Before November 2022, Effective Altruism only seemed to know success and growth. However, since November 2022, the EA movement has had to deal with significant criticism and multiple scandals. Some have even gone so far to declare that EA is dead or dying,[1] or no longer worth standing behind,[2] or otherwise disassociate themselves from the movement even if outside observers would clearly identify them as being âEAâ.[3] To me, the environment that EA finds itself in in 2025 is an unclear one and I think certainly less positive than the pre-FTX days.
Iâve come around to see EA as plateauing and entering a phase of decline (though that might not be inevitable). This might not be correct, and is definitely an assumption this post takes for granted and that not something it intends to argue for. So, as I was reflecting on this state of affairs, and thinking about what the prospects for recovery for EA as a movement are, and thought that looking at the historical record for comparable case studies might prove enlightening, and provide an interesting perspective to understand the current tribulations EA is facing. This post is the result of that inquiry.
Method
To be open from the start, I am neither a historian nor a historical expert. You should take what I say, and my summarisation of historical events below, with appropriate scepticism. The investigation and results are the result of a combination of my memory, the internet, and LLM suggestions with google verification. I welcome those with a greater knowledge of history and the dynamic of social movements to weigh in if Iâve summarised historical events incorrectly or overlooked even more appropriate examples than I included here.
Initially I started to look at any movement that had a ârise and fallâ dynamic, but soon realised that this was far too broad a net to cast, and so I decided to restrict the search criteria more to look for a more specific kind of journey that I think EA has gone through:
1 - The movement begins with and grows via the academic or intellectual elite of society. There do seem to be important differences between elite-focused movements and mass movements, and EA is clearly one of the former. I suspect that there will be important differences between elite movements and more mass movements in terms of lifecycle and prospects for recovery, and I thought the social dynamics of movements would be more similar to EA if they share this starting point.
2 - The movement grows and gains influence both socially and politically, but does so through indirect means (such as social persuasion) rather than explicitly seeking power (such as through electoral slates or supporting coups). You canât have a rise and fall dynamic without a rise, and again I suspected there are significant differences between movements who deliberately focus on gaining political power and those that donât. I think EA belongs on the âindirectâ side of the ledger, as its focus on changing power is through intellectual persuasion rather than deliberately controlling power in the name of EA.[4]
3 - There is a significant scandal/âevent that heavily damages the movementâs reputation and prospects. This neednât be the sole cause of decline and it can take place amongst a more general period of retrenchment, but there should be at least one to point to. The collapse of FTX is such a dramatic event in EAâs history that I thought it essential to include only movements that experienced something comparable. Even if you believe EA made numerous missteps before November 2022, the FTX downfall clearly marks a major inflection point in its trajectory.
I also think the crisis being somewhat self-inflicted is important to note too,[5] so I tried to exclude movements where the crisis and decline was brought about by explicit enemy action or repression from the state. This removed quite a few candidates, and I make a note about this issue of historical violence and its modern day relevance for EA the end of the post.
4 - Following the crisis, the movement enters a period of retrenchment and disillusionmentâthis is where EA is currently. This decline could take a variety of forms: declining numbers of explicitly signed-up members, the gradual plateauing and waning of the groupâs political influence, or significant numbers of prominent members distancing themselves from the movement. This is the most âyou know it when you see itâ criteria of the four presented, and hard to be exact about historically as often the rise of movements are more closely studied than the gradual falls. Nevertheless, all of the candidates Iâve found do show this pattern of decline.
I began with a larger list of candidate movements and narrowed it to the final five presented here, with some others appearing in the âhonourable mentionsâ section. These additional cases shared some similarities with EA but ultimately werenât as good a fit as those I chose to focus on.
Edits
I had a self-set deadline of EoD May 7th to publish as I tend to struggle to finish posts, hoping to get them 100% polished and correct. If I make any significant edits to this post in the future I will note them in this section.
Thanks to Ollieâs comments Iâve edited the intro o make it more clear that the post is not arguing for âEA is in declineâ, itâs assuming that and then looking for comparable case studies. Think of it as arguing for p â q rather than making the case for p.
The Case Studies
#1 - New Atheism
While the origins of New Atheism can be traced to the chatrooms and blogs of the late 90s to early 00s, the term itself was coined in 2006. This coincides with the emergence of the âFour Horsemenâ (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens) who all published popular works between 2004 and 2007 - most notably Dawkinâs 2006 âThe God Delusionâ - and became the public face of the movement. From a broader cultural perspective, I think the rise of the movement is also clearly linked impossible to the sociopolitical problems it set itself up against, namely the 9/â11 attacks and terrorist attacks in Western Europe, and the electoral victories of George W. Bush who openly courted the support of Americaâs religious right as a political bloc.
Focused on fighting back against the influence of religion on the world and politics, and refusing to give to traditional respect, the movement spread from internet users to mainstream journalists and public intellectuals. In 2011, however, the movement faced a scandal which eventually proved fatal. Rebecca Watson spoke out against sexual harassment she faced with in the movement, first at a 2011 conference and later in a YouTube video. This precipitated a rather tactless response from Dawkins, and then a full-on flame war in the community which later became known as âElevatorgateâ. The scandal exposed a strong rift inside the âNew Atheismâ movement between those supporting of progressive social justice views and those who did not, and the rift never healed.
From 2011â12 various trends that track the movement show an inexorable decline.[6] Those members associated with the social justice side tried to rebrand into âAtheism+â , but I think this was eventually abandoned and those people just joined social justice movement explicitly. The more vehemently anti-social justice members of the New Atheists initially allied themselves with the âanti-wokeâ parts of the internet, and some seem to have negatively polarised themselves into being alt-right politically now.[7] Perhaps equally as important, the former enemy had disappeared. In the 2008 Federal Elections the Democrats swept the Presidency, House, and Senate, and by the time of Obamaâs second term the opposition to him was framed around economic or nativist issues. The role of religion was simply no longer the defining crux of American national politics. Finally, Christopher Hitchens died of cancer in 2011, leaving one of the movement lacking perhaps its most eloquent and fierce defender. Regardless, the âNew Atheistâ movement decidedly no longer exists in the way it clearly did in the 2004-2012 period.
This case was the very first example I thouhgt of when starting to put this post together, and I recommend people read Scottâs article as it goes over this issue in much greater depth. I think New Atheism demographic appeal probably has a large overlap to EA, and had a scandal which ended up causing significant issues for the movementâs cohesion. Finally, the environmental conditions that led to its rise shifted, and it was outcompeted by other ideologies. If EA follows a similar trajectory, we might expect it to fragment in a similar manner as former adherents abandon it for other ideologies that seem more fitting to dealing with the worlds pressing problems.
