In particular, SBF and the current EA push to religiously monopolize AI capability and research triggers a lot of red flags. There are even upvoted posts debating whether it’s “good” to publicize interpretability research. This screams cultist egoism to me.
Asking others to be altruistic is also a non-cooperative action. You need to pay people directly not bully them to work because of the greater good. A society in which people aren’t allowed to have their self-interest as a priority is a society of slave bees.
Altruism needs to be self-initiated and shown, not told.
Just to avoid misinterpreting you, do you mean to say your personal opinion here sheds light on why the idea of altruism is culturally disliked in China?
(Asking since I’m following Gordon’s comment to learn about why altruism is culturally disliked in China, so I’d like to filter direct responses from personal opinion tangents for myself)
It’s probably more so that that the vast majority of families in China have recent historical memories of being duped by sophisticated folks proclaiming to be altruistic, morally superior, etc., and engaging in activities allegedly to the benefit of the wider population.
I’m inclined to believe in the possibility of a memetic ‘inoculation’ so I can see why there would be a huge difference in how such ideas are viewed, to a lesser extent this applies to all of the former Warsaw Pact countries too.
Plus there’s the natural tendency of an older and longer settled society to be more conscious of social status maneuvering.
Most of the population probably won’t have anything against genuinely altruistic people who don’t try to claim any sort of social status, moral authority, etc.
Would you say that China knows the bankruptcy of heroic-sacrifice culture (collectivist duty), and westerners have not really experienced that, and they know that westerners just romanticize it from a distance without ever really living it?
EA is funny in that it consists mostly of people who know about incentives and consequences and they try to pay their people well and tell them not to burn themselves out and to keep room for themselves, but it is still named “altruism”, and it still does a bit of hero-eating on the side from time to time.
E.S.: personal opinion
Because proclaimed altruism is almost always not.
In particular, SBF and the current EA push to religiously monopolize AI capability and research triggers a lot of red flags. There are even upvoted posts debating whether it’s “good” to publicize interpretability research. This screams cultist egoism to me.
Asking others to be altruistic is also a non-cooperative action. You need to pay people directly not bully them to work because of the greater good. A society in which people aren’t allowed to have their self-interest as a priority is a society of slave bees.
Altruism needs to be self-initiated and shown, not told.
Just to avoid misinterpreting you, do you mean to say your personal opinion here sheds light on why the idea of altruism is culturally disliked in China?
(Asking since I’m following Gordon’s comment to learn about why altruism is culturally disliked in China, so I’d like to filter direct responses from personal opinion tangents for myself)
It’s probably more so that that the vast majority of families in China have recent historical memories of being duped by sophisticated folks proclaiming to be altruistic, morally superior, etc., and engaging in activities allegedly to the benefit of the wider population.
I’m inclined to believe in the possibility of a memetic ‘inoculation’ so I can see why there would be a huge difference in how such ideas are viewed, to a lesser extent this applies to all of the former Warsaw Pact countries too.
Plus there’s the natural tendency of an older and longer settled society to be more conscious of social status maneuvering.
Most of the population probably won’t have anything against genuinely altruistic people who don’t try to claim any sort of social status, moral authority, etc.
Would you say that China knows the bankruptcy of heroic-sacrifice culture (collectivist duty), and westerners have not really experienced that, and they know that westerners just romanticize it from a distance without ever really living it?
EA is funny in that it consists mostly of people who know about incentives and consequences and they try to pay their people well and tell them not to burn themselves out and to keep room for themselves, but it is still named “altruism”, and it still does a bit of hero-eating on the side from time to time.