Criticism of effective altruism

TagLast edit: May 12, 2025, 7:40 PM by Dane Valerie

Criticism of effective altruism collects critical discussion of effective altruism ideas (as opposed to criticism of effective altruist organizations, causes, culture, or specific pieces of effective altruist work).

EA is about maximization, and maximization is perilous

Holden KarnofskySep 2, 2022, 5:13 PM

506 points

269 votes

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60 comments7 min readEA link

The motivated reasoning critique of effective altruism

LinchSep 14, 2021, 8:43 PM

286 points

128 votes

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59 comments18 min readEA link

A critique of effective altruism

Ben KuhnDec 3, 2013, 1:39 AM

30 points

15 votes

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5 comments12 min readEA link

(www.lesswrong.com)

The case against “EA cause areas”

nadavbJul 17, 2021, 6:37 AM

148 points

88 votes

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24 comments13 min readEA link

The case of the missing cause prioritisation research

weeatquinceAug 16, 2020, 12:21 AM

309 points

168 votes

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88 comments16 min readEA link

Why I left EA

LilaFeb 19, 2017, 5:42 PM

50 points

60 votes

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59 comments2 min readEA link

Michael Nielsen’s “Notes on effective altruism”

PabloJun 3, 2022, 8:20 AM

220 points

118 votes

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49 comments5 min readEA link

(michaelnotebook.com)

Critiques of EA that I want to read

abrahamroweJun 19, 2022, 10:22 PM

464 points

214 votes

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85 comments11 min readEA link

Winners of the EA Criticism and Red Teaming Contest

LizkaOct 1, 2022, 1:50 AM

226 points

95 votes

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41 comments19 min readEA link

Noticing the skulls, longtermism edition

DavidmanheimOct 5, 2021, 7:08 AM

70 points

72 votes

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75 comments2 min readEA link

Milan Griffes on EA blindspots

technicalitiesMar 18, 2022, 4:17 PM

79 points

69 votes

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53 comments2 min readEA link

The EA Community and Long-Term Future Funds Lack Transparency and Accountability

Evan_GaensbauerJul 23, 2018, 12:39 AM

73 points

69 votes

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56 comments12 min readEA link

Some blindspots in rationality and effective altruism

RemmeltMar 21, 2021, 6:01 PM

56 points

43 votes

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6 comments14 min readEA link

Effective Altruism is an Ideology, not (just) a Question

James FodorJun 28, 2019, 7:18 AM

178 points

117 votes

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46 comments16 min readEA link

(thegodlesstheist.com)

Effective altruists are already institutionalists and are doing far more than unworkable longtermism—A response to “On the Differences between Ecomodernism and Effective Altruism”

jackvaFeb 21, 2023, 6:08 PM

78 points

34 votes

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3 comments12 min readEA link

Effective altruism is self-recommending

BenHoffmanApr 23, 2017, 6:11 AM

67 points

62 votes

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48 comments28 min readEA link

(Crosspost) Is Effective Altruism just a giant meme?

cryptopsyfan69420Oct 5, 2024, 11:33 PM

−18 points

20 votes

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5 comments4 min readEA link

Objections to Value-Alignment between Effective Altruists

CarlaZoeCJul 15, 2020, 4:07 PM

228 points

175 votes

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49 comments17 min readEA link

Pre-announcing a contest for critiques and red teaming

LizkaMar 25, 2022, 11:52 AM

173 points

76 votes

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27 comments2 min readEA link

A libertarian socialist’s view on how EA can improve

freedomandutilityDec 30, 2022, 1:07 PM

143 points

78 votes

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32 comments7 min readEA link

Improving EA events: start early & invest in content and stewardship

Vaidehi Agarwalla 🔸Dec 12, 2022, 7:43 PM

32 points

12 votes

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3 comments16 min readEA link

Is Effective Altruism Neocolonial? (an overview of the arguments and counterarguments)

Bob JacobsJul 22, 2025, 2:14 PM

84 points

52 votes

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21 comments10 min readEA link

(bobjacobs.substack.com)

NYT—What if Charity Shouldn’t be Optimized

jackvaDec 7, 2024, 10:05 PM

50 points

18 votes

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12 comments1 min readEA link

(www.nytimes.com)

Rowing and Steering the Effective Altruism Movement

jtmJan 9, 2022, 5:28 PM

146 points

81 votes

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14 comments17 min readEA link

Four categories of effective altruism critiques

jtmApr 9, 2022, 3:48 PM

100 points

56 votes

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11 comments3 min readEA link

Issues with centralised grantmaking

MathiasKB🔸Apr 4, 2022, 10:45 AM

149 points

75 votes

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56 comments3 min readEA link

[Linkpost] Some Thoughts on Effective Altruism

Sebastian SchwieckerSep 18, 2020, 10:05 AM

31 points

22 votes

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26 comments1 min readEA link

Drowning children are rare

BenHoffmanMay 28, 2019, 5:33 PM

−9 points

34 votes

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36 comments5 min readEA link

(benjaminrosshoffman.com)

The EA community does not own its donors’ money

Nick WhitakerJan 18, 2023, 6:59 PM

645 points

326 votes

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116 comments4 min readEA link

Towards a Weaker Longtermism

DavidmanheimAug 8, 2021, 8:31 AM

106 points

65 votes

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72 comments3 min readEA link

Ben Hoffman & Holden Karnofsky

Milan GriffesMar 20, 2021, 4:07 AM

0 points

21 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

Where is the Social Justice in EA?

LiaHApr 5, 2022, 4:29 AM

39 points

62 votes

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35 comments4 min readEA link

Progress studies vs. longtermist EA: some differences

Max_DanielMay 31, 2021, 9:35 PM

84 points

35 votes

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27 comments3 min readEA link

The Power of Dominant Logic: How the EA Community is Mainstreaming Global Apartheid

AlimiOct 3, 2023, 7:49 AM

8 points

41 votes

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12 comments7 min readEA link

Effective Altruism, Before the Memes Started

Nicholas KrossOct 13, 2021, 2:51 AM

38 points

42 votes

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23 comments10 min readEA link

(www.thinkingmuchbetter.com)

Democratising Risk—or how EA deals with critics

CarlaZoeCDec 28, 2021, 3:05 PM

268 points

289 votes

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311 comments4 min readEA link

Misconceptions about effective altruism (80,000 Hours)

Aaron Gertler 🔸Aug 7, 2020, 1:26 AM

29 points

9 votes

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0 comments9 min readEA link

(80000hours.org)

Why Not EA? [paper draft]

Richard Y Chappell🔸May 9, 2023, 7:03 PM

48 points

37 votes

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71 comments2 min readEA link

(www.dropbox.com)

Doing EA Better

ConcernedEAsJan 17, 2023, 8:09 PM

263 points

439 votes

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384 comments70 min readEA link

[Link] The Optimizer’s Curse & Wrong-Way Reductions

Chris SmithApr 4, 2019, 1:28 PM

94 points

44 votes

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61 comments1 min readEA link

Billionaire philanthropy (Part 7: Donor discretion)

Matrice JacobineNov 25, 2024, 8:38 AM

37 points

16 votes

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17 comments1 min readEA link

(reflectivealtruism.com)

Review of The Good It Promises, the Harm It Does

Richard Y Chappell🔸May 2, 2023, 3:45 PM

221 points

130 votes

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55 comments10 min readEA link

(rychappell.substack.com)

Effective Altruism: Not as bad as you think

JamesÖz 🔸Nov 24, 2022, 1:11 PM

169 points

70 votes

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18 comments10 min readEA link

(jamesozden.substack.com)

Open Wallets, Empty Hearts [linkpost]

Benjamin M.Nov 23, 2024, 11:49 PM

34 points

15 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

(www.thenewatlantis.com)

Blog update: Reflective altruism

David ThorstadMay 14, 2023, 11:07 AM

169 points

93 votes

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22 comments9 min readEA link

The Future Might Not Be So Great

JacyJun 30, 2022, 1:01 PM

145 points

152 votes

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118 comments34 min readEA link

(www.sentienceinstitute.org)

Who is Uncomfortable Critiquing Who, Around EA?

Ozzie GooenFeb 24, 2023, 5:55 AM

155 points

55 votes

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15 comments11 min readEA link

Emilia Wilson: Universalised critiques of EA (lightning talk)

EA GlobalNov 3, 2017, 7:43 AM

13 points

5 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(www.youtube.com)

[Linkpost] Leif Wenar’s The Deaths of Effective Altruism

EarthlingMar 27, 2024, 3:35 PM

46 points

45 votes

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58 comments1 min readEA link

(www.wired.com)

How Democratic Is Effective Altruism — Really?

