In this episode we take a look at a few of the biggest stories from what has been a notable newsworthy couple of weeks for philanthropy - focusing on the fallout from the spectacular implosion of crypto billionaire and high profile Effective Altruist Sam Bank-Fried. We also take a look at a big philanthropy pledge from Jeff Bezos and the latest on Mackenzie Scott's radical no-strings-attached big giving. Including:
SBF:
What the hell has happened in the SBF story?What impact might this have on wider efforts to promote the idea of cryptophilanthropy?Will SBF's downfall lead to further calls to clamp down on big money donations in politics, given his prominent support for the Democracts in recent years?Is it likely to mean more skepticism about philanthropic funding for journalism, given that some feel SBF's significant donations to news outlets led to him receiving less critical coverage?Does his downfall present an existential crisis for Effective Altruism (EA)?Should we distinguish between different ways of understanding EA: EA-as-movement, EA-as-ideology, EA-as-academic-field? What is the likely impact on each of these?Do EA movement leaders have questions to answer about whether they were complicit in what was going on at FTX, or just naive? And what are the ramifications of either?Did SBF's EA beliefs lead him to adopt a radical "end justifies the means" view that allowed him to justify bad behaviour?Is this situation a killer blow for EA's "give to earn" idea?
Scott & Bezos
How excited should we be about pledges to give big in the future?What details do we have about what Bezos is actually planning to do?Why does the idea that "giving money away is hard" have such a long history? How is Mackenzie Scott challenging this idea?How should we understand "effectiveness" when it comes to philanthropy?Why has Bezos given $100m to Dolly Parton...?
Related Content
Rhod's Alliance Magazine piece, "
Effectively over: What Does Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall mean for philanthropy and Effective Altruism?"Vox, "
Effective altruism gave rise to Sam Bankman-Fried. Now it’s facing a moral reckoning".
SBF's ill-advised interview with Vox's Kelsey PiperEvan Huber's EA Forum post, "
We must be very clear: fraud in the service of effective altruism is unacceptable"Why Philanthropy Matters article, "
Why Am I Not an Effective Altruist?"
Philanthropisms podcast on cryptophilanthropyPhilanthropisms podcast on the philosophy of philanthropyRhod's piece on "
Marcus Rashford, Dolly Parton and public perceptions of Philanthropy"
