Criticism of effective altruist causes

TagLast edit: Jul 22, 2022, 1:44 PM by Leo

The criticism of effective altruist causes tag covers posts that criticize popular claims about the importance of a given cause area, or an idea within that area. They don’t have to be critical of the area as a whole — just one or more popular ideas related to the area.

Pre-announcing a contest for critiques and red teaming

LizkaMar 25, 2022, 11:52 AM

173 points

27 comments2 min readEA link

Response to Recent Criticisms of Longtermism

abDec 13, 2021, 1:36 PM

249 points

31 comments28 min readEA link

Why AI is Harder Than We Think—Melanie Mitchell

Eevee🔹Apr 28, 2021, 8:19 AM

45 points

7 comments2 min readEA link

(arxiv.org)

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

jasoncrawfordJun 2, 2021, 6:47 PM

119 points

37 comments3 min readEA link

[Linkpost] Eric Schwitzgebel: Against Longtermism

ag4000Jan 6, 2022, 2:15 PM

41 points

4 comments1 min readEA link

How much current animal suffering does longtermism let us ignore?

Jacob EliosoffApr 21, 2022, 9:10 AM

40 points

50 comments6 min readEA link

Progress studies vs. longtermist EA: some differences

Max_DanielMay 31, 2021, 9:35 PM

84 points

27 comments3 min readEA link

Supervolcanoes tail risk has been exaggerated?

Vasco Grilo🔸Mar 6, 2024, 8:38 AM

46 points

9 comments8 min readEA link

(journals.ametsoc.org)

Why I No Longer Prioritize Wild Animal Welfare

sauliusFeb 15, 2023, 12:11 PM

321 points

65 comments5 min readEA link

Ben Garfinkel: How sure are we about this AI stuff?

bgarfinkelFeb 9, 2019, 7:17 PM

128 points

20 comments18 min readEA link

[edited] Inequality is a (small) problem for EA and economic growth

Karthik TadepalliAug 8, 2022, 9:42 AM

99 points

28 comments7 min readEA link

[Question] How much EA analysis of AI safety as a cause area exists?

richard_ngoSep 6, 2019, 11:15 AM

94 points

20 comments2 min readEA link

Will splashy philanthropy cause the biosecurity field to focus on the wrong risks?

Tessa A 🔸Apr 30, 2019, 4:03 PM

45 points

10 comments2 min readEA link

(thebulletin.org)

Is RP’s Moral Weights Project too animal friendly? Four critical junctures

NickLaingOct 11, 2024, 12:03 PM

132 points

56 comments5 min readEA link

Democratising Risk—or how EA deals with critics

CarlaZoeCDec 28, 2021, 3:05 PM

268 points

311 comments4 min readEA link

Concerns with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill

LarksMar 9, 2022, 6:12 PM

126 points

37 comments21 min readEA link

Re. Longtermism: A response to the EA forum (part 2)

vadmasMar 1, 2021, 6:13 PM

15 points

4 comments1 min readEA link

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

James FodorJun 28, 2019, 7:18 AM

177 points

46 comments16 min readEA link

(thegodlesstheist.com)

On AI Weapons

kbogNov 13, 2019, 12:48 PM

76 points

10 comments30 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

32 comments26 min readEA link

20 Critiques of AI Safety That I Found on Twitter

Daniel KirmaniJun 23, 2022, 3:11 PM

14 points

13 comments1 min readEA link

Biological Anchors external review by Jennifer Lin (linkpost)

peterhartreeNov 30, 2022, 1:06 PM

36 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

(docs.google.com)

Blake Richards on Why he is Skeptical of Existential Risk from AI

Michaël TrazziJun 14, 2022, 7:11 PM

63 points

14 comments4 min readEA link

(theinsideview.ai)

AI timelines and theoretical understanding of deep learning

Venky1024Sep 12, 2021, 4:26 PM

4 points

8 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] Why should we not put effort into AI safety research?

Ben ThompsonMay 16, 2021, 5:11 AM

15 points

5 comments1 min readEA link

[linkpost] Peter Singer: The Hinge of History

micJan 16, 2022, 1:25 AM

38 points

8 comments3 min readEA link

Critique of Superintelligence Part 2

James FodorDec 13, 2018, 5:12 AM

10 points

12 comments7 min readEA link

Why the expected numbers of farmed animals in the far future might be huge

FaiMar 4, 2022, 7:59 PM

140 points

29 comments16 min readEA link

[Cross-post] Change my mind: we should define and measure the effectiveness of advanced AI

