Fear And Loathing At Effective Altruism Global 2017

Virtuoso Hunter-S-Thompson-style writeup of EA Global 2017. A tour from the 'boring effective suits' moving nine-digit sums (GiveWell, Open Phil, 80,000 Hours) to the weird fringe (Wild Animal Suffering Research; the Qualia Research Institute's consciousness-hacking; researchers on suffering in fundamental physics / false-vacuum decay). The key move: these aren't two factions but the SAME people (the river-blindness expert who also worries about synthetic biology; MacAskill urging 'keep EA weird'). The unifying thesis: 'the effective altruists are genuinely good people' -- the worm-savers, Parfit weeping at the abstract idea of suffering, the framing of EA's efficiency as military discipline in a desperate war against suffering itself. Closes on a moving Byron quote and the volunteer's theory that everyone is just working through their problems toward bodhisattva-hood.

Quality 79 · Excellent. One of his best-loved, most virtuoso essays -- simultaneously hilarious and genuinely moving, capturing EA's soul (the suit/weirdo unity, the 'genuinely good people' thesis) better than almost anything. High-Excellent on craft and emotional/observational power; held just under the pure-insight 80s as it's an evocative portrait rather than a new framework.

Claude’s paradigm shift 58 · Moderate. Low-Major-shift. The portrait and its thesis (EA's suit/weirdo unity; efficiency-as-love) are a fresh, evocative framing rather than a new paradigm; literary journalism.

Real-world impact 3 · Moderate. A virtuoso, beloved portrait of EA Global 2017 that captures the movement's character (the suit/weirdo unity; the 'genuinely good people' thesis) better than almost anything. Real reach and influence within and around the EA sphere on how the (materially-consequential) movement is perceived, but an evocative portrait rather than action — modest RWI.