I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that the longtermist funder is the target of oncoming hate. I think it means that the ‘all those nice EAs stopping malaria and giving what they can’ narrative should remain positive, while the ‘crazy tech billionaire giving his money to stop an AI apocalypse’ narrative will be more negative, but quite distinct from the former.
If it were the other way around, and SBF had been the global poverty guy, that probably would have spawned an interesting societal reflection about consequentialism vs deontology. As it is, longtermism/ AI is too niche for it to be generally seen as altruistic rather than a techie pet project to most people, though.
I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that the longtermist funder is the target of oncoming hate. I think it means that the ‘all those nice EAs stopping malaria and giving what they can’ narrative should remain positive, while the ‘crazy tech billionaire giving his money to stop an AI apocalypse’ narrative will be more negative, but quite distinct from the former.
If it were the other way around, and SBF had been the global poverty guy, that probably would have spawned an interesting societal reflection about consequentialism vs deontology. As it is, longtermism/ AI is too niche for it to be generally seen as altruistic rather than a techie pet project to most people, though.