Maxim VandaeleApr 16, 2025, 8:29 AM

12 points

13 votes

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12 comments1 min readEA link

(bobjacobs.substack.com)

The New Humanitarian: ‘GiveDirectly loses $900,000 in DRC mobile cash fraud’

altaccNov 21, 2023, 10:35 AM

4 points

4 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

(www.thenewhumanitarian.org)

Rhodri Davies on why he’s not an EA

SanjayAug 18, 2022, 11:50 AM

105 points

55 votes

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19 comments2 min readEA link

(whyphilanthropymatters.com)

Open Letter to Young EAs

Leif WenarOct 11, 2024, 4:15 PM

14 points

52 votes

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44 comments1 min readEA link

Keeping everyone motivated: a case for effective careers outside of the highest impact EA organizations

FJehnAug 22, 2019, 6:43 AM

39 points

37 votes

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13 comments4 min readEA link

Critique of the notion that impact follows a power-law distribution

Sarah WeilerMar 14, 2024, 10:28 AM

89 points

64 votes

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89 comments18 min readEA link

EA and the United Nations

Lisa GMar 30, 2022, 9:09 AM

38 points

33 votes

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11 comments8 min readEA link

Patrick Collison on Effective Altruism

SamuelKnocheJun 23, 2020, 9:04 AM

98 points

41 votes

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4 comments3 min readEA link

Let’s make EA easier to critique!

freedomandutilityApr 7, 2022, 11:35 PM

17 points

18 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

Open EA Global

Scott AlexanderSep 1, 2022, 4:26 AM

443 points

367 votes

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154 comments5 min readEA link

Transcript of Twitter Discussion on EA from June 2022

Zvi Jun 6, 2022, 1:47 PM

83 points

48 votes

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28 comments1 min readEA link

Thread for discussing critical review of Doing Good Better in the London Review of Books

Benjamin_ToddSep 21, 2015, 2:27 AM

13 points

12 votes

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20 comments8 min readEA link

EA capital allocation is an inner ring

Milan GriffesMar 19, 2021, 4:06 AM

−57 points

33 votes

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15 comments3 min readEA link

Pitching EA to someone who believes certain goods can’t be assigned a value

Nick CorvinoJul 21, 2021, 8:05 PM

18 points

8 votes

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5 comments2 min readEA link

How the Wealthy Use “Charity” to Screw Everyone Else with Amy Schiller—Factually! - #238 (by Adam Conover)

Joseph QuevedoJan 5, 2024, 2:54 AM

0 points

10 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

(www.youtube.com)

Does it matter that some EAs think black people are stupider than white people?

britomartJan 14, 2023, 12:14 PM

−46 points

32 votes

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14 comments2 min readEA link

Some preliminaries and a claim

Milan GriffesFeb 25, 2021, 5:01 AM

−36 points

40 votes

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33 comments3 min readEA link

Structural Flaws in the EA Movement

Leo_WuJul 17, 2025, 2:23 PM

10 points

28 votes

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16 comments50 min readEA link

Wealth redistribution: are we on the same page?

dEAsignOct 3, 2023, 9:34 PM

10 points

8 votes

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5 comments3 min readEA link

Motivation gaps: Why so much EA criticism is hostile and lazy

titotalApr 22, 2024, 11:49 AM

213 points

83 votes

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44 comments19 min readEA link

(titotal.substack.com)

Anonymous EA comments

RobBensingerFeb 7, 2017, 9:42 PM

42 points

33 votes

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91 comments2 min readEA link

Reflection on Bostrom’s comments as a woman in EA

lillyJan 13, 2023, 10:07 AM

59 points

105 votes

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5 comments2 min readEA link

Alice Crary’s philosophical-institutional critique of EA: “Why one should not be an effective altruist”

ben.smithFeb 25, 2021, 8:06 PM

21 points

19 votes

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7 comments2 min readEA link

Lessons from my time in Effective Altruism

richard_ngoJan 15, 2021, 9:54 PM

292 points

173 votes

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24 comments8 min readEA link

Podcast Interview with David Thorstad on Existential Risk, The Time of Perils, and Billionaire Philanthropy

Nick_AnyosJun 4, 2023, 8:52 AM

38 points

16 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(critiquesofea.podbean.com)

Avoiding Groupthink in Intro Fellowships (and Diversifying Longtermism)

seanrsonSep 14, 2021, 9:00 PM

67 points

33 votes

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10 comments1 min readEA link

Review of Past Grants: The $100,000 Grant for a Video Game?

NicolaeJun 3, 2024, 2:28 PM

209 points

126 votes

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64 comments2 min readEA link

Arguments for utilitarianism are impossibility arguments under unbounded prospects

Michael St Jules 🔸Oct 7, 2023, 9:09 PM

39 points

25 votes

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48 comments21 min readEA link

The “TESCREAL” Bungle

ozymandiasJun 3, 2024, 10:42 PM

112 points

39 votes

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15 comments13 min readEA link

(asteriskmag.com)

Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’

Jeroen De Ryck 🔹Jul 17, 2023, 7:24 PM

81 points

32 votes

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10 comments2 min readEA link

(medialibrary.uantwerpen.be)

Summary of “The Most Good We Can Do or the Best Person We Can Be?”—a Critique of EA

EdoAradNov 28, 2020, 7:41 AM

14 points

11 votes

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3 comments2 min readEA link

Dealing with Network Constraints (My Model of EA Careers)

RaemonFeb 28, 2019, 1:34 AM

49 points

29 votes

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12 comments2 min readEA link

The community’s conception of value drifting is sometimes too narrow

Mati_RoySep 4, 2020, 2:00 AM

39 points

18 votes

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22 comments3 min readEA link

Selective truth-telling: concerns about EA leadership communication.

tcelferactNov 15, 2022, 7:45 PM

93 points

87 votes

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45 comments5 min readEA link

Bad Omens in Current Community Building

Theo HawkingMay 12, 2022, 3:41 PM

595 points

347 votes

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132 comments18 min readEA link

A Special Issue on Effective Altruism in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy

Artūrs KaņepājsFeb 6, 2024, 7:29 AM

13 points

6 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

(www.law.georgetown.edu)

EA logic creates mental suffering. Here is how the misery trap might be fixed.

Davidh96Jan 30, 2023, 2:26 PM

−6 points

14 votes

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1 comment5 min readEA link

Announcing a contest: EA Criticism and Red Teaming

LizkaJun 1, 2022, 6:58 PM

276 points

143 votes

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64 comments13 min readEA link

[Question] What concrete steps have been taken after Kathleen Forths Suicide?

anonymousnessNov 30, 2022, 1:37 PM

11 points

13 votes

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3 comments1 min readEA link

A Newcomer’s Critique of EA—Underprioritizing Systems Change?

SB_NENov 12, 2022, 11:04 PM

27 points

14 votes

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10 comments8 min readEA link

[Question] What do you think the effective altruism movement sucks at?

Evan_GaensbauerJan 30, 2023, 6:38 AM

9 points

11 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

Beware surprising and suspicious convergence

Gregory Lewis🔸Jan 24, 2016, 7:11 PM

232 points

131 votes

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21 comments15 min readEA link

“The job interview process is borderline predatory”

Anonymous25Jan 13, 2023, 5:23 PM

6 points

27 votes

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5 comments1 min readEA link

(www.vox.com)

Improving the Effective Altruism Network

Kerry_VaughanAug 31, 2016, 7:44 PM

26 points

17 votes

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8 comments13 min readEA link

Red Teaming CEA’s Community Building Work

AnonymousEAForumAccountSep 1, 2022, 2:42 PM

299 points

121 votes

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68 comments66 min readEA link

The Phil Torres essay in Aeon attacking Longtermism might be good

timunderwoodOct 21, 2021, 12:32 AM

22 points

30 votes

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10 comments2 min readEA link

Objections to effective altruism

EA HandbookDec 29, 2020, 8:00 AM

4 points

3 votes

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2 comments7 min readEA link

(www.effectivealtruism.org)

Organizations prioritising neat signals of EA alignment might systematically miss good candidates

evanpriceApr 15, 2022, 11:33 AM

55 points

24 votes

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10 comments4 min readEA link

An Evaluation of Animal Charity Evaluators

eaanonymous1234Sep 2, 2022, 4:33 AM

103 points

41 votes

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6 comments43 min readEA link

Are you really in a race? The Cautionary Tales of Szilárd and Ellsberg

HaydnBelfieldMay 19, 2022, 8:42 AM

494 points

247 votes

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44 comments18 min readEA link

What I learned from the criticism contest

technicalitiesOct 1, 2022, 1:39 PM

171 points

74 votes

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32 comments6 min readEA link

A critical review of GiveWell’s 2022 cost-effectiveness model

FroolowAug 25, 2022, 3:35 PM

236 points

94 votes

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20 comments38 min readEA link

Effective Altruism Governance: still a non-issue

Arturo MaciasJan 22, 2023, 11:50 AM

−19 points

25 votes

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1 comment5 min readEA link

The career coordination problem

MathiasKB🔸Mar 16, 2019, 7:28 PM

60 points

33 votes

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9 comments2 min readEA link

“Doing Good Best” isn’t the EA ideal

DavidmanheimSep 16, 2022, 12:06 PM

128 points

88 votes

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17 comments6 min readEA link

Why defensive writing is bad for community epistemics

EmrikOct 8, 2022, 11:38 PM

76 points

38 votes

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28 comments8 min readEA link

Methods for improving uncertainty analysis in EA cost-effectiveness models

FroolowAug 29, 2022, 6:07 PM

127 points

46 votes

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8 comments37 min readEA link

Variance of the annual conflict and epidemic/pandemic deaths as a fraction of the global population

Vasco Grilo🔸Sep 10, 2024, 5:02 PM

16 points

2 votes

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0 comments2 min readEA link

(Self-)Criticism Doesn’t Solve Problems. We Do.

Evan_GaensbauerJul 4, 2022, 8:05 AM

5 points

5 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

Effective altruism is worse than traditional philanthropy in the way it excludes the extreme poor in the global south.

