• @Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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    109 days ago

    Effective altruisim is fine on paper, and I’m sure there’s people effectively effective altruisim, but most people who champion it are…well…Sam Bankman-Fried and friends. Wearing a mask of doing it for the unfortunate and spending everything on a beachfront mansion robbing Peter to pay Paul, with absolutely no real intention of helping the folk that “effective” altruisim is meant to help.

    I liked Luigi, and this is gonna sound a bit rough, because he shot a useless piece of shit drain on society. Effective altruisim is nice on paper, but it’s almost always used to fleece the stupid so the rich can get richer.

    • @Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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      59 days ago

      He’s young. He’s still working out his view of the world. Of course he’s gonna investigate ideas, accepting some and rejecting others. He’s not far off.

      • David GerardOPMA
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        99 days ago

        investigate ideas

        “Which ideas?”
        “Oh, you know the ones”

        • @Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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          9 days ago

          I’m not suggesting which ideas are right and wrong, or which he would accept or reject.

          I’m saying he’s young and seeking out ideas. Of course some will be problematic. He might reject them. He might not. Regardless, just the fact that he was curious is a point in his favor.

          I’m much older than him and this is the first time I’ve heard of “effective altruism.”

          • @froztbyte
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            9 days ago

            I’m not suggesting which ideas are right and wrong, or which he would accept or reject

            you: thinks one is doing this with care and finesse

            nobody:

            everyone else: 🤨

            • @Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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              8 days ago

              I wasn’t criticizing stoicism or effective altruism because I’m not informed enough on them. I wasn’t criticizing rationalism because I’m in favor of it. But I’m willing to bet if society has managed to fuck up stoicism and altruism, we’ve probably done the same with rationalism too.

              I wasn’t addressing which ideas or positions he was taking because I can’t see inside his head. I have no idea how he thinks, or which paths he has taken. I don’t know how he will change in the future. That would be presumptuous.

              I do like that he is curious. That’s a good quality in a person. Not everyone is.

              • @froztbyte
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                58 days ago

                I… have to ask: are you actually aware of what the hell the context is of the things that you’re commenting about?

                • @Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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                  8 days ago

                  I literally just said that this is the first time I’ve heard of effective altruism. I read what others said about it here, and it doesn’t sound good. I have generally favored what little I’ve read about stoicism, but apparently it’s become problematic too. I know better than to talk about ideas that I’m unfamiliar with. Is it a problem that I refuse to assert any kind of intellectual authority where I have none?

                  So what I said was I appreciate the fact that he is curious. I remember when I was his age. I believed in some batshit crazy things. I was a devout fundamentalist christian, a young earth creationist, an incel before they used the word. You know how I broke free of all that? Insatiable curiosity. I filled my head with other people’s ideas. Cognitive dissonance forced me to abandon bad ideas and I clung to good ideas until I was able to form a solid foundation for how to face reality. Rationality was critical to that process.

                  I’m not prepared to criticize the ideas and positions he was curious about. But I do praise a curious mind. Young people are still forming their positions. Part of that process is investigating ideas, accepting the good and rejecting the bad. I don’t know how he will turn out. But curiosity is a good quality.

                  • @froztbyte
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                    8 days ago

                    okay a lot of that is good and all, but here’s the flipside: a lot of these fuckwits outright prey on naïve curiousity. it is one of their biggest feeders for taking in people who don’t yet know any better

                    and that’s kinda the point. broadly I agree with you, but curiousity is/can be a dangerous thing

                    (also the reason I asked was the framing of one of your statements, so: Rationalism, big-R specifically. congratulations on learning about some of the worst people around)

    • Jack Riddle
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      27 days ago

      I would say that he has some moral principles and did actually effective altruism

    • @skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de
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      89 days ago

      large sections of lemmy have convinced themselves that Luigi is a leftist before learning that he’s an EA libertarian and all implications and what side effects followed cause brain damage

    • @AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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      139 days ago

      I went to a university with a big Effective Altruist presence (I think I still have a ruler and a memory stick with their branding on it somewhere) and I found many of the arguments they make quite compelling until I looked into the movement more deeply and saw its repugnant core

      Many people who are drawn to Effective Altruism are aware of the state of the world, and their relative privilege, but they feel overwhelmed by how little they’re able to contribute to solving problems, relative to the size of the problems. People don’t “donate” to EA, they’re buying into a lie that helps them to feel less directly responsible for the world.

      • David GerardOPMA
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        79 days ago

        oh yeah, lotta EAs really care and work their backsides off and live on beans

        it’s a pity about the ones at the top

    • David GerardOPMA
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      49 days ago

      CEOs vs dust specks (large ones very fast)