#2 - Saint-Simonianism
In the early 19th century Europe was still reeling from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and new ideologies circulating rapidly among increasingly literate populations and international intellectual circles. One of the many intellectuals to emerge during this period was Claude Henri de Rouvroy, known more commonly as the Comte de Saint-Simon. I found it fairly difficult to pin down exactly what âSaint-Simonianismâ actually stood for, though many identify him as a âutopian socialistâ. He seems to have been a fervent believer in the power of Science to rebuild a damaged France and create a better world. His influence was concentrated in Paris, both where he lived and the city with the highest incidence of intellectuals and educated professions, perhaps because itâs proto-technocratic ideas appealed to them.
Saint-Simon himself died in 1825. This didnât mark the end of the movement, instead it continued to grow, however his death did lay the groundwork for the undoing of the movement. With his passing, the leadership of the movement was split between two of his disciples, Amand Bazard and BarthĂŠlemy-Prosper Enfantin. By 1831 the tensions between these two had reached the point of no return, with Bazard wanting the movement to become more explicitly political, while Enfatin wanted to focus on personal moral and even spiritual change. Enfantin attempted to implement his vision through a âmodel communityâ at MĂŠnilmontant, and while exactly what went on there isnât absolutely clear,[8] it was probably rather too socially libertine for the general populace of 1830s France. Enfantin and his closest followers were arrested for âoutrages against public morality committed in writings printed and distributedâ, and though eventually released many prominent members (such as August Comte) either officially dissassociated themselves or simply moved on quietly. Bazard himself died of an illness shortly afterwards.[9]
After this crisis the credibility of the movement sunk enough that it never recovered, and Saint-Simonianism simply withered away, leaving little lasting imprint on intellectual discourse or broader history.[10] Similarly to the New Atheism, it never seemed to supply the ideological answers that society was demanding, and instead socialism and nationalism emerged in the mid-19th century to spark a series of wars and revolutions that would change world history. It is still a decent fit for EA, appealing mainly to intellectual elites, having a significant leadership castle, sex scandals (that also potentially involve a castle if you squint). The Saint-Simonian trajectory perhaps suggests a quicker collapse than the New Atheism case, and EAs survival for 2.5 years post FTX suggests that this might not be likely, it does also point to leadership vacuums and departures of significant members harbour poor things for a movementâs prospects.
#3 - The Technocracy Movement
In the early 20th century, with industrialisation and the rise of the academic discipline of economics, various ideas that we would now recognise as âtechnocraticâ were beginning to gain traction. In North America these ideas are often associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor, but they were also harnessed by one Howard Scott, who formed an organisation called the âTechnical Allianceâ in 1919. Despite the group disbanding in 1921, Scott continued to spread the ideas of Technocracy and soon became recognised as its leading advocate in North America. The movement attracted significant support, especially from engineers and other educated professionals who could see themselves benefiting from the technocratic vision of how to run a society.
Just as we must make distinctions between âeffective altruismâ and âEAâ, itâs important to be clear about what specifically âThe Technocratic Movementâ believed as opposed to the more general idea of âtechnocracyâ. The Technocrats were actually quite critical of Capitalist economics and especially the price system. Early supporter Thorstein Veblen had written about this before, and Technocrats often predicted the nearly-imminent-but-not-quite-now collapse of the price system as an economic allocation mechanism. To replace the price system Scott and the Technocrats believed that the economy had to be reconfigured to focus on energy, especially in the era of non-scarcity that would follow once the Technocrats were given the levers of power, and this would involve centrally-planned Energy Certificates and the unification of North America into a âTechnateâ.[11] Of course, the people in control of this new order would be the Engineers and other kinds of people who were already drawn to the Technocracy movement.
The peak of the movement came in the early 1930s, where the ongoing Great Depression led many to be critical of the Capitalism and look for alternative ideologies to offer a different economic approach. But even as the Technocratic movement grew to meet this challenge its critics continued to keep pace, and the movementâs image was always hampered by scepticism about Scottâs personal credibility in particular. In 1932, perhaps as Scott hit national headlines, former colleagues at Columbia University rapidly made it publicly clear that they had nothing to do with him. In January 1933 Scott gave a public address in an attempt to counter criticism, but his vague, confusing, and jargon-filled speech only served to garner more criticism and scepticism. By 1936 the movement was beset by factionalism, and intense internal disagreement at The Continental Committee on Technocracy led to the movement splintering thereafter, marking the end of the high water mark of its influence.
As with the previous two examples, longer-term trends were also hampering the movement. Rooseveltâs New Deal appeared to stabilise American capitalism, and with the Second World War the leading problem facing America no longer seemed to be economic. The Technocracy Movement was in fact briefly banned in Canada from 1940-43 for suspected opposition into the war effort. Predictions of the price systems collapse were falsified, and the unfalsifiable ones eroded the credibility of the movement. After WW2, with the ideological question facing the world being âCapitalism vs Communismâ, and America neither âtechnocracyâ nor âTechnocracyâ were really live players ideologically. Scott committed to his vision, but Technocracy had become an ideological relic and remains so to this day, even if the movement âofficiallyâ still exists.
This case offers some particularly troubling parallels for EA. Both movements spread among intellectual elites and promised those elites greater societal influence. However, there are key differences around leadership. Scott was clearly a central and totemic leader, and for better or for worse EA does not have, instead possessing a sort-of âInner Circleâ, instead of a singular figurehead. Nevertheless, the 1933 speech is a decent approximation of a public humiliation for the movement, matching the effect of FTX on EAâs reputation. We also have the (now repeated) themes of internal factionalism and the pattern of gradual dissolution after a crisis and plateau. I suspect the repeated but never precise proclamations about the collapse of the price system should also be a warning shot for the AI-Safety wing of EA if claims of âAGIâ do not appear to bear fruit by the mid-2030s.
#4 - Moral Re-Armament /â Buchmanism
Iâm using the term âMoral Re-Armamentâ (MRA) to cover a series of movements, sometimes also known as âBuchmanismâ after their creator Frank Buchman who was a Lutheran Minister. In his early career, Buchman was connected with the YMCA at Penn State, but seemed a bit disillusioned with its ability to make sustained moral changes amongst. He developed his own ideas and spread them independently, explicitly using house parties amongst the university elite as a vector to do so, and the success of this strategy at Oxford University in the late 1920s led this movement to be called âThe Oxford Groupâ in the UK. What the movement stood for is somewhat unclear, it seemed to be focused on individual moral perfection, and all statements Iâve found of its beliefs seem rather void of specifics.
Still, Buchmanâs approach was prescient as the group continued to grow, and were bolstered by intentionally planned outreach campaigns, and met many influential people including the King of Greece and Queen of Romania. It was clearly a movement that he exerted great centralised control either, however, such centralisation also comes with risks. In 1936 Buchman gave an interview where he said ââI thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism.â Needless to say, many supporters and detractors of Buchman were united in their negative reaction to this quote. The fate of the movement turned again when Buchman gave a speech in London in 1938 where he called on nations of the world to âre-arm morallyâ, giving him the name for the new re-brand of the movement. This in turn caused a split from those wishing to keep the âOxford Groupâ terminology and those willing to follow Buchman. A few years later in 1941, one of Buchmanâs closest allies publicly left the movement and criticised him citing âincreasing misgivingsâ about its direction.