David JohnstonApr 6, 2022, 12:20 AM

4 points

0 comments7 min readEA link

Critique of OpenPhil’s macroeconomic policy advocacy

Hauke HillebrandtMar 24, 2022, 10:03 PM

143 points

39 comments24 min readEA link

Critique of Superintelligence Part 3

James FodorDec 13, 2018, 5:13 AM

3 points

5 comments7 min readEA link

Why I’m skeptical about unproven causes (and you should be too)

Peter WildefordAug 7, 2013, 4:00 AM

54 points

1 comment11 min readEA link

The Epistemic Challenge to Longtermism (Tarsney, 2020)

MichaelA🔸Apr 4, 2021, 3:09 AM

79 points

27 comments2 min readEA link

(globalprioritiesinstitute.org)

Possible misconceptions about (strong) longtermism

JackMMar 9, 2021, 5:58 PM

90 points

43 comments19 min readEA link

A Sequence Against Strong Longtermism

vadmasJul 22, 2021, 8:07 PM

20 points

14 comments1 min readEA link

Winners of the EA Criticism and Red Teaming Contest

LizkaOct 1, 2022, 1:50 AM

226 points

41 comments19 min readEA link

The Fermi Paradox has not been dissolved

James FodorDec 12, 2020, 12:02 PM

107 points

14 comments14 min readEA link

Can a terrorist attack cause human extinction? Not on priors

Vasco Grilo🔸Dec 2, 2023, 8:20 AM

43 points

9 comments15 min readEA link

People in bunkers, “sardines” and why biorisks may be overrated as a global priority

Evan R. MurphyOct 23, 2021, 12:19 AM

22 points

6 comments3 min readEA link

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

Robert_WiblinJul 16, 2015, 7:00 AM

18 points

1 comment3 min readEA link

(80000hours.org)

Critique of Superintelligence Part 1

James FodorDec 13, 2018, 5:10 AM

22 points

13 comments8 min readEA link

Critique of Superintelligence Part 4

James FodorDec 13, 2018, 5:14 AM

4 points

2 comments4 min readEA link

Why EAs are skeptical about AI Safety

Lukas Trötzmüller🔸Jul 18, 2022, 7:01 PM

293 points

31 comments29 min readEA link

Why I’m skeptical of moral circle expansion as a cause area

Question MarkJul 14, 2022, 8:29 PM

18 points

5 comments3 min readEA link

Voting reform seems overrated

Nathan_BarnardApr 10, 2021, 12:35 AM

12 points

11 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] What are the leading critiques of “longtermism” and related concepts

AlasdairGivesMay 30, 2020, 10:54 AM

47 points

27 comments1 min readEA link

Were the Great Tragedies of History “Mere Ripples”?

philosophytorresFeb 8, 2021, 2:56 PM

−9 points

11 comments1 min readEA link

Why Research into Wild Animal Suffering Concerns me

Jordan_WarnerOct 25, 2020, 10:26 PM

22 points

42 comments1 min readEA link

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

NunoSempereJun 16, 2022, 4:40 PM

303 points

97 comments26 min readEA link

Against GDP as a metric for timelines and takeoff speeds

kokotajlodDec 29, 2020, 5:50 PM

47 points

6 comments14 min readEA link

Updating on Nuclear Power

rileyharrisApr 24, 2022, 5:35 AM

5 points

17 comments1 min readEA link

[Link] “The AI Timelines Scam”

Milan GriffesJul 11, 2019, 3:37 AM

22 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

On how various plans miss the hard bits of the alignment challenge

So8resJul 12, 2022, 5:35 AM

126 points

13 comments29 min readEA link

Thoughts on electoral reform

Tobias_BaumannFeb 18, 2020, 4:23 PM

85 points

31 comments4 min readEA link

RCTs in Development Economics, Their Critics and Their Evolution (Ogden, 2020) [linkpost]

KarolinaSarek🔸Apr 6, 2021, 12:29 PM

78 points

5 comments12 min readEA link

Disentangling “Improving Institutional Decision-Making”

LizkaSep 13, 2021, 11:50 PM

96 points

16 comments19 min readEA link

The Base Rate of Longtermism Is Bad

ColdButtonIssuesSep 5, 2022, 1:29 PM

227 points

27 comments7 min readEA link

AGI ruin scenarios are likely (and disjunctive)

So8resJul 27, 2022, 3:24 AM

53 points

5 comments6 min readEA link

Critique of Superintelligence Part 5

James FodorDec 13, 2018, 5:19 AM

12 points

2 comments6 min readEA link

Thoughts on “A case against strong longtermism” (Masrani)

