“EA Adjacency as FTX Trauma” by Mjreard

<p> This is a Forum Team crosspost from Substack. <br> Matt would like to add: "Epistemic status = incomplete speculation; posted here at the Forum team's request"</p><p> When you ask prominent Effective Altruists about Effective Altruism, you often get responses like these:</p><p> For context, Will MacAskill and Holden Karnofsky are arguably, literally the number one and two most prominent Effective Altruists on the planet. Other evidence of their ~spouses’ personal involvement abounds, especially Amanda's. Now, perhaps they’ve had changes of heart in recent months or years – and they’re certainly entitled to have those – but being evasive and implicitly disclaiming mere knowledge of EA is comically misleading and non-transparent. Calling these statements lies seems within bounds for most.[1]</p><p> This kind of evasiveness around one's EA associations has been common since the collapse of FTX in 2022, (which, for yet more context, was a major EA funder that year and [...]</p></br></p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(03:32) Why can't EAs talk about EA like normal humans (or even normal executives)?</p><p>(05:54) Coming of age during the Great Awokening</p><p>(07:15) Bad Comms Advice</p><p>(08:22) Not understanding how words work (coupled with motivated reasoning)</p><p>(11:05) Trauma</p> <p><i>The original text contained 5 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> April 8th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/ea-adjacency-as-ftx-trauma?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/ea-adjacency-as-ftx-trauma</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/t7xxfbxfegyyf2vkfcni" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/t7xxfbxfegyyf2vkfcni" alt="Meme using King of the Hill animation about Effective Altruism and AI" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/uunnhwqxtfvxwjl5setm" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/uunnhwqxtfvxwjl5setm" alt="Text excerpt discussing Anthropic, EA, and relationships between key figures in philanthropy." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/izkt6romat5qmvcxespl" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/izkt6romat5qmvcxespl" alt="Person in orange prison uniform expressing frustration about communications staff." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>