Jaime SevillaDec 17, 2022, 2:44 PM

57 points

76 votes

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29 comments2 min readEA link

(dear-humanity.org)

Criticism Thread: What things should OpenPhil improve on?

anonymousEA20Feb 4, 2023, 8:16 AM

85 points

72 votes

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8 comments2 min readEA link

Longtermist EA needs more Phase 2 work

Owen Cotton-BarrattApr 20, 2022, 2:42 PM

241 points

115 votes

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34 comments5 min readEA link

Freddie DeBoer Is Wrong About Effective Altruism

Bentham's BulldogDec 23, 2023, 6:02 AM

29 points

14 votes

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4 comments11 min readEA link

The Effective Altruism movement is not above conflicts of interest

sphorDec 16, 2022, 3:05 PM

81 points

45 votes

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25 comments6 min readEA link

(medium.com)

Four practices where EAs ought to course-correct

kbogJul 30, 2019, 5:48 AM

53 points

60 votes

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43 comments11 min readEA link

My new article on EA and the systemic change objection

tdsymeFeb 15, 2019, 6:27 PM

11 points

15 votes

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21 comments1 min readEA link

Blog update: Reflective altruism

David ThorstadDec 15, 2024, 4:05 PM

106 points

72 votes

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12 comments11 min readEA link

Questioning the Foundations of EA

Wei DaiAug 27, 2022, 8:44 PM

103 points

48 votes

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21 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] What are some potential coordination failures in our community?

EdoAradDec 12, 2020, 8:00 AM

28 points

9 votes

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28 comments1 min readEA link

EA Projects I’d Like to See

finmMar 13, 2022, 6:12 PM

155 points

71 votes

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42 comments27 min readEA link

(www.finmoorhouse.com)

It’s Time to Fix How Effective Altruism Is Perceived

Evan_GaensbauerJul 26, 2022, 2:17 AM

10 points

7 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

Responses to “The Logic of Effective Altruism”

EA HandbookJul 1, 2015, 7:00 AM

14 points

8 votes

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0 comments12 min readEA link

Julia Galef and Angus Deaton: podcast discussion of RCT issues (excerpts)

Aaron Gertler 🔸Jan 4, 2021, 9:35 PM

29 points

10 votes

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5 comments9 min readEA link

(rationallyspeakingpodcast.org)

Samo Burja: What the collapse of FTX means for effective altruism

peterhartreeNov 17, 2022, 12:16 PM

46 points

41 votes

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9 comments7 min readEA link

(brief.bismarckanalysis.com)

Thoughts on Kenan Malik’s recent EA Article

JWS 🔸Oct 10, 2023, 6:28 PM

45 points

14 votes

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10 comments11 min readEA link

What is Intersectionality Theory? What does it mean for EA?

John Bridge 🔸Mar 27, 2022, 8:41 PM

28 points

31 votes

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42 comments5 min readEA link

Virtue signaling is sometimes the best or the only metric we have

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Apr 28, 2022, 4:51 AM

62 points

40 votes

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11 comments5 min readEA link

Don’t we need political action rather than charity?

Luke FreemanMay 17, 2021, 1:13 AM

11 points

10 votes

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3 comments2 min readEA link

(www.givingwhatwecan.org)

The Bulwark’s Article On Effective Altruism Is a Short Circuit

Bentham's BulldogSep 27, 2023, 1:36 AM

21 points

16 votes

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5 comments9 min readEA link

Criticism of EA Criticisms: Is the real disagreement about cause prio?

AkashSep 2, 2022, 12:15 PM

30 points

23 votes

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5 comments3 min readEA link

[Question] Has this EA critique article been discussed/responded to?

Noah StarbuckMay 1, 2022, 3:44 PM

8 points

7 votes

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5 comments1 min readEA link

Is effective altruism really to blame for the OpenAI debacle?

GarrisonNov 23, 2023, 12:44 AM

13 points

6 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(garrisonlovely.substack.com)

EAA is relatively overinvesting in corporate welfare reforms

katoJan 6, 2022, 2:47 AM

69 points

40 votes

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30 comments5 min readEA link

Effective Altruism Criticisms

Gavin Palmer (heroLFG.com)Aug 11, 2022, 4:07 PM

1 point

1 vote

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1 comment5 min readEA link

[Link] What opinions do you hold that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of effective altruists? Anonymous form.

arikrSep 10, 2019, 7:38 PM

65 points

65 votes

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62 comments1 min readEA link

Freddie deBoer: Effective Altruism Has a Novelty Problem

Jack CunninghamAug 10, 2022, 6:10 PM

11 points

14 votes

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6 comments1 min readEA link

(freddiedeboer.substack.com)

Common responses to earning to give

Ben KuhnJun 10, 2013, 4:00 AM

1 point

1 vote

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1 comment5 min readEA link

Peter Singer on the 80K podcast

Jon_BeharDec 18, 2019, 5:17 PM

31 points

8 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(80000hours.org)

A new media outlet focused in part on philanthropy

teddyschleiferMar 12, 2022, 5:21 PM

47 points

36 votes

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14 comments1 min readEA link

Capitalism, power and epistemology: a critique of EA

Matthew_DoranAug 22, 2022, 2:20 PM

17 points

63 votes

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19 comments23 min readEA link

Conspiracy Theories, Left Futurism, and the Attack on TESCREAL

jacquesthibsJul 5, 2023, 10:56 PM

52 points

16 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

(medium.com)

The Motte and Bailey for Expected Value

freedomandutilityDec 12, 2022, 11:54 AM

6 points

12 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

Help me find the crux between EA/XR and Progress Studies

jasoncrawfordJun 2, 2021, 6:47 PM

119 points

55 votes

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37 comments3 min readEA link

Tyler Cowen on effective altruism (December 2022)

peterhartreeJan 13, 2023, 9:39 AM

76 points

34 votes

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11 comments20 min readEA link

(youtu.be)

EAs underestimate uncertainty in cause prioritisation

freedomandutilityAug 23, 2022, 2:04 PM

120 points

54 votes

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20 comments2 min readEA link

The Folly of “EAs Should”

DavidmanheimJan 6, 2021, 7:04 AM

75 points

65 votes

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47 comments4 min readEA link

Effective altruism organizations should avoid using “polarizing techniques”

Joey🔸Jun 12, 2023, 1:41 PM

172 points

79 votes

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23 comments4 min readEA link

A Critical Review of Open Philanthropy’s Bet On Criminal Justice Reform

NunoSempereJun 16, 2022, 4:40 PM

307 points

147 votes

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97 comments26 min readEA link

A socialist’s view on liberal progressive criticisms of EA

freedomandutilityNov 21, 2022, 11:54 PM

150 points

83 votes

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18 comments4 min readEA link

If you want to disagree with effective altruism, you need to disagree one of these three claims

Benjamin_ToddSep 25, 2016, 3:01 PM

31 points

24 votes

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7 comments7 min readEA link

20 Critiques of AI Safety That I Found on Twitter

Daniel KirmaniJun 23, 2022, 3:11 PM

14 points

22 votes

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13 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] What are examples of EA work being reviewed by non-EA researchers?

Aaron Gertler 🔸Mar 24, 2020, 6:04 AM

63 points

30 votes

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17 comments1 min readEA link

In Continued Defense Of Effective Altruism — Scott Alexander

PabloNov 29, 2023, 10:37 AM

163 points

57 votes

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30 comments1 min readEA link

(www.astralcodexten.com)

The Case for Shorttermism—by Robert Wright

Miquel Banchs-Piqué (prev. mikbp)Aug 16, 2022, 8:00 PM

24 points

13 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(nonzero.substack.com)

Sam Harris and Will MacAskill: Podcast transcript (2020)

Aaron Gertler 🔸Jul 3, 2021, 9:48 PM

30 points

10 votes

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0 comments68 min readEA link

Protect Our Future’s Crypto Politics

Radical Empath IsmamJan 29, 2023, 9:07 PM

67 points

39 votes

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19 comments5 min readEA link

Effective Altruism and Free Riding

sbehmerMar 27, 2020, 7:12 PM

124 points

61 votes

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39 comments11 min readEA link

Just Say No to Utilitarianism

Arjun PanicksseryJun 3, 2022, 4:58 PM

3 points

22 votes

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15 comments1 min readEA link

(arjunpanickssery.substack.com)

List of important ways we may be wrong

D0TheMathJan 8, 2022, 4:30 PM

32 points

24 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

What 80,000 Hours learned by interviewing people we respect ‘anonymously’

80000_HoursJun 18, 2020, 12:50 PM

55 points

27 votes

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2 comments3 min readEA link

Tensions between different approaches to doing good

JamesÖz 🔸Mar 19, 2023, 6:14 PM

111 points

53 votes

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5 comments11 min readEA link

EA risks falling into a “meta trap”. But we can avoid it.

Peter WildefordAug 25, 2015, 3:22 PM

115 points

87 votes

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65 comments6 min readEA link

Unflattering aspects of Effective Altruism

NunoSempereMar 15, 2024, 10:47 AM

192 points

108 votes

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53 comments1 min readEA link

The ITN framework, cost-effectiveness, and cause prioritisation

John G. HalsteadOct 6, 2019, 5:26 AM

145 points

63 votes

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20 comments14 min readEA link

A podcast episode exploring critiques of effective altruism (with Michael Nielsen and Ajeya Cotra)

spencergSep 1, 2022, 4:13 PM

14 points

6 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

(clearerthinkingpodcast.com)

The perspectives on effective altruism we don’t hear

Jess_WhittlestoneDec 30, 2014, 12:04 PM

35 points

26 votes

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33 comments5 min readEA link

EA’s Image Problem

Tom_DavidsonOct 11, 2015, 1:44 PM

30 points

32 votes

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60 comments9 min readEA link

Against Anthropic Shadow

tobycrisford 🔸Jun 3, 2022, 5:49 PM

49 points

19 votes

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13 comments13 min readEA link

The Strange Shortage of Moral Optimizers

Richard Y Chappell🔸Jun 7, 2022, 3:23 PM

90 points

44 votes

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26 comments5 min readEA link

(rychappell.substack.com)

What might FTX mean for effective giving and EA funding

Jack LewarsNov 15, 2022, 1:24 PM

204 points

108 votes

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26 comments9 min readEA link

EA is risk-constrained

EdoAradJun 24, 2020, 7:54 AM

70 points

33 votes

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23 comments1 min readEA link

EA will likely get more attention soon

Julia_Wise🔸May 12, 2022, 2:01 AM

225 points

124 votes

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28 comments2 min readEA link

Defending Philanthropy Against Democracy

Cullen 🔸Oct 6, 2019, 7:20 AM

40 points

24 votes

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23 comments5 min readEA link

In defence of epistemic modesty

Gregory Lewis🔸Oct 29, 2017, 7:15 PM

140 points

81 votes

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52 comments37 min readEA link

“Existential Risk” is badly named and leads to narrow focus on astronomical waste

freedomandutilityAug 22, 2022, 8:25 PM

39 points

16 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

A digression about area-specific work in LatAm

Jaime SevillaDec 17, 2022, 2:59 PM

46 points

28 votes

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11 comments1 min readEA link

Effective altruism’s billionaires aren’t taxed enough. But they’re trying.

