15
To what extent did Eliezer Yudkowsky invent the Effective Altruist movement? (forum.effectivealtruism.org)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/sneerclub@awful.systems
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I was wondering if someone here has a better idea of how EA developed in its early days than I do.

Judging by the link I posted, it seems like Yudkowsky used the term "effective altruist" years before Will MacAskill or Peter Singer adopted it. The link doesn't mention this explicitly, but Will MacAskill was also a lesswrong user, so it seems at least plausible that Yudkowsky is the true father of the movement.

I want to sort this out because I've noticed that a recently lot of EAs have been downplaying the AI and longtermist elements within the movement and talking more about Peter Singer as the movement's founder. By contrast the impression I get about EA's founding based on what I know is that EA started with Yudkowsky and then MacAskill, with Peter Singer only getting involved later. Is my impression mistaken?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 2 years ago

Well you need motive and the ability to follow up on your threats(*) for it to be a real threat and he certainly lacks the latter. We also have a tendency to ignore the people who have the former while they do not have the latter until it is too late. (Some of my recent Dutch elections doomerism might be influencing this message).

*: if you are privileged in society.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent