Some early history of effective altruism

Abstract

The effective altruism (EA) community emerged from the convergence of four distinct but overlapping communities between 2008 and 2012. These communities were: (1) the Singularity Institute and the rationalist discussion forum LessWrong, (2) GiveWell and Good Ventures, (3) Felicifia, a utilitarianism discussion forum, and (4) Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours, founded by Will MacAskill and Toby Ord. The EA movement grew rapidly after 2012, with the term “effective altruism” becoming more widely used. In recent years, EA has expanded its focus to include animal advocacy and moral circle expansion. – AI-generated abstract.