Luke FreemanAug 24, 2022, 9:45 AM

56 points

32 votes

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51 comments1 min readEA link

(www.vox.com)

Resource for criticisms and red teaming

LizkaJun 1, 2022, 6:58 PM

65 points

30 votes

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3 comments8 min readEA link

Concerns over EA’s possible neglect of experts

JackMDec 16, 2022, 10:10 PM

34 points

25 votes

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16 comments2 min readEA link

Focusing on bad criticism is dangerous to your epistemics

LizkaMar 15, 2024, 11:57 PM

78 points

28 votes

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5 comments5 min readEA link

Survey: do you think infinite ethics is a serious problem?

HmashAug 9, 2022, 10:09 PM

8 points

4 votes

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9 comments1 min readEA link

Chicken welfare reforms may be beneficial or harmful accounting for effects on wild arthropods?

Vasco Grilo🔸May 9, 2025, 3:53 PM

74 points

32 votes

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52 comments15 min readEA link

Linkpost: “Better vaguely right than precisely wrong in effective altruism: the problem of marginalism”

JosephAug 10, 2023, 6:47 PM

20 points

11 votes

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1 comment2 min readEA link

(www.cambridge.org)

Debate: organisations using Rethink Priorities’ mainline welfare ranges should consider effects on soil nematodes, mites, and springtails, or at least be transparent about their reasons for neglecting them?

Vasco Grilo🔸Jul 13, 2025, 11:41 AM

30 points

25 votes

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66 comments6 min readEA link

Population Ethics Without Axiology: A Framework

Lukas_GloorAug 2, 2022, 3:59 PM

82 points

38 votes

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18 comments26 min readEA link

A Systematic Response to FTX/SBF-Based Criticisms of EA

Alex StrasserSep 26, 2023, 7:21 AM

37 points

16 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

(gospeldemands.com)

Émile P. Torres’s history of dishonesty and harassment

anonymous-for-obvious-reasonsMay 1, 2024, 12:47 PM

250 points

113 votes

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95 comments40 min readEA link

Some quick notes on “effective altruism”

Jonas_Mar 24, 2021, 3:30 PM

210 points

135 votes

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89 comments3 min readEA link

Against neglectedness

ArepoNov 1, 2017, 11:09 PM

14 points

19 votes

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18 comments12 min readEA link

A Challenge to Effective Altruism’s Premises

Fuggazi NomineiJan 8, 2024, 3:53 PM

−19 points

8 votes

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4 comments3 min readEA link

Isn’t this a conflict of interest and self-dealing on the part of CEA/EVF leadership?

Tony SinclairDec 14, 2022, 10:56 PM

1 point

31 votes

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14 comments1 min readEA link

There are no people to be effectively altruistic for on a dead planet: EA funding of projects without conducting Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Health and Safety Assessments (HSAs) and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) = catastrophe

Deborah W.A. FoulkesMay 26, 2022, 11:46 PM

12 points

38 votes

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22 comments8 min readEA link

If you don’t have good evidence one thing is better than another, don’t pretend you do

Robert_WiblinDec 21, 2015, 7:19 PM

54 points

52 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

Review of ITN Critiques

DirectedEvolutionOct 9, 2019, 8:27 AM

77 points

35 votes

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6 comments6 min readEA link

The marketing gap and a plea for moral inclusivity

MichaelPlantJul 8, 2017, 11:34 AM

40 points

35 votes

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46 comments8 min readEA link

Empirical critique of EA from another direction

tonzAug 22, 2022, 9:13 AM

2 points

3 votes

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0 comments6 min readEA link

EA Culture and Causes: Less is More

Allen BellAug 16, 2022, 2:04 PM

83 points

48 votes

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10 comments14 min readEA link

The case for building more and better epistemic institutions in the effective altruism community

stefan.torgesMar 29, 2020, 5:01 PM

131 points

61 votes

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22 comments6 min readEA link

Saving the world sucks

Defective AlturismJan 12, 2024, 9:28 AM

−9 points

7 votes

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2 comments3 min readEA link

(www.lesswrong.com)

How should Effective Altruists think about Leftist Ethics?

AppliedDivinityStudiesNov 27, 2021, 1:25 PM

82 points

47 votes

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20 comments4 min readEA link

Select Challenges with Criticism & Evaluation Around EA

Ozzie GooenFeb 10, 2023, 11:36 PM

111 points

46 votes

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5 comments6 min readEA link

(quri.substack.com)

Development RCTs Are Good Actually

ozymandiasMar 28, 2024, 1:37 PM

84 points

39 votes

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6 comments10 min readEA link

I am taking a break from the EA community. Here are a few words about why.

eaforumthrowaway20211210Dec 11, 2021, 4:49 AM

14 points

10 votes

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6 comments1 min readEA link

Sophie’s Choice as a time traveler: a critique of strong longtermism and why we should fund more development.

SaludCinderellaApr 8, 2022, 11:44 PM

17 points

13 votes

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6 comments8 min readEA link

Phil Torres’ article: “The Dangerous Ideas of ‘Longtermism’ and ‘Existential Risk’”

Ben_EisenpressAug 6, 2021, 7:19 AM

6 points

34 votes

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13 comments1 min readEA link

Unpacking Martin Sandbu’s recent(ish) take on EA

JWS 🔸Jan 20, 2024, 1:16 AM

68 points

27 votes

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2 comments15 min readEA link

Funding by Voting: Ignorance and Irrationality

pradyuprasadJan 19, 2023, 11:11 PM

51 points

27 votes

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7 comments2 min readEA link

My highly personal skepticism braindump on existential risk from artificial intelligence.

NunoSempereJan 23, 2023, 8:08 PM

438 points

183 votes

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116 comments14 min readEA link

(nunosempere.com)

Effective altruism’s odd attitude to mental health

MichaelPlantApr 29, 2022, 8:57 AM

104 points

105 votes

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26 comments2 min readEA link

The biggest risk of free-spending EA is not optics or motivated cognition, but grift

Ben KuhnMay 14, 2022, 2:13 AM

181 points

95 votes

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27 comments4 min readEA link

[Question] Consolidation of EA criticism?

JosephSep 29, 2024, 4:51 PM

25 points

11 votes

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14 comments2 min readEA link

Remarks about Longtermism inspired by Torres’s ‘Against Longtermism’

carboniferous_umbraculumFeb 2, 2022, 4:20 PM

43 points

18 votes

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0 comments24 min readEA link

Utilitarianism and the replaceability of desires and attachments

Michael St Jules 🔸Jul 27, 2024, 1:57 AM

35 points

15 votes

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13 comments12 min readEA link

Disagreeing about what’s effective isn’t disagreeing with effective altruism

Robert_WiblinJul 16, 2015, 7:00 AM

18 points

7 votes

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1 comment3 min readEA link

(80000hours.org)

Four Concerns Regarding Longtermism

Pat AndriolaJun 6, 2022, 5:42 AM

82 points

58 votes

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15 comments7 min readEA link

We need more nuance regarding funding gaps

Joey🔸Feb 12, 2022, 4:57 PM

284 points

143 votes

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30 comments6 min readEA link

Invisible impact loss (and why we can be too error-averse)

LizkaOct 6, 2022, 3:08 PM

145 points

56 votes

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15 comments8 min readEA link

Better models for EA development: a network of communities, not a global community

konradSep 18, 2018, 9:33 AM

33 points

27 votes

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3 comments8 min readEA link

Technocracy vs populism (including thoughts on the democratising risk paper and its responses)

freedomandutilityDec 29, 2021, 3:08 AM

68 points

35 votes

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27 comments3 min readEA link

Towards More Modular Value/Impact Estimates

Charlie_GuthmannNov 3, 2022, 7:33 PM

17 points

5 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] Donating more and better is the best strategy to maximise impact for the vast majority of people working in impact-focussed organisations?

Vasco Grilo🔸Mar 10, 2025, 6:01 PM

17 points

14 votes

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7 comments3 min readEA link

Critical Review of ‘The Precipice’: A Reassessment of the Risks of AI and Pandemics

James FodorMay 11, 2020, 11:11 AM

111 points

68 votes

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32 comments26 min readEA link

“EA” doesn’t have a talent gap. Different causes have different gaps.

