Can effective altruism be redeemed?

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Guest host Sigal Samuel talks with Holden Karnofsky about effective altruism, a movement flung into public scrutiny with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto exchange, FTX. They discuss EA’s approach to charitable giving, the relationship between effective altruism and the moral philosophy of utilitarianism, and what reforms might be needed for the future of the movement. Note: In August 2022, Bankman-Fried’s philanthropic family foundation, Building a Stronger Future, awarded Vox’s Future Perfect a grant for a 2023 reporting project. That project is now on pause. Host: Sigal Samuel (@SigalSamuel), Senior Reporter, Vox Guest: Holden Karnofsky, co-founder of GiveWell; CEO of Open Philanthropy References: "Effective altruism gave rise to Sam Bankman-Fried. Now it's facing a moral reckoning" by Sigal Samuel (Vox; Nov. 16, 2022) "The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (New Yorker; Aug. 8, 2022) "Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself" by Kelsey Piper (Vox; Nov. 16, 2022) "EA is about maximization, and maximization is perilous" by Holden Karnofsky (Effective Altruism Forum; Sept. 2, 2022) "Defending One-Dimensional Ethics" by Holden Karnofsky (Cold Takes blog; Feb. 15, 2022) "Future-proof ethics" by Holden Karnofsky (Cold Takes blog; Feb. 2, 2022) "Bayesian mindset" by Holden Karnofsky (Cold Takes blog; Dec. 21, 2021) "EA Structural Reform Ideas" by Carla Zoe Cremer (Nov. 12, 2022) "Democratising Risk: In Search of a Methodology to Study Existential Risk" by Carla Cremer and Luke Kemp (SSRN; Dec. 28, 2021) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Sikal Samuel, sitting in today for Sean Elling.
0:04.6	SBF is like the Jordan Bell fort of the Cresbio.
0:09.0	SBF, so yeah, he is facing some very serious charges.
0:13.2	Nearly morning hours of November 11th, it all came to an end.
0:17.2	SBF.
0:20.5	You may have heard those initials swirling around recently.
0:23.7	They stand for Sam Bankman Fried, now former billionaire who's at the center of a huge
0:29.5	scandal.
0:31.6	This past November, his crypto exchange, FTX, imploded when he lost at least a billion
0:38.0	dollars in client money after covertly transferring the money to a hedge fund he owned.
0:45.9	In December, he was arrested on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering,
0:52.8	and more.
0:54.3	He pled not guilty to all of them.
0:58.3	In this month, in January, he launched a substack, which so far seems mostly about explaining
1:05.7	how this whole crypto debacle happened.
1:08.9	But crypto is not why I'm interested in SBF.
1:12.9	I'm interested because of the major role he's played in effective altruism, a new-ish
1:18.7	social movement that's all about using reason and evidence to do the most good for the most
1:24.4	people.
1:25.4	SBF was one of its brightest stars, and biggest funders.
1:31.5	Yet now, it looks like he's done a lot of bad to a lot of people.
1:36.5	He's obliterated the savings of countless customers.
	...

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