MichaelA🔸May 3, 2021, 2:22 PM

39 points

33 comments2 min readEA link

Longtermist slogans that need to be retired

Michael_WiebeMay 9, 2022, 1:07 AM

5 points

21 comments1 min readEA link

A tale of 2.5 orthogonality theses

ArepoMay 1, 2022, 1:53 PM

145 points

31 comments11 min readEA link

Birds, Brains, Planes, and AI: Against Appeals to the Complexity/Mysteriousness/Efficiency of the Brain

kokotajlodJan 18, 2021, 12:39 PM

27 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

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

Aaron Gertler 🔸Jan 4, 2021, 9:35 PM

29 points

5 comments9 min readEA link

(rationallyspeakingpodcast.org)

Nobody’s on the ball on AGI alignment

leopoldMar 29, 2023, 2:26 PM

327 points

65 comments9 min readEA link

(www.forourposterity.com)

More global warming might be good to mitigate the food shocks caused by abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios

Vasco Grilo🔸Apr 29, 2023, 8:24 AM

46 points

39 comments13 min readEA link

[Question] Are you optimistic about the commercialization of alt proteins in 2023 and beyond?

Eevee🔹Apr 29, 2023, 10:20 PM

24 points

7 comments1 min readEA link

We don’t need AGI for an amazing future

Karl von WendtMay 4, 2023, 12:11 PM

57 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

Epistemics (Part 2: Examples) | Reflective Altruism

Eevee🔹May 19, 2023, 9:28 PM

34 points

0 comments2 min readEA link

(ineffectivealtruismblog.com)

Change my mind: Veganism entails trade-offs, and health is one of the axes

ElizabethJun 3, 2023, 12:12 AM

128 points

84 comments1 min readEA link

Why Yudkowsky is wrong about “covalently bonded equivalents of biology”

titotalDec 6, 2023, 2:09 PM

29 points

20 comments16 min readEA link

(open.substack.com)

Saving lives in normal times is better to improve the longterm future than doing so in catastrophes?

Vasco Grilo🔸Apr 20, 2024, 8:37 AM

13 points

25 comments9 min readEA link

Can a conflict cause human extinction? Yet again, not on priors

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 19, 2024, 4:59 PM

19 points

2 comments11 min readEA link

Helping animals or saving human lives in high income countries is arguably better than saving human lives in low income countries?

Vasco Grilo🔸Mar 21, 2024, 9:05 AM

12 points

10 comments12 min readEA link

Utilitarianism and the replaceability of desires and attachments

MichaelStJulesJul 27, 2024, 1:57 AM

34 points

13 comments12 min readEA link

Nuclear winter scepticism

Vasco Grilo🔸Aug 13, 2023, 10:55 AM

110 points

42 comments10 min readEA link

(www.navalgazing.net)

The Meat Eater Problem

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 17, 2023, 6:52 AM

61 points

1 comment7 min readEA link

(journalofcontroversialideas.org)

[Question] Are we confident that superintelligent artificial intelligence disempowering humans would be bad?

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 10, 2023, 9:24 AM

24 points

27 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Do you think decreasing the consumption of animals is good/bad? Think again?

Vasco Grilo🔸May 27, 2023, 8:22 AM

89 points

41 comments5 min readEA link

Prioritising animal welfare over global health and development?

Vasco Grilo🔸May 13, 2023, 9:03 AM

112 points

50 comments18 min readEA link

Finding bugs in GiveWell’s top charities

Vasco Grilo🔸Jan 23, 2023, 4:49 PM

47 points

14 comments6 min readEA link

Exaggerating the risks (Part 13: Ord on Biorisk)

Vasco Grilo🔸Dec 31, 2023, 8:45 AM

57 points

18 comments13 min readEA link

(ineffectivealtruismblog.com)

International risk of food insecurity and mass mortality in a runaway global warming scenario

Vasco Grilo🔸Sep 2, 2023, 7:28 AM

15 points

2 comments6 min readEA link

(www.sciencedirect.com)

Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley on Barriers to Bioweapons

Vasco Grilo🔸Feb 15, 2024, 5:58 PM

21 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

(hearthisidea.com)

Famine deaths due to the climatic effects of nuclear war

Vasco Grilo🔸Oct 14, 2023, 12:05 PM

40 points

21 comments66 min readEA link

Critique of “Comprehensive evidence implies a higher social cost of CO2”

Vasco Grilo🔸Aug 19, 2023, 8:49 AM

30 points

0 comments7 min readEA link

(daviddfriedman.substack.com)

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

0 comments2 min readEA link

Attention on AI X-Risk Likely Hasn’t Distracted from Current Harms from AI

Erich_Grunewald 🔸Dec 21, 2023, 5:24 PM

190 points

13 comments1 min readEA link

(www.erichgrunewald.com)

Concepts of existential catastrophe

Vasco Grilo🔸Apr 15, 2024, 5:16 PM

11 points

1 comment8 min readEA link

(globalprioritiesinstitute.org)

Can a war cause human extinction? Once again, not on priors

Vasco Grilo🔸Jan 25, 2024, 7:56 AM

67 points

29 comments18 min readEA link

Farmed animals may have positive lives now or in a few decades?