Kat Woods 🔶 ⏸️May 20, 2018, 10:07 PM

46 points

37 votes

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16 comments3 min readEA link

In a time of rapid change, we should re-examine system-level interventions

jackvaMar 9, 2025, 12:08 PM

184 points

80 votes

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26 comments3 min readEA link

Alice Crary’s Bad Criticisms Of Effective Altruism

Bentham's BulldogSep 8, 2024, 5:37 PM

2 points

28 votes

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3 comments6 min readEA link

How EA is perceived is crucial to its future trajectory

Gidi KadoshJul 23, 2022, 3:24 AM

164 points

91 votes

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22 comments14 min readEA link

Epistemic health is a community issue

ConcernedEAsFeb 2, 2023, 3:59 PM

12 points

47 votes

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11 comments9 min readEA link

The Effective Altruism community inherits the problems of the economics profession

Bob JacobsAug 13, 2025, 2:16 PM

21 points

12 votes

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20 comments2 min readEA link

(bobjacobs.substack.com)

Empirical data on value drift

Joey🔸Apr 22, 2018, 11:31 PM

151 points

107 votes

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69 comments5 min readEA link

The dangers of high salaries within EA organisations

JamesÖz 🔸Jun 10, 2022, 7:54 AM

38 points

38 votes

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35 comments8 min readEA link

Toby Ord’s The Scourge, Reviewed

ColdButtonIssuesAug 30, 2022, 9:01 PM

59 points

38 votes

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25 comments4 min readEA link

EA and Global Poverty. Let’s Gather Evidence

Nathan YoungApr 5, 2022, 7:20 PM

42 points

18 votes

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35 comments2 min readEA link

Ben Kuhn on the effective altruist movement

admin3Jul 23, 2014, 7:53 AM

12 points

4 votes

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0 comments11 min readEA link

Thinking about how we respond to criticisms of EA

weeatquinceAug 19, 2016, 9:42 AM

5 points

4 votes

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1 comment2 min readEA link

Cross-post: Think twice before talking about ‘talent gaps’ – clarifying nine misconceptions, by 80,000 Hours.

80000_HoursNov 12, 2018, 8:52 PM

53 points

30 votes

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7 comments9 min readEA link

Another critique of effective altruism

EA HandbookJan 5, 2014, 8:00 AM

2 points

1 vote

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0 comments5 min readEA link

(www.lesswrong.com)

EA in the mainstream media: if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu

Jack LewarsJul 30, 2022, 4:55 PM

200 points

125 votes

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57 comments2 min readEA link

A Critique of Longtermism by Popular YouTube Science Channel, Sabine Hossenfelder: “Elon Musk & The Longtermists: What Is Their Plan?”

Ram AdityaOct 29, 2022, 5:31 PM

61 points

34 votes

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21 comments2 min readEA link

The totalitarian implications of Effective Altruism

Ed_TalksJun 14, 2022, 4:52 PM

11 points

20 votes

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14 comments1 min readEA link

(edtalks.substack.com)

We care about WALYs not QALYs

Benjamin_ToddNov 13, 2015, 7:21 PM

22 points

23 votes

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18 comments1 min readEA link

EAGx application community norms we’d like to see

ESDec 23, 2022, 5:27 PM

126 points

63 votes

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18 comments6 min readEA link

New EA Podcast: Critiques of EA

Nick_AnyosFeb 13, 2023, 10:55 PM

47 points

33 votes

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9 comments1 min readEA link

Zvi’s Thoughts on the Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF)

Zvi Dec 15, 2021, 2:44 AM

81 points

37 votes

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8 comments65 min readEA link

Game: I Find Three Errors in Your Favorite Text

Elliot TempleNov 11, 2022, 5:56 PM

15 points

15 votes

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29 comments2 min readEA link

Organized Cause Evaluation

Elliot TempleNov 28, 2022, 8:31 PM

5 points

4 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

(curi.us)

[Linkpost] [Summary] The Guardian: Is the effective altruism movement in trouble? (FTX related opinion piece)

David VargaNov 16, 2022, 12:10 PM

27 points

13 votes

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7 comments1 min readEA link

(www.theguardian.com)

Marginal Persuasion

Richard Y Chappell🔸Sep 17, 2025, 3:17 PM

7 points

3 votes

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0 comments2 min readEA link

(www.goodthoughts.blog)

Why People Think Effective Altruism is Utilitarianism

Ethan SpencerMar 26, 2025, 3:34 PM

1 point

1 vote

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0 comments7 min readEA link

EA criticism contest: Why I am not an effective altruist

ErikHoelAug 16, 2022, 5:16 PM

13 points

36 votes

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23 comments2 min readEA link

(erikhoel.substack.com)

Hobbit Manifesto

Clay CubeAug 30, 2022, 8:24 PM

8 points

16 votes

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9 comments7 min readEA link

If EA Community-Building Could Be Net-Negative, What Follows?

joshcmorrisonJan 2, 2023, 7:21 PM

153 points

86 votes

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78 comments5 min readEA link

Why the EA aversion to local altruistic action?

LockeJun 10, 2022, 11:01 PM

9 points

10 votes

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12 comments4 min readEA link

Prefer beliefs to credence probabilities

Noah ScalesSep 1, 2022, 2:04 AM

3 points

2 votes

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1 comment4 min readEA link

[Question] Why altruism at all?

SingletonJul 12, 2020, 10:04 PM

−2 points

3 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

How Altruism can be Ineffective

Ethan SpencerMar 26, 2025, 3:32 PM

3 points

2 votes

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0 comments6 min readEA link

Accepting the Inevitability of Ambitious Egoism (”AE”)

Dem0sthenesAug 17, 2022, 2:38 PM

1 point

11 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

Be Proud To Be An Effective Altruist

Bentham's BulldogJun 14, 2024, 5:01 PM

111 points

80 votes

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16 comments3 min readEA link

late entry for the EA criticism contest

eigenrobotNov 17, 2022, 4:52 AM

67 points

41 votes

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9 comments1 min readEA link

(eigenrobot.substack.com)

EA & Peter Singer do not promote the most good—here is why

Davidh96Aug 28, 2022, 5:35 PM

−14 points

6 votes

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2 comments3 min readEA link

The Bioethicists are (Mostly) Alright

Devin KalishJan 7, 2022, 4:02 PM

155 points

95 votes

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61 comments16 min readEA link

Diana Fleischman, Author of Much-Discussed Forum Piece Defending Eugenics Works for a Magazine with Far-Right Links

David Mathers🔸Oct 22, 2024, 12:52 PM

3 points

38 votes

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5 comments1 min readEA link

(investigations.hopenothate.org.uk)

“Defective Altruism” by Nathan J. Robinson in Current Affairs

Peter_LaymanSep 26, 2022, 2:27 PM

2 points

9 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

(www.currentaffairs.org)

Does Sam make me want to renounce the actions of the EA community? No. Does your reaction? Absolutely.

GoodEAGoneBadNov 18, 2022, 10:30 AM

123 points

190 votes

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55 comments3 min readEA link

[Linkpost] Criticism of Criticism of Criticism, ACX

ClaireZabelAug 4, 2022, 7:25 PM

69 points

28 votes

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8 comments2 min readEA link

(astralcodexten.substack.com)

Use “care” with care.

ricoh_aficioFeb 9, 2017, 6:38 AM

31 points

37 votes

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9 comments3 min readEA link

Do the Hard Thing

SporkredfoxJun 10, 2023, 5:26 AM

7 points

9 votes

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0 comments3 min readEA link

[Question] How Is EA Rational?

Elliot TempleOct 13, 2022, 4:21 PM

1 point

6 votes

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25 comments1 min readEA link

Make EA Organizing Great Again: Exposing the CEA Swamp

AgentMa🔸Sep 26, 2025, 1:34 AM

−3 points

30 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

#204 – Making sense of SBF, and his biggest critiques of effective altruism (Nate Silver on The 80,000 Hours Podcast)

80000_HoursOct 17, 2024, 8:41 PM

22 points

11 votes

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2 comments14 min readEA link

My (Lazy) Longtermism FAQ

Devin KalishOct 24, 2022, 4:44 PM

30 points

13 votes

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6 comments27 min readEA link

Some important questions for the EA Leadership

GideonFNov 16, 2022, 5:10 PM

243 points

216 votes

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113 comments3 min readEA link

Philosophical Critiques of Effective Altruism by Prof Jeff McMahan

Robert_WiblinMay 3, 2016, 9:05 PM

50 points

38 votes

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9 comments12 min readEA link

EA’s Biggest Missed Opportunity: Mark Zuckerberg

TrappistJan 16, 2025, 12:36 PM

17 points

15 votes

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8 comments7 min readEA link

EA Leaders Forum: Survey on EA priorities (data and analysis)

Aaron Gertler 🔸Nov 12, 2019, 1:14 AM

127 points

62 votes

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51 comments16 min readEA link

“One should love one’s neighbor more than oneself.”

BarracudaJun 13, 2022, 12:35 AM

−3 points

4 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

Are Billionaire Philanthropists Effective in their Altruism?

Bob JacobsOct 1, 2025, 2:33 PM

11 points

14 votes

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12 comments7 min readEA link

[Question] What are your Qs for Leif Wenar?

