BHAID: Effective Altruism Act

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Whereas, the BHAID has over the past few terms made an effort to make small but meaningful contributions demonstrating the generosity and caring of the Talossan people, and

Whereas, Effective altruism (often abbreviated EA) is a contemporary philosophical and social movement advocating "the use of evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis," and

Whereas, Effective Altruism Funds (EA Funds) is a platform for moving money to particularly cost-effective and altruistically impactful projects. The current funds focus on Improving the lives of people living in extreme poverty and improving the lives of non-human animals, and

Whereas, the EA Funds Global Health and Development Fund aims to support funding opportunities that improve the health or economic empowerment of people around the world as effectively as possible.

Therefore, the Ziu authorises the Bureau of Humanitarian Aid and International Development to make a one-time contribution of $50 (USD), to the EA Funds Global Health & Development Fund via the charity Giving What We Can at https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/en-US/funds/effective-altruism-funds

Uréu q'estadra så
Breneir Tzaracomprada (MC-TNC)
Mximo Carbonèl (Minister, Foreign Affairs)

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

@Sir Lüc Would you be willing to move this to the CRL? I am not sure how and based on past experience don't want to risk Wittoffenses.

[Sir Lüc]

Gladly!

For the record, the process I'm following is to click on "Move Topic", then select the CRL board as destination, do not post a redirection topic, and change the title of the thread to add the [CRL] prefix.

(Ideally, this will be done again when the bill is moved to the Hopper archives.)

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Gladly!

For the record, the process I'm following is to click on "Move Topic", then select the CRL board as destination, do not post a redirection topic, and change the title of the thread to add the [CRL] prefix.

(Ideally, this will be done again when the bill is moved to the Hopper archives.)

Thank you very much Lüc

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Oh dear, how did I possibly miss this? Sorry, I can't support Talossa dipping its toes in these waters.

Effective altruism (EA), and its umbrella concept longtermism, is a quasi-utilitarian[3] movement to change the world through making carefully-targeted charitable donations — not only through making carefully-targeted charitable donations, but that is the overwhelming focus. Philosopher Peter Singer started the idea in 2013 and bought into it big time.[4] Effective Altruism is also pushed by Bay Area technolibertarians, and artificial intelligence existential risk groups, including MIRI.Wikipedia The latter, of course, consider themselves an obvious beneficiary — if not the obvious beneficiary (i.e., self-dealing). ...

Beware of EAs equivocating by responding to criticisms of the EA subculture's behaviours with advocacy of the value of charity or evaluating charities in general.

There's a lot of good people in EA, and a lot of terrible ones. For instance, the increasingly well-documented and frankly cult-like abuses inside EA, dominated as it is by rich white men in tech. Who'd have thought a subculture that consciously constructed itself around making rich men feel good about themselves would treat women as commodities?

The subculture is also just a little too tolerant of weird scientific racists and eugenicists, as long as they have money or are old friends from the mailing lists.

There's also the bit where EA movement leaders spent the FTX money on a castle or two. But if you do the numbers, you'll understand that the most effective possible action is to fit out a really nice castle where movement leaders can sit and contemplate the future robot apocalypse.

Hi, these are important points on EA generally but don't seem applicable to the specific organization, Miestra. I specifically highlighted an organization that dispenses grants directly to applicants. Also, can this be moved out of the CRL as this seems more appropriate for the Hopper? @Sir Lüc

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

Sorry about that, Brenéir. This proves the value of the CRL, though - the process of "going to committee" means that it's harder for bills to "slip under the radar". Very interested in hearing more about this *specific* fund.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Sorry about that, Brenéir. This proves the value of the CRL, though - the process of "going to committee" means that it's harder for bills to "slip under the radar". Very interested in hearing more about this *specific* fund.

Sure, here is more about the team behind EA Funds here: https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/team I did not do a deep-dive through each member of the team but didn't see any track record in questionable causes.

Our funding would go directly to the Global Health and Welfare Fund which gives grants to project applicants based on the criteria described here: https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/global-development

You can see examples of previous grantees as well.

Also, this bill was in the Hopper for ten days without comment. So it didn't slip through.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I am also open to suggestions for alternative groups. I think this is what we did with our last BHAID bill. We started with the Red Crescent and eventually ended up selecting the Syrian Civil Defense. I more interested in seeing the BHAID give to worthy organisations so if there is a different one with less controversy then I am completely open.

[Sir Lüc]

Also, can this be moved out of the CRL as this seems more appropriate for the Hopper? @Sir Lüc

Do I go ahead with this still?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Also, can this be moved out of the CRL as this seems more appropriate for the Hopper? @Sir Lüc

Do I go ahead with this still?

Yes please. From Miestra's comment.

[Sir Lüc]

Moved out of committee as requested.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Moved out of committee as requested.

Thanks!

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I haven't heard any additional concerns after posting the information on the EA Funds. Please feel free to give more feedback or suggest a better match for BHAID support.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I've put the details around my party for discussion. At first glance there don't seem to be any obvious red flags, but I'm sure you'll understand that I want to be very careful about to whom we parcel out Talossan funds

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I've put the details around my party for discussion. At first glance there don't seem to be any obvious red flags, but I'm sure you'll understand that I want to be very careful about to whom we parcel out Talossan funds

Absolutely, there was diligence in the selection of the charity and internal discussion in the TNC initially but differing views on specific organisations are unavoidable and to be respected. There is no hurry but I wanted to be sure I solicited additional feedback.