From this time on, the decline seems rather gradual. By 1944 Harry Truman denied having ever met Buchman or having any interest in the Oxford Group, and after the war Moral Re-Armament seemed to struggle to compete with the new ideologies that ruled America or the wider world in the remaking of the world order. Buchman died in 1961, and Moral Re-Armament ceased its work in America by the end of the 1960s. A shadow of the former organisation exists, now rebranded as âInitiatives for Changeâ, but itâs nowhere near the movement that it used to be. Perhaps its most lasting legacy is the role it played leading to the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous, as both founders were directly linked to and inspired by the Oxford Group.
The focus on appealing to younger members of society, especially those at university, is quite striking. You could also see EAs appeal to moral improvement as a version of individual âmoral re-armamentâ. The future trajectory sketched out by MRA here is similar to the other cases so far, once reaching a plateau there is a long and gradual decline, but perhaps most similar to the Technocratic movement a lot of the pitfalls of the movement were due to having a singular leader who seemed to demand total control of the movement. One major difference is that EA and EAs love writing about what they think, why they think it, and why they might be wrong. In contrast, it was absolutely baffling to try and parse what Buchman are his acolytes actually thought, or how they were going to gain influence over power, and what their interventions would be. A key reason MRA failed was not that it wasnât offering the wrong solutions for societyâs problems, but instead it was just offering hot air and spiritual vibes instead of any solutions at all.
#5 - Early Quakerism
The Reformation had a profound impact on Christian practice in Europe, as religious authority of the Catholic Church was fractured, allowed many new interpretations of the Christian Faith to appear. In mid-17th century England one of these new sects was called âThe Religious Society of Friendsâ, which began with the preaching of George Fox but quickly grew into a national movement that argued members could gain direct spiritual experience of God without the need of a clergy. It spread rapidly in England, having tens of thousands of members by the 1660s. While it found fertile ground in cities such as London, Quakerismâs focus on every individualâs ability to directly connect to God also gave it the characteristics of a mass movement.
However, the movement found itself facing numerous early scandals and setbacks, especially as it became popular enough to be noticed by those in power. The Quakers did not accept many of the rituals that defined English society, such as taking oaths, removing hats before judicial authorities, nor did the swear allegiance to the restored King Charles II. In 1656 one notably poor attempt at PR by James Nayler backfired on the reputation of the budding Quakers by entering Bristol on Palm Sunday in a manner reminiscent of Christ entering Jerusalem, which drew public ire across the country as it was deemed an act of blasphemy. While escaping execution, Nayler was given very harsh punishments, and the credibility of the Quakers was eroded. The backlash continued in the early 1660s as Quakers were arrested for their beliefs, and in 1662 Parliament passed an Act (also known as the âQuaker Actâ) which set out specific punishments for their disobedience.
Despite this controversy and persecution, the movement survived and managed to reform itself. In the aftermath of the Nayler controversy Fox spent his time in the late 50s to early 60s trying to reform and reorganise Quaker practice to something more organised and structured. In 1666, while Fox was briefly imprisoned, other Quaker leaders gathered in London to write âTestimony of the Brethrenâ, setting out more strict disciplinary rules for both Quaker groups and individuals to follow, which was ordered to be read in all Quaker meetings.[12] Eventually the paranoia of the mid 1600s gave way to one of more social pluralism and tolerance, eventually leading to the Toleration Act of 1688. The Quakers continued to grow and become especially influential in the growing American colonies, and future Quaker figures would play a key role in the fight against slavery.
The Early Quakers are probably the least good match of the 5 cases presented here. Theyâre not clearly an elite movement, they gain popular support but not political support, there is no clear singular controversy though Naylerâs is arguable, and their decline is partially related to state persecution (though this is more legal than violent). But a key reason to include them is that they are evidence of a movement which is able to arrest a significant decline and continue growing. What sets Quakerism apart from the 4 failed cases mentioned above is that Fox was willing to delegate and decentralise control of the movement, but also that leaders clearly stepped in in 1666 and reasserted how the movement ought to behave, allowing clear demarcation of those who were or were not following Quaker practice. Iâll save potential takeaways for EA to the Conclusions section.
Honourable Mentions
ChartismâThe Chartist movement was one of my first considerations as an analogy for EA. In 1938 the London Working Menâs Association drafted a petition with 6 political reforms, and support for the petition rapidly spread throughout the country. The fate of the Chartist movement came to a head in 1848, when revolutionary fervor sweeping across Europe inspired a massive Chartist demonstration in London with the intent to march on Parliament to have their proposals addressed. Anticipating this, Parliament bolstered the police presence in London significantly and hampered the protestâs progress towards Westminster. The Chartists backed down, and after 1848 its influence quickly faded. Nevertheless, 5 of their 6 reforms ended up being adopted by Britainâs political system, with the only exception being yearly elections to Parliament.
While interesting I decided not to include them as Chartism is clearly a mass movement and not an elite one, and there wasnât really a âscandalâ crisis that can parallel FTX.
LevellersâA radical group that emerged during the First English Civil War, as radical ideas gained new air following the victory of the New Model Army. Centered in London with influential proponents like William Walwyn, the Levellers advocated remarkably egalitarian principles for their era. Their moment of greatest influence came during the Putney Debates, where New Model Army soldiers and officers gathered to discuss Englandâs political future. However, the influence of Levellerism and other radical ideologies in the army started to concern the senior officers, including Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. After the defeat of the Royalists in the Second English Civil War and the execution of the King, the Levellers were essentially crushed by the new regime. After criticising the centralisation of power occuring under Cromwell, four leading levellers were arrested and held in the Tower of London for most of 1649. In May 1649, a group of Leveller mutineers in the Army were routed by Cromwell with many participants imprisoned, and three of the leaders executed. The movement had been crushed, former Leveller leaders (including those imprisoned) moderated and distanced themsevles, and Cromwell ended up gaining total control of Britain for a time.
The Levellers fit some of the dynamics I was looking for, but are not clearly members of the intellectual elite, and clearly were focused on gaining political power. One parallel I did find amusing was the former leaders of the movement proclaiming themselves only to be Leveller-Adjacent,[13] which is a very strong parallel, though it was written while the leaders were imprisoned so is possibly done so under duress or âextreme reputational concernâ
The NarodniksâThe cover photo for this post is Ilya Repinâs They Did Not Expect Him, depicting the surprise return of a Nardonik rebel home. The Narodniks were members of the intelligentsia in Russia in the mid-to-late 19th century,who were agitating against the conservative tsarvist regime. Their radical faction, Narodnaya Volya (âPeopleâs Willâ), supported violent action and terrorism to achieve their goals and were successful in assassinating Tsar Alexander II in 1881. This backfired spectacularly as this did not lead to mass support for the overthrow of the old regime, and the government responded by heavily cracking down by arresting and hanging many leaders of the movement. While unsuccessful, the did preview the kind of violent revolution that was to come to Russia in the early 20th century. In the end, despite being a primarily intellectual group declining after a key negative event, their appeal to explicit political violence to gain political power makes them a poor match for EA.
