The question “When did you first hear the term ‘effective altruism’?” is tricky because that term was only invented in late 2011, after many of us had heard about effective altruism itself.
Yes − 2012 in practice. To make the question precise, it clarifies that it refers to the term. It would also be interesting to know when people first head of EA avant la lettre—this could mean many things, but hearing of an EA org certainly counts. For my part I heard of GWWC in 2010, from Pablo Stafforini (benthamite here). I read Peter Unger’s book Living High and Letting Die in about 2002, which argues for giving large amounts to effective charities, and is perhaps the first mention of Earning to Give.
Effective Altruism was used several years before CEA adopted the term. If you heard it before that time, please put the earlier date. However, yes, many people will put dates after CEA’s adoption (or even after Singer’s TED Talk, which seems to be the final galvanization of the term).
It was used in the Felicifia community, although it wasn’t used as definitively as it is now. Although ‘strategic altruism’ was more common although that wasn’t as catchy. It was also just used in casual conversation.
This ‘official’ account gives the impression that no term had much common currency, apart from the jokey ‘super-hardcore do-gooder’ before the end of 2011. I can’t comment about whether other branches of the community used terms in a similar way- I’ve never heard of felicifia.
http://www.effective-altruism.com/the-history-of-the-term-effective-altruism/
This was a pretty surprising sentence. Weren’t LessWrong & GiveWell growing large, important parts of the community before GWWC existed? It wasn’t called “effective altruism” at the time, but it was largely the same ideas and people.
That’s interesting, especially if someone can find a link. Here’s a date-based Google search, though a cursory glance doesn’t reveal any references where the term itself was included before 2012:
Effective Altruism was used several years before CEA adopted the term.
When I wrote “A Name For A Movement?” in March 2012, “Effective Altruism” was a name in circulation, but other names like “Smart Giving” and “Optimal Philanthropy” were more common.
For people who haven’t ready CEA’s post on this, that was after their vote in December 2011. When I participated in it I don’t remember anyone discussing it as already in use; I’d expect someone would remember this if it was in use.
The question “When did you first hear the term ‘effective altruism’?” is tricky because that term was only invented in late 2011, after many of us had heard about effective altruism itself.
Yes − 2012 in practice. To make the question precise, it clarifies that it refers to the term. It would also be interesting to know when people first head of EA avant la lettre—this could mean many things, but hearing of an EA org certainly counts. For my part I heard of GWWC in 2010, from Pablo Stafforini (benthamite here). I read Peter Unger’s book Living High and Letting Die in about 2002, which argues for giving large amounts to effective charities, and is perhaps the first mention of Earning to Give.
I think some people might have us beat 300 years for EtG ;)
http://www.jefftk.com/p/history-of-earning-to-give-iii-john-wesley
Effective Altruism was used several years before CEA adopted the term. If you heard it before that time, please put the earlier date. However, yes, many people will put dates after CEA’s adoption (or even after Singer’s TED Talk, which seems to be the final galvanization of the term).
Are you sure it was used beforehand Jacy? Are there instances you can remember?
It was used in the Felicifia community, although it wasn’t used as definitively as it is now. Although ‘strategic altruism’ was more common although that wasn’t as catchy. It was also just used in casual conversation.
I could be wrong though.
This ‘official’ account gives the impression that no term had much common currency, apart from the jokey ‘super-hardcore do-gooder’ before the end of 2011. I can’t comment about whether other branches of the community used terms in a similar way- I’ve never heard of felicifia. http://www.effective-altruism.com/the-history-of-the-term-effective-altruism/
lukeprog (Luke Muehlhauser) objects to CEA’s claim that EA grew primarily out of Giving What We Can at http://www.effectivealtruism.org/#comments :
I agree with Luke here. CEA seems to often overstate its role in the EA movement (another example at http://centreforeffectivealtruism.org/).
I certainly agree that effective altruism existed long before GWWC.
The discussion I’m addressing though is about the origin of the term “effective altruist.”
That’s interesting, especially if someone can find a link. Here’s a date-based Google search, though a cursory glance doesn’t reveal any references where the term itself was included before 2012:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=%22effective+altruism%22&client=firefox-a&hs=1mw&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=sb&sa=X&ei=pohiU5jjINSyyASUgIGgBQ&ved=0CB0QpwUoBg&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2008%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F2011&tbm=
The first mention I find on the Felicifia site is from 2012.
(As a check, the first entry I find for “suffering” is 2007.)
(And trying this search with Felicifia’s search tool gives “The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: altruism effective.”)
When I wrote “A Name For A Movement?” in March 2012, “Effective Altruism” was a name in circulation, but other names like “Smart Giving” and “Optimal Philanthropy” were more common.
For people who haven’t ready CEA’s post on this, that was after their vote in December 2011. When I participated in it I don’t remember anyone discussing it as already in use; I’d expect someone would remember this if it was in use.