Vasco Grilo🔸Oct 26, 2024, 9:18 AM

24 points

10 comments7 min readEA link

GiveWell may have made 1 billion dollars of harmful grants, and Ambitious Impact incubated 8 harmful organisations via increasing factory-farming?

Vasco Grilo🔸Dec 22, 2024, 10:19 AM

97 points

108 comments9 min readEA link

EAA is relatively overinvesting in corporate welfare reforms

katoJan 6, 2022, 2:47 AM

69 points

30 comments5 min readEA link

Cost-effectiveness of the fish welfare interventions recommended by Ambitious Impact, and Fish Welfare Initiative’s farm program

Vasco Grilo🔸Jan 24, 2025, 5:35 PM

41 points

7 comments13 min readEA link

Insecticide-treated nets significantly harm mosquitoes, but one can easily offset this?

Vasco Grilo🔸Feb 3, 2025, 6:03 PM

29 points

41 comments7 min readEA link

Response to recent criticisms of EA “longtermist” thinking

kbogJan 6, 2020, 4:31 AM

27 points

46 comments11 min readEA link

Against immortality?

Owen Cotton-BarrattApr 28, 2022, 11:51 AM

110 points

40 comments3 min readEA link

There’s Lots More To Do

Jeff Kaufman 🔸May 29, 2019, 7:58 PM

134 points

30 comments2 min readEA link

Cash transfers are not necessarily wealth transfers

BenHoffmanDec 1, 2017, 11:35 PM

17 points

12 comments12 min readEA link

Reflection—Growth and the case against randomista development—EA Forum

Joanna PicettiJul 28, 2022, 11:38 PM

−16 points

3 comments4 min readEA link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

Searle vs Bostrom: crucial considerations for EA AI work?

ForumiteJul 13, 2022, 10:18 AM

11 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

AI can solve all EA problems, so why keep focusing on them?

Cody AlbertMay 3, 2025, 9:51 PM

9 points

9 comments1 min readEA link

The reasonableness of special concerns

jwtAug 29, 2022, 12:10 AM

3 points

0 comments3 min readEA link

Thoughts on Émile P. Torres’ new article, ‘Understanding “longtermism”: Why this suddenly influential philosophy is so toxic’?

AtsinaAug 22, 2022, 9:13 AM

8 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

My argument against AGI

cveresOct 12, 2022, 6:32 AM

2 points

29 comments3 min readEA link

Why I am Still Skeptical about AGI by 2030

James FodorMay 2, 2025, 7:13 AM

87 points

3 comments6 min readEA link

Comments on Ernest Davis’s comments on Bostrom’s Superintelligence

GilesJan 24, 2015, 4:40 AM

2 points

8 comments9 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

29 comments2 min readEA link

(dear-humanity.org)

How to think about an uncertain future: lessons from other sectors & mistakes of longtermist EAs

weeatquinceSep 5, 2020, 12:51 PM

63 points

31 comments14 min readEA link

Speculative scenarios for climate-caused existential catastrophes

vincentzhJan 27, 2023, 5:01 PM

26 points

2 comments4 min readEA link

Editable “Important, Tractable, Neglected” critiques review

DirectedEvolutionFeb 11, 2023, 4:01 AM

10 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

A case against strong longtermism

vadmasDec 15, 2020, 8:56 PM

68 points

79 comments1 min readEA link

There can be highly neglected solutions to less-neglected problems

Linda LinseforsFeb 10, 2023, 8:08 PM

212 points

35 comments3 min readEA link

How the animal movement could do even more good

Tobias_BaumannFeb 28, 2022, 11:10 PM

81 points

1 comment7 min readEA link

(centerforreducingsuffering.org)

The Dissolution of AI Safety

RokoDec 12, 2024, 10:46 AM

−7 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

(www.transhumanaxiology.com)

Three Biases That Made Me Believe in AI Risk

bethFeb 13, 2019, 11:22 PM

41 points

20 comments3 min readEA link

Marginal Aid and Effective Altruism

TomDrakeMar 30, 2023, 8:31 PM

39 points

14 comments2 min readEA link

Response to Torres’ ‘The Case Against Longtermism’