Related Work on other candidatesâNuĂąo wrote previous post on similar themes, and suggested âThe Spanish Enlightenmentâ as a candidate social movement with a rise-and-fall trajectory. I canât verify this as I have no access to the sources nor speak Spanish, but I think that âThe Enlightenmentâ is too broad of a category to count unless it refers to a specifically named movement. Iâd still recommend reading the post.
Aron Vallinder wrote a summary document on Confucius vs Mozi, where Mohism would take the place of EA. In particular, the âWhy did Mohism decline and disappear?âsection seems relevant to the historical pattern Iâve been trying to find. Mohism was a potential candidate and I wouldâve liked to have included a non-Western example, but I couldnât find much evidence to turn it into a case study and only saw Vallinderâs post as I was finishing writing this post.
Takeaways and Conclusions
Recovery is not likely historicallyâThe simple fact is that the probability of movement survival following a scandal of FTXâs magnitude, and associated decline thereafter, appears low. Of my five case studies only the Early Quakers were able to reverse their fortunes, and even then they were clearly the least similar to EA based on the criteria I had set out. While EA has avoided an immediate collapse post-November â22, going by history base rates one wouldnât expect it to recover to its heyday of influence.
A singular leader is a major risk factor EA does not have â 3 of the 5 cases involved individual leaders whose actions delegitimised the entire movement,[14] and their inability to let go of control confirmed the eventual demise of the enterprise. By contrast, there is no singular âleaderâ or âfounderâ of EA, instead there are a range of groups and influential people. This relative decentralisation, even if thatâs âInner Circleâ, is actually a benefit for EA. By contrast, it makes the financial dependence on GoodVentures even more risky if Dustin and Cari ever decide to disassociate themselves with Effective Altruism.
The likely pathway is âgradual evaporationâ - The most likely outcome in my view, given the case studies and the trends I already see within EA myself, are for a prolonged period where EA is still around but people start to disassociate themselves from the movement,[15] stop framing their work in EA terms, or referencing EA when talking about the problems of society. This means that we should expect EA institutions to persist for some time, but that theyâd gradually lose influence, money, and membership, and other organisations or ideologies would take their place instead. A generalised social âAnti-AIâ movement might arise, for instance and sweep away EA in terms of interest and influence, or a new intellectually focused ideology could spring up and siphon off the demographic that EA and other elite-first ideologies try to recruit from.
Hamartiology is good way of explain the dynamics social movementsâIâm using âharmartiologyâ in a similar way that Scott does in his New Atheism article, that is: Ideologies function essentially as explanatory frameworks for whatâs wrong with the world and how to fix it. When a movement fails to provide compelling answers to contemporary problems, it tends to fade away, replaced by alternatives better suited to the socio-political environment. Saint-Simonianism couldnât offer a comprehensive socialist alternative to industrialisation; the Technocratic movement never witnessed the predicted collapse of the price system; Buchmanism had no substantive plan beyond converting influential people through house parties and so on. Does EA know what its harmartiology is? What are the alternative formulations of the worldâs ills that might draw current and prospective members away? Identifying these and acting pro-actively might be a crucial point on which the movementâs survival turns.
A Final Note on Historical Violence and its Modern-Day Relevance
Noteâthis part is highly speculative and likely controversial. I have kept it separate from the main body of the post, as it can be read and judged independently of these observations.
Like most of the people who will read this post, I was born in a very unusual part of history where liberal democratic norms are dominant and taken for granted. So I suppose that it shouldnât have been surprising to me that, when I examined the historical record where these norms are decidedly not dominant, that many social movements declined or ended because of explicit persecution[16] by the existing government or authorities. This makes senses from some perspective, when social movements challenge existing power structures, those structures often respond in kind, and if political violence isnât normative proscribed then that backlash often includes violence. This explains why of my 5 cases only the Quakers predate the 19th century, and suggests that if liberal democratic norms erode movements like EA could face more historically typical fates.
Why might this be relevant? Well, I think that the Second Trump Administration is weakening these norms in a much more rapid and extreme way than Trump 1.0. While I donât anticipate the deployment of state violence against ideological opponents for political ends in the same way as that governemnts of Europe used their militaries to crack down on the Revolutions of 1848, but it is now something I consider âincredibly unlikelyâ as opposed to âcompletely implausibleâ. I think this is an important, but uncomfortable, point to acknowledge. For EA specifically, there is now a potential, albeit very unlikely, endgame for the EA movement that involves Trump using Dustin Moskowitzâs connection with EA as an excuse to target the Democratic Party. Would he paint EAs as traitors for wanting to send your tax dollars Africans instead of American Citizens? Would he claim that the Democratic Party is responsible for funding bizarre eschatological murder cults?
Again, I donât think such futures are likely, but if American politics continues to get more tense and fraught into the run up to 2028, and jokes about a third term start to get less and less jokey, it could happen here. The idea of using political power to crack down on EAs has already been floated on anti-EA Twitter, or general portray EA types as traitors[17] or terrorists. And note that those who are spreading these are exactly the Twitter-Tech-Right that has been so empowered by Trumps victory, and as far as I can tell this group positions itself directly against the liberal order whose norms have proscribed political violence. To be clear, Iâm not predicting state suppression of EA. Instead, Iâm saying that if EAâs rise-and-fall happened in period without these liberal norms, it would be more likely to happen, and if those norms are being eroded and people with hostile sentiment toward EA have the ear of political and military power, you should adapt accordingly.
Even Carrick Flynn did not campaign explicitlyas an EA, as opposed to say Bernie Sanders who did campaign as a socialist. This is the kind of distinction Iâm making, not that EA isnât interested in political power.
I think the preponderance of evidence points towards SBF justifying his actions through totalising utilitarian philosophy (like the 51% coin flips) and the possibility that his AI Safety investments could save the world, instead of the view of him using EA as a front to enrich himself. YMMV on this point, and its not essential to the thesis of the post.
It does seem to fit the pattern on âcult leader who was new spiritual vision for society retreats to a private location and start stalking about sex a lotâ which is a whole PLA-quantity of red flags
The most detailed source I found on this was this 2011 Thesis, which goes into a lot of detail on the 1925-1931 rise and fall, and includes some primary sources too
5 Historical Case Studies for an EA in Decline
Introduction
Before November 2022, Effective Altruism only seemed to know success and growth. However, since November 2022, the EA movement has had to deal with significant criticism and multiple scandals. Some have even gone so far to declare that EA is dead or dying,[1] or no longer worth standing behind,[2] or otherwise disassociate themselves from the movement even if outside observers would clearly identify them as being âEAâ.[3] To me, the environment that EA finds itself in in 2025 is an unclear one and I think certainly less positive than the pre-FTX days.
