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How FTX damaged effective altruism

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3 years ago

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How #FTC damaged effective altruism? After #FTX, the Bahamas-based #cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, collapsed, two philosophical movements closely associated with Bankman-Fried – “effective altruism” and “long-termism,” were damaged.
The latter may sound esoteric, but it has had real-world consequences, leading to a crisis among charities founded on the principles.
👉 What is effective altruism? A decade ago, the Scottish philosopher William @MacAskill, one of the world’s foremost advocates of effective altruism, spread the word.
Here's the thing: Sam Bankman-Fried became a multi-billionaire by founding FTX. • Bankman-Fried made questionable business decisions and his house of cards collapsed. • This put “effective altruism in crisis’ and “some of the movement’s institutions [were] suddenly broke”
🤔 What the FTX “debacle says about ‘effective altruism’ in principle and practice’ is “nothing good”, said Michael @Hiltzik in the @latimes Earlier this month @willmacaskill tweeted that the precept of earning to give “in no way justifies fraud”
PS: I wrote this thread with @typefully. rickhuckstep.com/typefully
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Rick Huckstep

@rickhuckstep

Making Sense Of Disruptive Technologies & The Tech Economy | 🗣 Speaker | 📖 Writer | 🎙 Podcaster | 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Community