I find it to be a dangerous ideology since it can effectively be used to justify anything. I joined an EA group online (from a popular YouTube channel) and the first conversation I saw was a thread by someone advocating for eugenics. And it only got worse from there.

> A paradox of effective altruism is that by seeking to overcome individual bias through rationalism, its solutions sometimes ignore the structural bias that shapes our world.

Yes, this just about sums it up. As a movement they seem to be attracting some listless contrarians that seem entirely too willing to dig up old demons of the past.

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nullc 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> through rationalism,

When they write "rationalism" you should read "rationalization".

	▲	chrisweekly 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes! It's a crucial distinction. Rationalism is about being rational / logical -- moving closer to neutrality and "truth". Whereas to rationalize something is often about masking selfish motives, making excuses, or (self-)deception -- moving away from "truth".
	▲	XorNot 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's a variant of how you instantly know what a government will be like depending how much democracy they put in their name.

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mikkupikku 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed. It's firmly an "ends justify the means" ideology, reliant on accurately predicting future outcomes to justify present actions. This sort of thing gives free license to any sociopath with enough creativity to spin some yarn with handwavy math about the bad outcome their malicious actions are meant to be preventing.