#36 - Analyzing Effective Altruism as a Social Movement

In what is hopefully the last installment of Vaden and Ben debate Effective Altruism, we ask if EA lies on the cultishness (yes, that's a word) spectrum. We discuss:

• The potential pitfall of having goodness as a core value
• Aspects of Effective Altruism (EA) that put it on the cultishness spectrum
• Does EA focus on good over truth?
• Ben's experience with EA
• Making criticism a core value
• How does one resist the allure of groupthink?
• How to (mis)behave at parties
• How would one create a movement which doesn't succumb to cult-like dynamics?
• Weird ideas as junk food

Error Correction intro segment

• Scott Alexander pointing out that Ivermectin works indirectly via:

There’s a reason the most impressive ivermectin studies came from parts of the world where worms are prevalent, he says. Parasites suppress the immune system, making it more difficult for the human body to fight off viruses. Thus, getting rid of worm infections makes it easier for COVID-19 patients to bounce back from the virus.

See full post below and summary news article here

• Czechoslovakia was not a part of the USSR
• @lukeconibear pointing out some climate models and data are publicly available. See for instance
  • Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Chem model: https://github.com/geoschem/geos-chem
  • Community Earth System Model (CESM): https://github.com/ESCOMP/CESM
  • Energy Exascale Earth System model: https://github.com/E3SM-Project/E3SM
• @PRyan pointing out we were confused about the difference between economic growth, division of labour, and free trade

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