Talk of movements makes me nervous. The latest swirling in tech world is “effective altruism.” Elon Musk had a brush with it. Its biggest proponent is crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, who very quietly was the second-largest donor in support of the Biden campaign at $5.2 million. Be warned, he said on a podcast, he might donate $100 million to $1 billion in the 2024 election cycle.
So who is this guy? Mr. Bankman-Fried, 30, made his first killing doing bitcoin arbitrage, taking advantage of different prices in Japan and the U.S. He also leveraged a “kimchi premium”—a 30% gap between the American and South Korean prices. Then he created one of the largest crypto exchanges. Profiles of him dutifully note he’s a vegan, drives a Toyota Corolla, and sleeps on a beanbag next to his office chair. FTX bought the naming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena and lots of umpire and referee uniforms. Since May, he has been bailing out failing crypto firms, and he noted recently that FTX has a “few billion” left to help. Hope that’s enough. Oh, and he plans to give away everything except for 1% of his annual income to “long-termist” causes, guided by effective altruism.
Others active in this movement include Facebook founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna. So what is effective altruism? In 1972 philosopher Peter Singer suggested using metrics rather than emotion to direct charitable giving. On the surface it makes perfect sense. There is even a framework to be effective: Giving must scale, be aimed at causes neglected by mainstream philanthropy, be directed at solvable problems, and be a good personal fit for the giver. Sounds great so far.
But like everything else, high thoughts often devolve to personal biases. While claiming that effective altruism is a worldview and a way of life, Mr. Singer also said “there are glaring things wrong with the way people are living.” Effective altruism also seems to be related to the “work to give” movement. Workers will rationalize high-paying jobs by giving most of their income away. Actually, when you work, you already give to society, but that is too complex for some to understand. Animal rights and veganism are big in the movement as well.
For true believers, it must be hard to find worthy projects. No problem! An organization known as GiveWell will tell you what charities are effective. I did a little digging, and I’m not so sure they’re effective at all. Yes, they direct money toward malaria nets and treatments for parasitic worms, but they also supply supplements for vitamin A deficiency, though genetically modified “golden” rice already provides vitamin A more effectively. Hmmm, seems like a move backward. GiveWell also suggests direct cash transfers to solve extreme poverty, similar to universal basic income.
William MacAskill, a major effective-altruism booster, told the Washington Post that more should be spent on “preparing for low-probability, high-cost events such as pandemics.”