EarthlingMar 27, 2024, 8:12 PM

27 points

14 votes

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26 comments1 min readEA link

How EA can be better at communications

blehrerMar 2, 2024, 6:49 PM

106 points

41 votes

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19 comments2 min readEA link

(www.bryanlehrer.com)

Proposed improvements to EAG(x) admissions process

ESJan 30, 2023, 6:10 AM

62 points

33 votes

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29 comments3 min readEA link

Present-day good intentions aren’t sufficient to make the longterm future good in expectation

trurlSep 2, 2022, 3:22 AM

7 points

5 votes

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0 comments14 min readEA link

Against Addressing Root Causes

Bentham's BulldogFeb 4, 2025, 4:45 PM

31 points

43 votes

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14 comments4 min readEA link

“Effective Altruism, Longtermism, and the Problem of Arbitrary Power” by Gwilym David Blunt

WobblyPandaPandaNov 12, 2023, 1:21 AM

22 points

12 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

(www.thephilosopher1923.org)

Offering: Material for a Red-Teaming Workshop

Lukas GebhardJun 3, 2025, 2:11 PM

6 points

4 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

The End of Vetted Causes

VettedCausesNov 6, 2025, 2:28 AM

7 points

9 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

What’s the Difference between the AI Threat and the Multinational Mega Corporation?

John HuangMar 25, 2025, 7:43 PM

5 points

4 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

Button for controversial posts

SaraAzubuikeJul 27, 2022, 4:21 AM

15 points

15 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

When the impact model says “Lie” but morality says wait.

Dr KassimAug 19, 2025, 2:57 AM

7 points

3 votes

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2 comments23 min readEA link

EA as Antichrist: Understanding Peter Thiel

Ben_West🔸Aug 6, 2025, 5:31 PM

115 points

47 votes

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54 comments14 min readEA link

What mistakes has the AI safety movement made?

EuanMcLeanMay 23, 2024, 11:29 AM

66 points

35 votes

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3 comments12 min readEA link

“Charity” as a conflationary alliance term

Jan_KulveitDec 13, 2024, 7:53 AM

76 points

29 votes

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4 comments5 min readEA link

(www.lesswrong.com)

Should AI X-Risk Worriers Short the Market?

postlibertarianNov 4, 2024, 4:16 PM

14 points

5 votes

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1 comment6 min readEA link

Red-teaming contest: demographics and power structures in EA

TheOtherHannahAug 31, 2022, 4:36 AM

110 points

64 votes

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14 comments33 min readEA link

[Opzionale] Perché probabilmente non sono una lungoterminista

EA ItalyJan 17, 2023, 6:12 PM

1 point

1 vote

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0 comments8 min readEA link

Getting on a different train: can Effective Altruism avoid collapsing into absurdity?

Peter McLaughlinOct 7, 2022, 10:52 AM

187 points

107 votes

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61 comments18 min readEA link

Fallibilism, Bias, and the Rule of Law

Elliot TempleOct 17, 2022, 11:59 PM

14 points

9 votes

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6 comments13 min readEA link

(criticalfallibilism.com)

Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX collapse, and the limits of effective altruism [The Hindu]

Elijah HooleNov 27, 2022, 5:42 AM

−12 points

8 votes

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3 comments1 min readEA link

(www.thehindu.com)

University EA Groups Need Fixing

Dave Banerjee 🔸Aug 3, 2023, 9:06 PM

381 points

230 votes

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110 comments10 min readEA link

Diagnosing EA Research- Are stakeholder-engaged methods the solution?

Jack_S🔸Jan 27, 2023, 2:38 PM

28 points

15 votes

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0 comments18 min readEA link

Reliable Sources: The Story of David Gerard

TracingWoodgrainsJul 10, 2024, 7:50 PM

170 points

68 votes

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6 comments43 min readEA link

Effective altruism is similar to the AI alignment problem and suffers from the same difficulties [Criticism and Red Teaming Contest entry]

turchinJun 19, 2022, 9:01 AM

16 points

14 votes

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30 comments9 min readEA link

Yascha Mounk has started a series of essays on effective altruism

James HerbertNov 11, 2024, 4:16 PM

9 points

9 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

(yaschamounk.substack.com)

Lessons from the Grassroots and Reflections on EA

Keerthana GopalakrishnanJul 12, 2022, 5:12 AM

20 points

11 votes

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1 comment4 min readEA link

(keerthanapg.com)

Critiques of EA in animal advocacy—A discussion with advocates

HiveAug 25, 2023, 3:46 PM

45 points

21 votes

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2 comments5 min readEA link

Hubris and coldness within EA (my experience)

James GoughNov 13, 2022, 2:54 PM

94 points

143 votes

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27 comments1 min readEA link

More Everything Forever—a new book critique of EA

Manuel Del Río Rodríguez 🔹Jun 6, 2025, 9:53 AM

52 points

25 votes

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17 comments7 min readEA link

Effective altruism in the garden of ends

tyleraltermanAug 31, 2022, 8:47 PM

296 points

162 votes

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46 comments23 min readEA link

[Linkpost] Nick Bostrom’s “Apology for an Old Email”

pseudonymJan 12, 2023, 4:55 AM

12 points

115 votes

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96 comments1 min readEA link

(nickbostrom.com)

On different discussion traditions

meugenApr 7, 2025, 3:49 AM

5 points

3 votes

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0 comments2 min readEA link

(meugenn.substack.com)

Will Maskill Gave Up on Utilitarianism (and the rest of us are soon to follow)

johnburidanJul 11, 2022, 2:10 AM

−1 points

32 votes

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7 comments3 min readEA link

Going more meta on EA criticism

Nick WhitakerJul 27, 2022, 2:59 PM

79 points

37 votes

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4 comments5 min readEA link

Effective vs Altruism

Liat ZviSep 16, 2022, 9:37 AM

2 points

10 votes

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1 comment2 min readEA link

Interrogating Impact

SebastianSchmidtNov 21, 2020, 11:16 AM

34 points

18 votes

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6 comments4 min readEA link

Contra Ari Ne’eman On Effective Altruism

ozymandiasJun 24, 2022, 4:37 PM

99 points

48 votes

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6 comments7 min readEA link

(thingofthings.substack.com)

Multi-Factor Decision Making Math

Elliot TempleOct 30, 2022, 4:46 PM

2 points

6 votes

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13 comments37 min readEA link

(criticalfallibilism.com)

some concerns with classical utilitarianism

nilNov 14, 2020, 9:29 AM

33 points

24 votes

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17 comments19 min readEA link

What “Effective Altruism” Means to Me

Richard Y Chappell🔸Jun 14, 2024, 6:13 PM

60 points

24 votes

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18 comments7 min readEA link

(www.goodthoughts.blog)

2 issues

TarkanFeb 22, 2023, 9:13 PM

−1 points

6 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

Are we wrong to stop factory farms?

Ben StevensonNov 4, 2025, 2:11 PM

52 points

21 votes

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16 comments2 min readEA link

(animalrising.substack.com)

Anthropic is not being consistently candid about their connection to EA

burner2Mar 30, 2025, 1:30 PM

310 points

143 votes

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88 comments2 min readEA link

Am I Missing Something, or Is EA? Thoughts from a Learner in Uganda

Dr KassimMar 16, 2025, 11:31 AM

237 points

149 votes

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16 comments3 min readEA link

Should every strategy be publicly intelligible?

conflictaverseMar 3, 2025, 4:12 PM

20 points

7 votes

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6 comments2 min readEA link

Does EA understand how to apologize for things?

titotalJan 15, 2023, 7:14 PM

160 points

195 votes

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48 comments3 min readEA link

The Outside Critics of Effective Altruism

RyanCareyJan 5, 2015, 6:37 PM

12 points

12 votes

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72 comments3 min readEA link

Chesterton Fences and EA’s X-risks

jehanSep 2, 2022, 11:56 AM

79 points

34 votes

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4 comments2 min readEA link

Effective Altruism Risks Perpetuating a Harmful Worldview

Theo CoxAug 20, 2022, 1:10 AM

−2 points

18 votes

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9 comments20 min readEA link

Sasha Chapin on bad social norms in EA

Charlie Rogers-SmithNov 18, 2021, 12:18 PM

52 points

35 votes

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22 comments5 min readEA link

[Opzionale] Approfondimenti e altre critiche all’altruismo efficace (in inglese)

EA ItalyJan 18, 2023, 11:32 AM

1 point

1 vote

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

Investigating Ideology: want to earn money, help EA and/or me? Then check this out; it may be a mighty neglected cause

DovAug 12, 2022, 5:52 AM

3 points

4 votes

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6 comments22 min readEA link

Improving EA with More, Better Debates | Recorded Discussion between Elliot and Emrik

Elliot TempleNov 22, 2022, 9:15 PM

17 points

6 votes

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2 comments4 min readEA link

(www.youtube.com)

Exploring the “Anti-TESCREAL” Ideology and the Roots of (Anti-)Progress

OttokarHochmanAug 14, 2025, 1:53 PM

4 points

6 votes

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11 comments2 min readEA link

(recapitulation.substack.com)

EA should seek out more criticism of key EA concepts

freedomandutilityAug 30, 2022, 3:14 PM

7 points

8 votes

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4 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Why is there so little emphasis on cause prioritization in contemporary Effective Altruism?

Oliver KupermanSep 10, 2025, 1:39 PM

6 points

5 votes

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0 comments3 min readEA link

Should you still use the ITN framework? [Red Teaming Contest]

fribJul 14, 2022, 4:02 AM

32 points

10 votes

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12 comments9 min readEA link

You are deluded and EA is not real

MountainPathSep 28, 2025, 8:56 AM

−24 points

12 votes

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0 comments2 min readEA link

EA is bad for mental health (and I’m tired of pretending it’s not)

VictorWOct 31, 2024, 2:58 PM

24 points

42 votes

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24 comments21 min readEA link

The Values-to-Actions Decision Chain: a lens for improving coordination

RemmeltJun 30, 2018, 9:26 AM

34 points

27 votes

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33 comments11 min readEA link

Effective Altruism, the Principle of Explosion and Epistemic Fragility

EigengenderAug 15, 2022, 1:45 AM

19 points

12 votes

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1 comment2 min readEA link

[Updated] What’s the theory of change of “Come to the bay over the summer!”?

