“Billionaire philanthropy (Part 7: Donor discretion)” by Matrice Jacobine

This is a link post. In theory, effective altruists are committed to using reason and evidence to identify the best interventions. In practice, much of the available funding is controlled by a small number of actors including prominent donors – most recently, Sam Bankman-Fried, and now Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz. What these donors consider worth funding has a sizable influence on what actually gets funded. Today's post uses historical comparisons to the Christianization of Roman philanthropy as well as Gilded Age philanthropy in the United States to begin to think critically about the discretion afforded to wealthy donors in shaping philanthropic priorities. In particular, I suggest, philanthropists exhibit important conservative biases that may explain some of effective altruism's muted reaction towards institutional critiques of effective altruism. And more broadly, philanthropists tend to favor many of the same views and practices that brought them success in industries which differ importantly [...] --- First published: November 25th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/oR9uv54nE6yjzmc35/billionaire-philanthropy-part-7-donor-discretion --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.