HaydnBelfieldMar 8, 2021, 6:09 PM

138 points

73 comments5 min readEA link

AI Risk is like Terminator; Stop Saying it’s Not

skluugMar 8, 2022, 7:17 PM

191 points

43 comments10 min readEA link

(skluug.substack.com)

An epistemic critique of longtermism

Nathan_BarnardJul 10, 2022, 10:59 AM

12 points

4 comments9 min readEA link

(Crosspost) Is Effective Altruism just a giant meme?

cryptopsyfan69420Oct 5, 2024, 11:33 PM

−18 points

5 comments4 min readEA link

The Failed Strategy of Artificial Intelligence Doomers

yhoisethFeb 5, 2025, 7:34 PM

12 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

(letter.palladiummag.com)

Why this isn’t the “most important century”

Arjun KhemaniJul 27, 2022, 3:27 PM

2 points

2 comments5 min readEA link

(arjunkhemani.com)

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

NicolaeJun 3, 2024, 2:28 PM

208 points

64 comments2 min readEA link

A Response to OpenPhil’s R&D Model

Anthony RepettoAug 3, 2022, 11:31 PM

3 points

2 comments3 min readEA link

Slopworld 2035: The dangers of mediocre AI

titotalApr 14, 2025, 1:14 PM

84 points

1 comment29 min readEA link

(titotal.substack.com)

A response to Matthews on AI Risk

RyanCareyAug 11, 2015, 12:58 PM

11 points

16 comments6 min readEA link

Concerns with Longtermism

Wahhab BaldwinSep 16, 2022, 5:37 AM

13 points

9 comments3 min readEA link

Against prediction markets

Denise_MelchinMay 12, 2018, 12:08 PM

25 points

20 comments4 min readEA link

Linkpost—Beyond Hyperanthropomorphism: Or, why fears of AI are not even wrong, and how to make them real

LockeAug 24, 2022, 4:24 PM

−4 points

3 comments2 min readEA link

(studio.ribbonfarm.com)

Raphaël Millière on the Limits of Deep Learning and AI x-risk skepticism

Michaël TrazziJun 24, 2022, 6:33 PM

20 points

0 comments4 min readEA link

(theinsideview.ai)

Hobbit Manifesto

Clay CubeAug 30, 2022, 8:24 PM

8 points

9 comments7 min readEA link

Selling out to AI companies is bad. Period. You will be corrupted.

Holly Elmore ⏸️ 🔸Apr 9, 2025, 3:56 AM

2 points

23 comments1 min readEA link

In defense of the certifiers

LewisBollardJan 24, 2025, 3:12 PM

163 points

10 comments7 min readEA link

For Longtermism, Employ an Earth-Based Morality

Wahhab BaldwinSep 26, 2022, 6:57 PM

−3 points

0 comments2 min readEA link

On Mike Berkowitz’s 80k Podcast

Timothy_LiptrotApr 21, 2021, 1:53 AM

16 points

10 comments4 min readEA link

Cultivating doubt: why I no longer believe cultivated meat is the answer

Tom Bry-Chevalier🔸Apr 30, 2025, 9:12 AM

145 points

27 comments11 min readEA link

Against longtermism

Brian LuiAug 11, 2022, 5:37 AM

38 points

30 comments6 min readEA link

Are we already past the precipice?

Dem0sthenesAug 10, 2022, 4:01 AM

1 point

5 comments2 min readEA link

Strong Longtermism, Irrefutability, and Moral Progress

ben_chuggDec 26, 2020, 7:44 PM

60 points

99 comments11 min readEA link

Are AI safetyists crying wolf?

sarahhwJan 8, 2025, 8:54 PM

61 points

21 comments16 min readEA link

(longerramblings.substack.com)

Longtermism and Uncertainty

Wahhab BaldwinSep 26, 2022, 4:21 PM

7 points

2 comments3 min readEA link

Defective Altruism article in Current Affairs Magazine

ukc10014Sep 22, 2022, 1:27 PM

13 points

7 comments2 min readEA link

Is the Far Future Irrelevant for Moral Decision-Making?

Tristan DOct 1, 2024, 7:42 AM

35 points

31 comments2 min readEA link

(www.sciencedirect.com)

Proving too much: A response to the EA forum

vadmasFeb 15, 2021, 7:00 PM

24 points

7 comments1 min readEA link

Summary: Against the Singularity Hypothesis (David Thorstad)

Noah Varley🔸Mar 27, 2024, 1:48 PM

65 points

10 comments5 min readEA link

No comments.

Crit­i­cism of effec­tive al­tru­ist causes

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Criticism of effective altruist causes