I would hope that a majority of the EA community would agree that there aren’t good reasons for someone to claim ownership to billions of dollars. Perhaps there are those that disagree.
I would certainly disagree vehemently with this claim, and would hope the majority of EAs also disagree. I might clarify that this isn’t about arbitrarily claiming ownership of billions of dollars—it’s a question of whether you can earn billions of dollars through mutual exchange consistent with legal rules.
We might believe, as EAs, that it is either a duty or a supererogatory action to spend one’s money (especially as a billionaire) to do good, but this need not imply that one does not “own their money.”
(“EA community, in that some of it prioritizes helping the worst off, has a much stronger moral claim to donors money than do the donors” may also prove a bit too much in light of some recent events)
I would certainly disagree vehemently with this claim, and would hope the majority of EAs also disagree. I might clarify that this isn’t about arbitrarily claiming ownership of billions of dollars—it’s a question of whether you can earn billions of dollars through mutual exchange consistent with legal rules.
We might believe, as EAs, that it is either a duty or a supererogatory action to spend one’s money (especially as a billionaire) to do good, but this need not imply that one does not “own their money.”
(“EA community, in that some of it prioritizes helping the worst off, has a much stronger moral claim to donors money than do the donors” may also prove a bit too much in light of some recent events)