Iâve come around to see EA as plateauing and entering a phase of decline (though that might not be inevitable). This might not be correct, and is definitely an assumption this post takes for granted and that not something it intends to argue for. So, as I was reflecting on this state of affairs, and thinking about what the prospects for recovery for EA as a movement are, and thought that looking at the historical record for comparable case studies might prove enlightening, and provide an interesting perspective to understand the current tribulations EA is facing. This post is the result of that inquiry.
Method
To be open from the start, I am neither a historian nor a historical expert. You should take what I say, and my summarisation of historical events below, with appropriate scepticism. The investigation and results are the result of a combination of my memory, the internet, and LLM suggestions with google verification. I welcome those with a greater knowledge of history and the dynamic of social movements to weigh in if Iâve summarised historical events incorrectly or overlooked even more appropriate examples than I included here.
Initially I started to look at any movement that had a ârise and fallâ dynamic, but soon realised that this was far too broad a net to cast, and so I decided to restrict the search criteria more to look for a more specific kind of journey that I think EA has gone through:
1 - The movement begins with and grows via the academic or intellectual elite of society. There do seem to be important differences between elite-focused movements and mass movements, and EA is clearly one of the former. I suspect that there will be important differences between elite movements and more mass movements in terms of lifecycle and prospects for recovery, and I thought the social dynamics of movements would be more similar to EA if they share this starting point.
2 - The movement grows and gains influence both socially and politically, but does so through indirect means (such as social persuasion) rather than explicitly seeking power (such as through electoral slates or supporting coups). You canât have a rise and fall dynamic without a rise, and again I suspected there are significant differences between movements who deliberately focus on gaining political power and those that donât. I think EA belongs on the âindirectâ side of the ledger, as its focus on changing power is through intellectual persuasion rather than deliberately controlling power in the name of EA.[4]
3 - There is a significant scandal/âevent that heavily damages the movementâs reputation and prospects. This neednât be the sole cause of decline and it can take place amongst a more general period of retrenchment, but there should be at least one to point to. The collapse of FTX is such a dramatic event in EAâs history that I thought it essential to include only movements that experienced something comparable. Even if you believe EA made numerous missteps before November 2022, the FTX downfall clearly marks a major inflection point in its trajectory.
I also think the crisis being somewhat self-inflicted is important to note too,[5] so I tried to exclude movements where the crisis and decline was brought about by explicit enemy action or repression from the state. This removed quite a few candidates, and I make a note about this issue of historical violence and its modern day relevance for EA the end of the post.
4 - Following the crisis, the movement enters a period of retrenchment and disillusionmentâthis is where EA is currently. This decline could take a variety of forms: declining numbers of explicitly signed-up members, the gradual plateauing and waning of the groupâs political influence, or significant numbers of prominent members distancing themselves from the movement. This is the most âyou know it when you see itâ criteria of the four presented, and hard to be exact about historically as often the rise of movements are more closely studied than the gradual falls. Nevertheless, all of the candidates Iâve found do show this pattern of decline.
I began with a larger list of candidate movements and narrowed it to the final five presented here, with some others appearing in the âhonourable mentionsâ section. These additional cases shared some similarities with EA but ultimately werenât as good a fit as those I chose to focus on.
Edits
I had a self-set deadline of EoD May 7th to publish as I tend to struggle to finish posts, hoping to get them 100% polished and correct. If I make any significant edits to this post in the future I will note them in this section.
Thanks to Ollieâs comments Iâve edited the intro o make it more clear that the post is not arguing for âEA is in declineâ, itâs assuming that and then looking for comparable case studies. Think of it as arguing for p â q rather than making the case for p.
The Case Studies
#1 - New Atheism
While the origins of New Atheism can be traced to the chatrooms and blogs of the late 90s to early 00s, the term itself was coined in 2006. This coincides with the emergence of the âFour Horsemenâ (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens) who all published popular works between 2004 and 2007 - most notably Dawkinâs 2006 âThe God Delusionâ - and became the public face of the movement. From a broader cultural perspective, I think the rise of the movement is also clearly linked impossible to the sociopolitical problems it set itself up against, namely the 9/â11 attacks and terrorist attacks in Western Europe, and the electoral victories of George W. Bush who openly courted the support of Americaâs religious right as a political bloc.
Focused on fighting back against the influence of religion on the world and politics, and refusing to give to traditional respect, the movement spread from internet users to mainstream journalists and public intellectuals. In 2011, however, the movement faced a scandal which eventually proved fatal. Rebecca Watson spoke out against sexual harassment she faced with in the movement, first at a 2011 conference and later in a YouTube video. This precipitated a rather tactless response from Dawkins, and then a full-on flame war in the community which later became known as âElevatorgateâ. The scandal exposed a strong rift inside the âNew Atheismâ movement between those supporting of progressive social justice views and those who did not, and the rift never healed.
From 2011â12 various trends that track the movement show an inexorable decline.[6] Those members associated with the social justice side tried to rebrand into âAtheism+â , but I think this was eventually abandoned and those people just joined social justice movement explicitly. The more vehemently anti-social justice members of the New Atheists initially allied themselves with the âanti-wokeâ parts of the internet, and some seem to have negatively polarised themselves into being alt-right politically now.[7] Perhaps equally as important, the former enemy had disappeared. In the 2008 Federal Elections the Democrats swept the Presidency, House, and Senate, and by the time of Obamaâs second term the opposition to him was framed around economic or nativist issues. The role of religion was simply no longer the defining crux of American national politics. Finally, Christopher Hitchens died of cancer in 2011, leaving one of the movement lacking perhaps its most eloquent and fierce defender. Regardless, the âNew Atheistâ movement decidedly no longer exists in the way it clearly did in the 2004-2012 period.
This case was the very first example I thouhgt of when starting to put this post together, and I recommend people read Scottâs article as it goes over this issue in much greater depth. I think New Atheism demographic appeal probably has a large overlap to EA, and had a scandal which ended up causing significant issues for the movementâs cohesion. Finally, the environmental conditions that led to its rise shifted, and it was outcompeted by other ideologies. If EA follows a similar trajectory, we might expect it to fragment in a similar manner as former adherents abandon it for other ideologies that seem more fitting to dealing with the worlds pressing problems.
#2 - Saint-Simonianism
In the early 19th century Europe was still reeling from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and new ideologies circulating rapidly among increasingly literate populations and international intellectual circles. One of the many intellectuals to emerge during this period was Claude Henri de Rouvroy, known more commonly as the Comte de Saint-Simon. I found it fairly difficult to pin down exactly what âSaint-Simonianismâ actually stood for, though many identify him as a âutopian socialistâ. He seems to have been a fervent believer in the power of Science to rebuild a damaged France and create a better world. His influence was concentrated in Paris, both where he lived and the city with the highest incidence of intellectuals and educated professions, perhaps because itâs proto-technocratic ideas appealed to them.
