With a little generosity/trust in Expo’s article and reading between the lines, it’s good to flag the squalid character of Tegmark’s choices:
It seems hard not to guess that (>50%?) Tegmark rescinded his offer to the fascists, because Expo reached out and discovered it.
With more certainty, Tegmark probably distributed $100K in funds solely because of his brother and family, this is terrible for all sorts of reasons, and undermines and is dangerous for the longtermist funding environment and EA overall.
The squalid, low integrity interactions, where Tegmark flat out lies when confronted, is then immediately caught, and then there’s a wobbly game of back and forth between his board, and ultimately pays a lawyer—why? It’s clownish, teenage-like.
This is important because, in a deep sense, the various side hustles and influencers currently entrenching themselves in the EA culture, can’t be dislodged with this sort of behavior.
I’m a “long time” “animal welfare” “EA” and I’m confused by Jamie’s thread here.
I agree that I think it’s possible to co-opt and take credit, and this is bad.
I’m not sure this has happened here. I don’t understand Jamie’s purpose. I’m worried his comment is unnecessarily disagreeable.
It’s good to have good people (EA) do good work on animal welfare. It’s great if this list draws attention to work that we think EAs should support.