Maybe the Effective Altruist movement should accept people like you because they’re a big tent and they’re friendly and welcoming, but the rationalist community should be elitist and only accept people who say tsuyoku naritai...
This is a disturbing claim, although I realize that the author’s opinions don’t coincide with those of the “Alice” character. Personally, I’m not a utilitarian, nor do I want to be a utilitarian or think that I “should” be a utilitarian[1]. I do consider myself a person who is empathetic, honest and cooperative[2]. I hope this doesn’t disqualify me from the rationalist community?
In general, I’m in favor of promoting societal norms which incentivize making the world better: such norms are obviously in everyone’s interest. In this sense, I’m very sympathetic to effective altruism. However, these norms should still regard altruism as supererogatory: i.e., it should be rewarded and encouraged, but it’s lack should not be severely punished. The alternative is much too vulnerable to abuse.
I seem to be the the only one who read the post that way, so probably I read my own opinions into it, but my main takeaway was pretty much that people with your (and my) values are often shamed into pretending to have other values and invent excuses for how their values are consistent with their actions, while it would be more honest and productive if we take a more pragmatic approach to cooperating around our altruistic goals.
This is a disturbing claim, although I realize that the author’s opinions don’t coincide with those of the “Alice” character. Personally, I’m not a utilitarian, nor do I want to be a utilitarian or think that I “should” be a utilitarian[1]. I do consider myself a person who is empathetic, honest and cooperative[2]. I hope this doesn’t disqualify me from the rationalist community?
In general, I’m in favor of promoting societal norms which incentivize making the world better: such norms are obviously in everyone’s interest. In this sense, I’m very sympathetic to effective altruism. However, these norms should still regard altruism as supererogatory: i.e., it should be rewarded and encouraged, but it’s lack should not be severely punished. The alternative is much too vulnerable to abuse.
IMO utilitarianism is not even logically coherent, due to paradoxes with infinite ethics and Pascal’s mugging.
In the sense of, trying to act according to superrationality.
I seem to be the the only one who read the post that way, so probably I read my own opinions into it, but my main takeaway was pretty much that people with your (and my) values are often shamed into pretending to have other values and invent excuses for how their values are consistent with their actions, while it would be more honest and productive if we take a more pragmatic approach to cooperating around our altruistic goals.