Saint-Simon himself died in 1825. This didnât mark the end of the movement, instead it continued to grow, however his death did lay the groundwork for the undoing of the movement. With his passing, the leadership of the movement was split between two of his disciples, Amand Bazard and BarthĂŠlemy-Prosper Enfantin. By 1831 the tensions between these two had reached the point of no return, with Bazard wanting the movement to become more explicitly political, while Enfatin wanted to focus on personal moral and even spiritual change. Enfantin attempted to implement his vision through a âmodel communityâ at MĂŠnilmontant, and while exactly what went on there isnât absolutely clear,[8] it was probably rather too socially libertine for the general populace of 1830s France. Enfantin and his closest followers were arrested for âoutrages against public morality committed in writings printed and distributedâ, and though eventually released many prominent members (such as August Comte) either officially dissassociated themselves or simply moved on quietly. Bazard himself died of an illness shortly afterwards.[9]
After this crisis the credibility of the movement sunk enough that it never recovered, and Saint-Simonianism simply withered away, leaving little lasting imprint on intellectual discourse or broader history.[10] Similarly to the New Atheism, it never seemed to supply the ideological answers that society was demanding, and instead socialism and nationalism emerged in the mid-19th century to spark a series of wars and revolutions that would change world history. It is still a decent fit for EA, appealing mainly to intellectual elites, having a significant leadership castle, sex scandals (that also potentially involve a castle if you squint). The Saint-Simonian trajectory perhaps suggests a quicker collapse than the New Atheism case, and EAs survival for 2.5 years post FTX suggests that this might not be likely, it does also point to leadership vacuums and departures of significant members harbour poor things for a movementâs prospects.
#3 - The Technocracy Movement
In the early 20th century, with industrialisation and the rise of the academic discipline of economics, various ideas that we would now recognise as âtechnocraticâ were beginning to gain traction. In North America these ideas are often associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor, but they were also harnessed by one Howard Scott, who formed an organisation called the âTechnical Allianceâ in 1919. Despite the group disbanding in 1921, Scott continued to spread the ideas of Technocracy and soon became recognised as its leading advocate in North America. The movement attracted significant support, especially from engineers and other educated professionals who could see themselves benefiting from the technocratic vision of how to run a society.
Just as we must make distinctions between âeffective altruismâ and âEAâ, itâs important to be clear about what specifically âThe Technocratic Movementâ believed as opposed to the more general idea of âtechnocracyâ. The Technocrats were actually quite critical of Capitalist economics and especially the price system. Early supporter Thorstein Veblen had written about this before, and Technocrats often predicted the nearly-imminent-but-not-quite-now collapse of the price system as an economic allocation mechanism. To replace the price system Scott and the Technocrats believed that the economy had to be reconfigured to focus on energy, especially in the era of non-scarcity that would follow once the Technocrats were given the levers of power, and this would involve centrally-planned Energy Certificates and the unification of North America into a âTechnateâ.[11] Of course, the people in control of this new order would be the Engineers and other kinds of people who were already drawn to the Technocracy movement.
The peak of the movement came in the early 1930s, where the ongoing Great Depression led many to be critical of the Capitalism and look for alternative ideologies to offer a different economic approach. But even as the Technocratic movement grew to meet this challenge its critics continued to keep pace, and the movementâs image was always hampered by scepticism about Scottâs personal credibility in particular. In 1932, perhaps as Scott hit national headlines, former colleagues at Columbia University rapidly made it publicly clear that they had nothing to do with him. In January 1933 Scott gave a public address in an attempt to counter criticism, but his vague, confusing, and jargon-filled speech only served to garner more criticism and scepticism. By 1936 the movement was beset by factionalism, and intense internal disagreement at The Continental Committee on Technocracy led to the movement splintering thereafter, marking the end of the high water mark of its influence.
As with the previous two examples, longer-term trends were also hampering the movement. Rooseveltâs New Deal appeared to stabilise American capitalism, and with the Second World War the leading problem facing America no longer seemed to be economic. The Technocracy Movement was in fact briefly banned in Canada from 1940-43 for suspected opposition into the war effort. Predictions of the price systems collapse were falsified, and the unfalsifiable ones eroded the credibility of the movement. After WW2, with the ideological question facing the world being âCapitalism vs Communismâ, and America neither âtechnocracyâ nor âTechnocracyâ were really live players ideologically. Scott committed to his vision, but Technocracy had become an ideological relic and remains so to this day, even if the movement âofficiallyâ still exists.
This case offers some particularly troubling parallels for EA. Both movements spread among intellectual elites and promised those elites greater societal influence. However, there are key differences around leadership. Scott was clearly a central and totemic leader, and for better or for worse EA does not have, instead possessing a sort-of âInner Circleâ, instead of a singular figurehead. Nevertheless, the 1933 speech is a decent approximation of a public humiliation for the movement, matching the effect of FTX on EAâs reputation. We also have the (now repeated) themes of internal factionalism and the pattern of gradual dissolution after a crisis and plateau. I suspect the repeated but never precise proclamations about the collapse of the price system should also be a warning shot for the AI-Safety wing of EA if claims of âAGIâ do not appear to bear fruit by the mid-2030s.
#4 - Moral Re-Armament /â Buchmanism
Iâm using the term âMoral Re-Armamentâ (MRA) to cover a series of movements, sometimes also known as âBuchmanismâ after their creator Frank Buchman who was a Lutheran Minister. In his early career, Buchman was connected with the YMCA at Penn State, but seemed a bit disillusioned with its ability to make sustained moral changes amongst. He developed his own ideas and spread them independently, explicitly using house parties amongst the university elite as a vector to do so, and the success of this strategy at Oxford University in the late 1920s led this movement to be called âThe Oxford Groupâ in the UK. What the movement stood for is somewhat unclear, it seemed to be focused on individual moral perfection, and all statements Iâve found of its beliefs seem rather void of specifics.
Still, Buchmanâs approach was prescient as the group continued to grow, and were bolstered by intentionally planned outreach campaigns, and met many influential people including the King of Greece and Queen of Romania. It was clearly a movement that he exerted great centralised control either, however, such centralisation also comes with risks. In 1936 Buchman gave an interview where he said ââI thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism.â Needless to say, many supporters and detractors of Buchman were united in their negative reaction to this quote. The fate of the movement turned again when Buchman gave a speech in London in 1938 where he called on nations of the world to âre-arm morallyâ, giving him the name for the new re-brand of the movement. This in turn caused a split from those wishing to keep the âOxford Groupâ terminology and those willing to follow Buchman. A few years later in 1941, one of Buchmanâs closest allies publicly left the movement and criticised him citing âincreasing misgivingsâ about its direction.
From this time on, the decline seems rather gradual. By 1944 Harry Truman denied having ever met Buchman or having any interest in the Oxford Group, and after the war Moral Re-Armament seemed to struggle to compete with the new ideologies that ruled America or the wider world in the remaking of the world order. Buchman died in 1961, and Moral Re-Armament ceased its work in America by the end of the 1960s. A shadow of the former organisation exists, now rebranded as âInitiatives for Changeâ, but itâs nowhere near the movement that it used to be. Perhaps its most lasting legacy is the role it played leading to the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous, as both founders were directly linked to and inspired by the Oxford Group.
