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Comment by morelisp | Hacker News Reader

Exactly this. All the debates about whether SBF's EA ties were "authentic" or he strayed over time or whatever are missing the point.

EA is a morally bankrupt, barely coherent, stupid ideology designed to justify pre-hoc teenage technocratic fantasies. In that sense, no matter what SBF believed in his heart of hearts he's a poster child for EA all the way.

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I'm seeing so many of these posts and I just don't understand how this perception of EA has formed. What charities are you giving to? EA would say you should give to fight global poverty and improve global health as fighting malaria is more effective than say, giving to a local arts community. What's bankrupt, barely coherent, stupid, and technocratic about that?

> EA would say you should give to fight global poverty and improve global health as fighting malaria is more effective than say, giving to a local arts community

Dozens of ideologies say that. EA doesn't say only that.

A common theme in Charles dickens books is a character that cares so much about people in faraway lands that they completely neglect their family. Today with our understanding of mission colonialism these behaviors appear even worse.

On a personal level, my familial obligations supersede even local art charities and much less distant global health issues. Most EA people have enough instinctive moral behavior to avoid falling into a trap like SBF, but EA taken to its extreme clearly states that distance is not morally relevant.

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