I heard this on a podcast and think it explains quite abit about the mentality of these executives. They are effective altruists with long termism, mixed in with a healthy dose of narcissism and greed of course. But the later two are not what I want to discuss.
Effective Altruists, or those subscribing to Moral Ambition have a sort of ends justify the means look at it all. You do everything you can to amass power and wealth so you can make the world a better place. When you add that in with longtermism, that all the suffering now is meaningless because it’s the countless billions of humans coming later that matter, and you gain some clarity regarding their worldviews and morality. That is, of course, without considering what they think “a better place” means. To these individuals, it’s a world shaped in their image. How they see fairness, and work, and love. And it is not a place most human beings, I wager, want to see come to fruition.
I must be clear I am not saying this is right, nor altruistic, nor condoning it. I find the entire amalgam of ideas and influences rotten. It just offers some perspective on what is driving these people.
It’s amazing how much the wealthy have cloaked their avarice in virtue since recorded history first began. This is among the oldest tricks in the book, and we fall for it again and again.
“Ignore the disparity, civil war, and malice! Here is a theatre in marble too!” - Pompey, probably.
“Ignore the death of a past-time, climate destruction, and war! AI will solve climate change and get humanity to the stars.” Our new overlords.
I heard this on a podcast and think it explains quite abit about the mentality of these executives. They are effective altruists with long termism, mixed in with a healthy dose of narcissism and greed of course. But the later two are not what I want to discuss.
Effective Altruists, or those subscribing to Moral Ambition have a sort of ends justify the means look at it all. You do everything you can to amass power and wealth so you can make the world a better place. When you add that in with longtermism, that all the suffering now is meaningless because it’s the countless billions of humans coming later that matter, and you gain some clarity regarding their worldviews and morality. That is, of course, without considering what they think “a better place” means. To these individuals, it’s a world shaped in their image. How they see fairness, and work, and love. And it is not a place most human beings, I wager, want to see come to fruition.
I must be clear I am not saying this is right, nor altruistic, nor condoning it. I find the entire amalgam of ideas and influences rotten. It just offers some perspective on what is driving these people.
It’s amazing how much the wealthy have cloaked their avarice in virtue since recorded history first began. This is among the oldest tricks in the book, and we fall for it again and again.
Indeed.
“Ignore the disparity, civil war, and malice! Here is a theatre in marble too!” - Pompey, probably. “Ignore the death of a past-time, climate destruction, and war! AI will solve climate change and get humanity to the stars.” Our new overlords.