The focus on appealing to younger members of society, especially those at university, is quite striking. You could also see EAs appeal to moral improvement as a version of individual âmoral re-armamentâ. The future trajectory sketched out by MRA here is similar to the other cases so far, once reaching a plateau there is a long and gradual decline, but perhaps most similar to the Technocratic movement a lot of the pitfalls of the movement were due to having a singular leader who seemed to demand total control of the movement. One major difference is that EA and EAs love writing about what they think, why they think it, and why they might be wrong. In contrast, it was absolutely baffling to try and parse what Buchman are his acolytes actually thought, or how they were going to gain influence over power, and what their interventions would be. A key reason MRA failed was not that it wasnât offering the wrong solutions for societyâs problems, but instead it was just offering hot air and spiritual vibes instead of any solutions at all.
#5 - Early Quakerism
The Reformation had a profound impact on Christian practice in Europe, as religious authority of the Catholic Church was fractured, allowed many new interpretations of the Christian Faith to appear. In mid-17th century England one of these new sects was called âThe Religious Society of Friendsâ, which began with the preaching of George Fox but quickly grew into a national movement that argued members could gain direct spiritual experience of God without the need of a clergy. It spread rapidly in England, having tens of thousands of members by the 1660s. While it found fertile ground in cities such as London, Quakerismâs focus on every individualâs ability to directly connect to God also gave it the characteristics of a mass movement.
However, the movement found itself facing numerous early scandals and setbacks, especially as it became popular enough to be noticed by those in power. The Quakers did not accept many of the rituals that defined English society, such as taking oaths, removing hats before judicial authorities, nor did the swear allegiance to the restored King Charles II. In 1656 one notably poor attempt at PR by James Nayler backfired on the reputation of the budding Quakers by entering Bristol on Palm Sunday in a manner reminiscent of Christ entering Jerusalem, which drew public ire across the country as it was deemed an act of blasphemy. While escaping execution, Nayler was given very harsh punishments, and the credibility of the Quakers was eroded. The backlash continued in the early 1660s as Quakers were arrested for their beliefs, and in 1662 Parliament passed an Act (also known as the âQuaker Actâ) which set out specific punishments for their disobedience.
Despite this controversy and persecution, the movement survived and managed to reform itself. In the aftermath of the Nayler controversy Fox spent his time in the late 50s to early 60s trying to reform and reorganise Quaker practice to something more organised and structured. In 1666, while Fox was briefly imprisoned, other Quaker leaders gathered in London to write âTestimony of the Brethrenâ, setting out more strict disciplinary rules for both Quaker groups and individuals to follow, which was ordered to be read in all Quaker meetings.[12] Eventually the paranoia of the mid 1600s gave way to one of more social pluralism and tolerance, eventually leading to the Toleration Act of 1688. The Quakers continued to grow and become especially influential in the growing American colonies, and future Quaker figures would play a key role in the fight against slavery.
The Early Quakers are probably the least good match of the 5 cases presented here. Theyâre not clearly an elite movement, they gain popular support but not political support, there is no clear singular controversy though Naylerâs is arguable, and their decline is partially related to state persecution (though this is more legal than violent). But a key reason to include them is that they are evidence of a movement which is able to arrest a significant decline and continue growing. What sets Quakerism apart from the 4 failed cases mentioned above is that Fox was willing to delegate and decentralise control of the movement, but also that leaders clearly stepped in in 1666 and reasserted how the movement ought to behave, allowing clear demarcation of those who were or were not following Quaker practice. Iâll save potential takeaways for EA to the Conclusions section.
Honourable Mentions
ChartismâThe Chartist movement was one of my first considerations as an analogy for EA. In 1938 the London Working Menâs Association drafted a petition with 6 political reforms, and support for the petition rapidly spread throughout the country. The fate of the Chartist movement came to a head in 1848, when revolutionary fervor sweeping across Europe inspired a massive Chartist demonstration in London with the intent to march on Parliament to have their proposals addressed. Anticipating this, Parliament bolstered the police presence in London significantly and hampered the protestâs progress towards Westminster. The Chartists backed down, and after 1848 its influence quickly faded. Nevertheless, 5 of their 6 reforms ended up being adopted by Britainâs political system, with the only exception being yearly elections to Parliament.
While interesting I decided not to include them as Chartism is clearly a mass movement and not an elite one, and there wasnât really a âscandalâ crisis that can parallel FTX.
LevellersâA radical group that emerged during the First English Civil War, as radical ideas gained new air following the victory of the New Model Army. Centered in London with influential proponents like William Walwyn, the Levellers advocated remarkably egalitarian principles for their era. Their moment of greatest influence came during the Putney Debates, where New Model Army soldiers and officers gathered to discuss Englandâs political future. However, the influence of Levellerism and other radical ideologies in the army started to concern the senior officers, including Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. After the defeat of the Royalists in the Second English Civil War and the execution of the King, the Levellers were essentially crushed by the new regime. After criticising the centralisation of power occuring under Cromwell, four leading levellers were arrested and held in the Tower of London for most of 1649. In May 1649, a group of Leveller mutineers in the Army were routed by Cromwell with many participants imprisoned, and three of the leaders executed. The movement had been crushed, former Leveller leaders (including those imprisoned) moderated and distanced themsevles, and Cromwell ended up gaining total control of Britain for a time.
The Levellers fit some of the dynamics I was looking for, but are not clearly members of the intellectual elite, and clearly were focused on gaining political power. One parallel I did find amusing was the former leaders of the movement proclaiming themselves only to be Leveller-Adjacent,[13] which is a very strong parallel, though it was written while the leaders were imprisoned so is possibly done so under duress or âextreme reputational concernâ
The NarodniksâThe cover photo for this post is Ilya Repinâs They Did Not Expect Him, depicting the surprise return of a Nardonik rebel home. The Narodniks were members of the intelligentsia in Russia in the mid-to-late 19th century,who were agitating against the conservative tsarvist regime. Their radical faction, Narodnaya Volya (âPeopleâs Willâ), supported violent action and terrorism to achieve their goals and were successful in assassinating Tsar Alexander II in 1881. This backfired spectacularly as this did not lead to mass support for the overthrow of the old regime, and the government responded by heavily cracking down by arresting and hanging many leaders of the movement. While unsuccessful, the did preview the kind of violent revolution that was to come to Russia in the early 20th century. In the end, despite being a primarily intellectual group declining after a key negative event, their appeal to explicit political violence to gain political power makes them a poor match for EA.
Related Work on other candidatesâNuĂąo wrote previous post on similar themes, and suggested âThe Spanish Enlightenmentâ as a candidate social movement with a rise-and-fall trajectory. I canât verify this as I have no access to the sources nor speak Spanish, but I think that âThe Enlightenmentâ is too broad of a category to count unless it refers to a specifically named movement. Iâd still recommend reading the post.