LuiseJun 8, 2022, 6:22 PM

42 points

62 votes

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30 comments8 min readEA link

Why I am probably not a longtermist

Denise_MelchinSep 23, 2021, 5:24 PM

266 points

170 votes

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50 comments8 min readEA link

Disagreeables and Assessors: Two Intellectual Archetypes

Ozzie GooenNov 5, 2021, 9:01 AM

91 points

38 votes

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20 comments3 min readEA link

Effective Altruism FAQ

Bentham's BulldogDec 16, 2024, 4:26 PM

18 points

11 votes

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1 comment12 min readEA link

Rationalism and EA on the “Behind the Bastards” Podcast

Flo 🔸Mar 21, 2025, 9:45 AM

36 points

12 votes

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2 comments1 min readEA link

Thoughts on Nadia Asparouhova (nee Eghbal) essay on EA ideas, Ideas machines

Ben YeohMay 25, 2022, 9:58 PM

5 points

3 votes

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4 comments2 min readEA link

Without Alignment, Is Longtermism (and Thus, EA) Just Noise?

KrimseyOct 17, 2025, 8:05 PM

3 points

4 votes

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1 comment3 min readEA link

Philosophy event series introducing EA at the University of Zurich

Eleos Arete CitriniJan 4, 2022, 12:49 PM

19 points

8 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

Criticism of EA Criticism Contest

Zvi Jul 14, 2022, 2:20 PM

101 points

105 votes

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34 comments31 min readEA link

Doing good cannot be measured in lives saved: the psychological value of community

Alex BergJul 24, 2022, 12:51 PM

11 points

6 votes

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0 comments5 min readEA link

EA is becoming increasingly inaccessible, at the worst possible time

Ann Garth 🔸Jul 22, 2022, 3:40 PM

78 points

58 votes

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13 comments15 min readEA link

Critique: Cost-Benefit of Weirdness

Mike EliasAug 29, 2022, 3:59 PM

2 points

10 votes

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3 comments3 min readEA link

The Case for Education

SamuelKnocheAug 14, 2020, 5:26 PM

24 points

21 votes

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10 comments10 min readEA link

Idea: Pay experts to provide detailed critiques / analyses of EA ideas

Aryeh EnglanderJun 7, 2022, 1:45 PM

24 points

11 votes

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7 comments2 min readEA link

The Importance of Intercausal Impacts

Sebastian Joy 樂百善Aug 24, 2022, 10:41 AM

61 points

29 votes

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2 comments8 min readEA link

I No Longer Feel Comfortable in EA

disgruntled_eaFeb 5, 2023, 8:45 PM

2 points

92 votes

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29 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Ends vs. Means: To what extent should we be willing to sacrifice nuance and epistemic humility when communicating with people outside EA?

ddaviesJul 12, 2020, 2:26 PM

13 points

7 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

Cutting AI Safety down to size

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Nov 9, 2024, 11:40 PM

90 points

56 votes

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5 comments5 min readEA link

Why aren’t we talking about personal development?

DirectedEvolutionFeb 29, 2020, 8:23 PM

37 points

24 votes

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3 comments4 min readEA link

Why we need more meta

Benjamin_ToddSep 26, 2015, 10:40 PM

27 points

37 votes

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16 comments3 min readEA link

Stop Overreacting re: FTX / SBF

MattBallNov 16, 2022, 11:40 PM

53 points

47 votes

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3 comments2 min readEA link

What About Deontology? Ethics of Social Belonging and Conformity in Effective Altruism

Maksens DjabaliJan 8, 2025, 2:02 PM

7 points

6 votes

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1 comment4 min readEA link

Guerrilla Foundation Response to EA Forum Discussion

PaoloFresiaDec 15, 2020, 5:57 PM

23 points

15 votes

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8 comments9 min readEA link

Possible upcoming LeftTube video about EA

Nicholas KrossDec 29, 2022, 10:03 PM

13 points

11 votes

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6 comments1 min readEA link

EA: Renaissance or Diaspora?

TimothyTelleenLawtonOct 26, 2024, 10:59 PM

58 points

23 votes

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10 comments1 min readEA link

More to explore on ‘What do you think?’

EA HandbookJul 9, 2022, 11:00 PM

10 points

8 votes

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0 comments3 min readEA link

Large epistemological concerns I should maybe have about EA a priori

LuiseJun 7, 2023, 2:11 PM

115 points

60 votes

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16 comments8 min readEA link

In (Praise?) of Ineffective Altuism

Edward FarrellyNov 10, 2022, 9:47 AM

−7 points

15 votes

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6 comments6 min readEA link

IABIED Review—An Unfortunate Miss

Darren McKeeSep 18, 2025, 10:39 PM

22 points

17 votes

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2 comments9 min readEA link

Suffering relief vs life extension

drbrake 🔸Nov 19, 2018, 4:55 PM

5 points

5 votes

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1 comment1 min readEA link

Feeling Deeply Unsafe! At the Disco: Misogyny in EA

FearfulAug 22, 2022, 4:10 PM

−12 points

20 votes

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8 comments2 min readEA link

EA Adjacency as FTX Trauma

MjreardApr 8, 2025, 7:14 PM

234 points

83 votes

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28 comments9 min readEA link

[Linkpost] A Response to Rebecca Ackermann’s “Inside Effective Altruism” Editorial

stecasOct 25, 2022, 4:48 PM

56 points

28 votes

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12 comments1 min readEA link

(docs.google.com)

[Question] What wheels do EAs and rationalists reinvent?

ArepoOct 17, 2024, 4:42 AM

26 points

16 votes

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62 comments1 min readEA link

Grantmakers should give more feedback

Ariel PontesJan 22, 2024, 1:22 PM

78 points

48 votes

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23 comments7 min readEA link

 Book Post: The Good It Promises, the Harm It Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism

Kyle J. Lucchese 🔸Feb 8, 2023, 10:35 PM

41 points

41 votes

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43 comments4 min readEA link

(www.amazon.com)

Portfolios, Locality, and Career—Three Critiques of Effective Altruism

Philip AppsAug 29, 2022, 7:19 AM

2 points

8 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

My experience at the controversial Manifest 2024

ManianoJun 17, 2024, 6:07 PM

60 points

190 votes

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246 comments6 min readEA link

The big problem with how we do outreach

LilaDec 26, 2015, 7:36 PM

18 points

26 votes

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18 comments2 min readEA link

How to Address EA Dilemmas – What is Missing from EA Values?

alexis schoenlaubOct 13, 2024, 9:33 AM

7 points

5 votes

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4 comments6 min readEA link

Should we continue dismissing most ideas about EA (without a fair trial)?

DovJun 20, 2023, 5:24 PM

−11 points

10 votes

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4 comments15 min readEA link

Ethical Veganism is Wrong

BenquoJan 28, 2025, 3:22 PM

−43 points

40 votes

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16 comments2 min readEA link

(benjaminrosshoffman.com)

Some Reflections on Philosophy Tube’s “The Rich Have Their Own Ethics: Effective Altruism & the Crypto Crash”

Tobias HäberliFeb 25, 2023, 1:45 AM

39 points

23 votes

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9 comments4 min readEA link

EA may look like a cult (and it’s not just optics)

nadavbOct 1, 2022, 1:07 PM

81 points

80 votes

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18 comments3 min readEA link

Native languages in the EA community (and issues with assessing promisingness)

LizkaDec 27, 2021, 2:01 AM

72 points

45 votes

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11 comments4 min readEA link

Misquoting and Scholarship Norms

Elliot TempleNov 29, 2022, 6:45 PM

−13 points

9 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

(curi.us)

Carnegie Council MisUnderstands Longtermism

Jeff ASep 30, 2022, 2:57 AM

6 points

5 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

(www.carnegiecouncil.org)

EA Has a Branding Problem

Zoe LNov 5, 2025, 2:01 PM

26 points

20 votes

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17 comments2 min readEA link

Ignoring “Small” Errors

Elliot TempleDec 1, 2022, 4:56 PM

1 point

6 votes

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7 comments1 min readEA link

(criticalfallibilism.com)

Impact Evaluation in EA

callumOct 26, 2023, 11:18 PM

143 points

47 votes

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12 comments5 min readEA link

[Aceso Under Glass] FTX, Golden Geese, and The Widow’s Mite

RaemonSep 30, 2025, 6:30 PM

30 points

13 votes

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2 comments7 min readEA link

(acesounderglass.com)

[Linkpost] Towards Ineffective Altruism

CBiddulphMay 23, 2022, 6:34 AM

13 points

18 votes

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8 comments1 min readEA link

Effective means to combat autocracies

Junius BrutusAug 28, 2022, 5:35 PM

32 points

16 votes

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2 comments5 min readEA link

[Question] Where can I find good criticisms of EA made by non-EAs?

oh54321Jun 2, 2022, 12:03 AM

26 points

10 votes

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5 comments1 min readEA link

What is EA not?

pleaselistencarefullyasourmenuoptionshaverecentlychangedJul 23, 2022, 1:13 PM

4 points

5 votes

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1 comment13 min readEA link

Style Writing Prejudice At EA

Trev PrewSep 4, 2022, 8:06 AM

−5 points

24 votes

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2 comments2 min readEA link

Book Review: What We Owe The Future (Erik Hoel)

ErikHoelAug 23, 2022, 3:04 PM

1 point

14 votes

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0 comments1 min readEA link

(erikhoel.substack.com)

doing more good vs. doing the most good possible

ruthgraceJan 2, 2022, 4:27 PM

34 points

21 votes

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21 comments4 min readEA link

