on reducing suffering for humans, animals, and future generations through evidence-supported actions.
They emphasize that people of many ideologies can participate in Effective Altruism and encourage readers to explore local groups, meetups, and concrete actions such as supporting foreign aid, AI risk reduction, or reducing animal product consumption.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.