Aron Vallinder wrote a summary document on Confucius vs Mozi, where Mohism would take the place of EA. In particular, the âWhy did Mohism decline and disappear?â section seems relevant to the historical pattern Iâve been trying to find. Mohism was a potential candidate and I wouldâve liked to have included a non-Western example, but I couldnât find much evidence to turn it into a case study and only saw Vallinderâs post as I was finishing writing this post.
Takeaways and Conclusions
Recovery is not likely historicallyâThe simple fact is that the probability of movement survival following a scandal of FTXâs magnitude, and associated decline thereafter, appears low. Of my five case studies only the Early Quakers were able to reverse their fortunes, and even then they were clearly the least similar to EA based on the criteria I had set out. While EA has avoided an immediate collapse post-November â22, going by history base rates one wouldnât expect it to recover to its heyday of influence.
A singular leader is a major risk factor EA does not have â 3 of the 5 cases involved individual leaders whose actions delegitimised the entire movement,[14] and their inability to let go of control confirmed the eventual demise of the enterprise. By contrast, there is no singular âleaderâ or âfounderâ of EA, instead there are a range of groups and influential people. This relative decentralisation, even if thatâs âInner Circleâ, is actually a benefit for EA. By contrast, it makes the financial dependence on GoodVentures even more risky if Dustin and Cari ever decide to disassociate themselves with Effective Altruism.
The likely pathway is âgradual evaporationâ - The most likely outcome in my view, given the case studies and the trends I already see within EA myself, are for a prolonged period where EA is still around but people start to disassociate themselves from the movement,[15] stop framing their work in EA terms, or referencing EA when talking about the problems of society. This means that we should expect EA institutions to persist for some time, but that theyâd gradually lose influence, money, and membership, and other organisations or ideologies would take their place instead. A generalised social âAnti-AIâ movement might arise, for instance and sweep away EA in terms of interest and influence, or a new intellectually focused ideology could spring up and siphon off the demographic that EA and other elite-first ideologies try to recruit from.
Hamartiology is good way of explain the dynamics social movementsâIâm using âharmartiologyâ in a similar way that Scott does in his New Atheism article, that is: Ideologies function essentially as explanatory frameworks for whatâs wrong with the world and how to fix it. When a movement fails to provide compelling answers to contemporary problems, it tends to fade away, replaced by alternatives better suited to the socio-political environment. Saint-Simonianism couldnât offer a comprehensive socialist alternative to industrialisation; the Technocratic movement never witnessed the predicted collapse of the price system; Buchmanism had no substantive plan beyond converting influential people through house parties and so on. Does EA know what its harmartiology is? What are the alternative formulations of the worldâs ills that might draw current and prospective members away? Identifying these and acting pro-actively might be a crucial point on which the movementâs survival turns.
A Final Note on Historical Violence and its Modern-Day Relevance
Noteâthis part is highly speculative and likely controversial. I have kept it separate from the main body of the post, as it can be read and judged independently of these observations.
Like most of the people who will read this post, I was born in a very unusual part of history where liberal democratic norms are dominant and taken for granted. So I suppose that it shouldnât have been surprising to me that, when I examined the historical record where these norms are decidedly not dominant, that many social movements declined or ended because of explicit persecution[16] by the existing government or authorities. This makes senses from some perspective, when social movements challenge existing power structures, those structures often respond in kind, and if political violence isnât normative proscribed then that backlash often includes violence. This explains why of my 5 cases only the Quakers predate the 19th century, and suggests that if liberal democratic norms erode movements like EA could face more historically typical fates.
Why might this be relevant? Well, I think that the Second Trump Administration is weakening these norms in a much more rapid and extreme way than Trump 1.0. While I donât anticipate the deployment of state violence against ideological opponents for political ends in the same way as that governemnts of Europe used their militaries to crack down on the Revolutions of 1848, but it is now something I consider âincredibly unlikelyâ as opposed to âcompletely implausibleâ. I think this is an important, but uncomfortable, point to acknowledge. For EA specifically, there is now a potential, albeit very unlikely, endgame for the EA movement that involves Trump using Dustin Moskowitzâs connection with EA as an excuse to target the Democratic Party. Would he paint EAs as traitors for wanting to send your tax dollars Africans instead of American Citizens? Would he claim that the Democratic Party is responsible for funding bizarre eschatological murder cults?
Again, I donât think such futures are likely, but if American politics continues to get more tense and fraught into the run up to 2028, and jokes about a third term start to get less and less jokey, it could happen here. The idea of using political power to crack down on EAs has already been floated on anti-EA Twitter, or general portray EA types as traitors[17] or terrorists. And note that those who are spreading these are exactly the Twitter-Tech-Right that has been so empowered by Trumps victory, and as far as I can tell this group positions itself directly against the liberal order whose norms have proscribed political violence. To be clear, Iâm not predicting state suppression of EA. Instead, Iâm saying that if EAâs rise-and-fall happened in period without these liberal norms, it would be more likely to happen, and if those norms are being eroded and people with hostile sentiment toward EA have the ear of political and military power, you should adapt accordingly.
Cursory examples of very many, Paul Graham and eigenrobot
I think this is the direction NuĂąo has been going in.
This claim about Holden is in âbig if trueâ territory, for example
Even Carrick Flynn did not campaign explicitly as an EA, as opposed to say Bernie Sanders who did campaign as a socialist. This is the kind of distinction Iâm making, not that EA isnât interested in political power.
I think the preponderance of evidence points towards SBF justifying his actions through totalising utilitarian philosophy (like the 51% coin flips) and the possibility that his AI Safety investments could save the world, instead of the view of him using EA as a front to enrich himself. YMMV on this point, and its not essential to the thesis of the post.
The primary source here is Scott Alexanderâs excellent article, The Godlessness that Failed
The most extraordinary example is Ayaan Hirsi Ali becoming a Christian and now railing against the woke âmind virusâ
It does seem to fit the pattern on âcult leader who was new spiritual vision for society retreats to a private location and start stalking about sex a lotâ which is a whole PLA-quantity of red flags
The most detailed source I found on this was this 2011 Thesis, which goes into a lot of detail on the 1925-1931 rise and fall, and includes some primary sources too
With the bizarre exception of the Suez Canal, so maybe they get major plus points there, but itâs debatable how counterfactual that is
Which included Greenland!
Much of the information on earlier Quaker Governance can be found on wikipedia, or in this article
The introduction to the manifesto states that they were âcommonly though unjustly styled Levellersâ
In the case of Saint-Simonianism Iâm actually referring to Enfatin, rather than Saint-Simon himself
Hell, Iâm even doing that myself
And I donât mean âoverwhelms you with lawfareâ persecution I mean âhires mercenaries to chop you into piecesâ persecution
This example in particular has âwho will rid me of this turbulent priestâ vibes