Learning from non-EAs who seek to do good

Siobhan_MDec 8, 2022, 12:22 AM

266 points

127 votes

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22 comments7 min readEA link

EAs forgot what “marginal” means

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Feb 27, 2025, 12:49 AM

19 points

15 votes

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7 comments1 min readEA link

Reflections for Introductions to Altruism

Philip WindredSep 11, 2022, 10:23 AM

6 points

3 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

The ordinal utility argument against effective altruism

BarracudaJun 12, 2022, 1:20 PM

8 points

5 votes

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9 comments1 min readEA link

Parkinson’s Law and the Ideology of Statistics

BenquoJan 4, 2025, 3:50 PM

2 points

1 vote

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7 comments8 min readEA link

(benjaminrosshoffman.com)

Narration: The case against “EA cause areas”

D0TheMathJul 24, 2021, 8:39 PM

12 points

4 votes

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5 comments1 min readEA link

(anchor.fm)

Monetary and social incentives in longtermist careers

Vaidehi Agarwalla 🔸Sep 23, 2023, 9:03 PM

140 points

50 votes

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5 comments6 min readEA link

12 Theses on EA

MjreardNov 6, 2025, 12:17 AM

80 points

33 votes

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9 comments7 min readEA link

Three journeys for effective altruism

Zachary Robinson🔸Oct 22, 2024, 3:45 PM

131 points

47 votes

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3 comments13 min readEA link

Good Research Takes are Not Sufficient for Good Strategic Takes

Neel NandaMar 22, 2025, 10:13 AM

120 points

48 votes

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0 comments4 min readEA link

(www.neelnanda.io)

(Crosspost) Article on Polarisation Against Longtermism and Misapplying Moral Philosophy

Danny WardleMar 22, 2025, 4:42 AM

2 points

2 votes

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5 comments6 min readEA link

(www.pluralityofwords.com)

Finding before funding: Why EA should probably invest more in research

Falk LiederAug 17, 2022, 8:48 AM

103 points

40 votes

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11 comments10 min readEA link

NIST staffers revolt against expected appointment of ‘effective altruist’ AI researcher to US AI Safety Institute

PhibMar 8, 2024, 5:47 PM

39 points

26 votes

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(venturebeat.com)

Bernard Williams: Ethics and the limits of impartiality

peterhartreeSep 7, 2022, 11:26 AM

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8 comments6 min readEA link

(notes.pjh.is)

Reasons to eat meat

kbogApr 21, 2019, 8:37 PM

47 points

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42 comments3 min readEA link

No, CS majors didn’t delude themselves that the best way to save the world is to do CS research

Robert_WiblinDec 15, 2015, 5:13 PM

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In defence of epistemic modesty [distillation]

LuiseMay 10, 2023, 9:39 AM

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I went to the Progress Summit. Here’s What I Learned.

Nick CorvinoDec 14, 2022, 10:41 PM

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Comparing the Impact of Donating a Portion of Income from a High-Paying Job vs. Pursuing 80,000 Hours Careers

satelliteprocessApr 3, 2025, 6:31 AM

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Criticism is sanctified in EA, but, like any intervention, criticism needs to pay rent

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Oct 11, 2024, 4:22 AM

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My Experience with My Debate Policy

Elliot TempleOct 24, 2022, 6:21 PM

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(criticalfallibilism.com)

EA overlooks the ‘Why’

Joseph SarvaryJan 3, 2025, 6:47 PM

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Belonging

BarracudaJun 10, 2022, 7:27 AM

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Prediction Markets are Somewhat Overrated Within EA

FrancisSep 1, 2022, 2:17 AM

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4 comments3 min readEA link

It is called Effective Altruism, not Altruistic Effectiveness

Timon RenzelmannDec 20, 2023, 3:41 PM

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14 comments4 min readEA link

Walter Veit interviews Richard Yetter Chappell: Why Not Effective Altruism?

Walter VeitJan 24, 2024, 2:39 PM

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(youtu.be)

EA needs outsiders with a greater diversity of skills

Lotte_de_LintJun 2, 2021, 8:40 AM

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Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils

David ThorstadAug 12, 2022, 2:42 PM

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Marginal Revolution: Effective Altruists and Finance Theory

incredibleutilityOct 29, 2024, 2:32 PM

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New Publication: Effective Altruism and Religion

dominicroserJan 25, 2022, 9:22 AM

74 points

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What I wish I had said about FTX

AppliedDivinityStudiesOct 31, 2024, 2:54 PM

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Multiplier Arguments are often flawed

AGB 🔸Oct 13, 2024, 9:25 PM

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64 comments4 min readEA link

Doing EA Better: Preamble, Summary, and Introduction

ConcernedEAsJan 25, 2023, 6:26 PM

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[Question] What do you think the vision is behind our biggest critics?

aprilsunAug 1, 2023, 6:49 PM

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Response to Torres’ ‘The Case Against Longtermism’

HaydnBelfieldMar 8, 2021, 6:09 PM

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Thoughts on the “Meta Trap”

Rohin ShahDec 20, 2016, 9:36 PM

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48 comments11 min readEA link

Effective Altruism: An Unmanifesto

ozymandiasJul 23, 2025, 9:12 PM

70 points

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New blog: Some doubts about effective altruism

David ThorstadDec 20, 2022, 7:34 PM

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Criticism of EA and longtermism

St. IgnorantSep 2, 2022, 7:23 AM

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My independent impressions on the EA Handbook

VictorWAug 7, 2023, 9:09 AM

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[Question] What is the state of the art in EA cost-effectiveness modelling?

FroolowJun 4, 2022, 12:08 PM

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On Leif Wenar’s Absurdly Unconvincing Critique Of Effective Altruism

Bentham's BulldogApr 4, 2024, 3:25 PM

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If everyone makes the same criticism, the opposite criticism is more likely to be true

MichaelDickensDec 17, 2022, 12:30 AM

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How to criticise Effective Altruism

Toby Tremlett🔹Jun 3, 2021, 11:24 AM

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EA should invest more in exploration

Michael_PJFeb 5, 2017, 5:11 PM

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Feedback from where?

Milan GriffesMar 11, 2021, 5:05 AM

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If tech progress might be bad, what should we tell people about it?

Robert_WiblinFeb 16, 2016, 10:26 AM

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No, seriously, it’s virtuous to repair the world.

HonoreDBDec 11, 2024, 5:34 PM

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(outlandishclaims.substack.com)

Book critique of Effective Altruism

Manuel Del Río Rodríguez 🔹Jan 17, 2023, 10:48 PM

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Marginally More Effective Altruism

AppliedDivinityStudiesSep 8, 2025, 10:45 PM

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Scientific Charity Movement

Jeff Kaufman 🔸Jul 23, 2016, 2:33 PM

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Optimism, AI risk, and EA blind spots

JustisSep 28, 2022, 5:21 PM

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[Question] EA’s abstract moral epistemology

Stijn Bruers 🔸Oct 20, 2020, 2:11 PM

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What Peter Singer Got Wrong (And Where Give Well Could Improve)

LiaHOct 14, 2022, 4:15 PM

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The Rational Utilitarian Love Movement (A Historical Retrospective)

CBiddulphNov 3, 2022, 7:11 AM

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[Question] A utilitarian argument that not every life is equally valuable

Gloria MondayNov 15, 2023, 2:43 PM

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Discussion about AI Safety funding (FB transcript)

AkashApr 30, 2023, 7:05 PM

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The Good Woman of Szechuan Paradox

wallowerMar 1, 2025, 8:39 PM

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(philpapers.org)

Open Letter to EA

Oscar GalvinOct 19, 2022, 2:14 PM

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(seethroughnews.org)

Discussion on Erik Hoel’s “Why I am not an effective altruist”

Robert HoglundAug 17, 2022, 3:42 AM

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80,000 Hours: Anonymous contributors on flaws of the EA community

Aaron Gertler 🔸Mar 4, 2020, 12:32 AM

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Effective Altruism Isn’t on TV.

ColdButtonIssuesApr 21, 2022, 2:06 PM

17 points

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We all teach: here’s how to do it better

Michael Noetel 🔸Sep 30, 2022, 2:06 AM

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12 comments24 min readEA link

Maxim Vandaele Jun 30, 2023, 7:28 PM
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Criticism of effective altruism collects critical discussion of effective altruism ideas (as opposed to criticism of effective altruist organizations, causes, or culture).
This distinction seems rather artificial to me. I don’t think you can criticize effective altruist philosophy without at once criticizing efforts to enact that philosophy in practice (or vice versa). In theory, it’s possible, but in practice, it’s very difficult. It’s a bit like trying to make a distinction, say, between criticizing the idea of socialism versus criticism of actually existing socialist movements: you can make this distinction, sure, but it’s really difficult to criticize socialism without at once criticizing actually existing attempts to enact socialism (or vice versa).
Of course, in practice, some criticisms of effective altruism are more focused on the movement and others are more focused on the philosophy. But to sharply separate the two seems to me rather misguided.
Eevee🔹Apr 8, 2022, 8:38 PM
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Hi all! I recommend using the Criticism of the effective altruism community tag for posts that primarily criticize (or discuss criticism of) the EA community, behaviors, and dynamics, but using the Criticism of effective altruism tag for criticisms of core ideas in EA, since many criticisms of the community are not criticisms of EA itself. I created the “Criticism of the EA community” tag a while ago but have noticed that many people are still not using it.

Crit­i­cism of effec­tive altruism

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Criticism of effective altruism