A critique of effective altruism

Note: This topic has been moved to 18th of January! On January 4th we will talk about the question "What is effective altruism?" instead.

Introduction & Personal Updates

We start each meeting by going around the table and giving updates about EA-related events in our personal lives, followed by plans until the next meetup. The idea is to share activities the group might be interested in and encourage each other.

A critique of Effectie Altuism

Why did effective altruism (EA) only come about so recently? What are the inside and outside critics of EA? Is there any historical analogue to EA?

We will discuss existing critique from blog posts on the internet and we want to encourage everyone to contribute your own thoughts and feelings about the EA movement.

The overall focus of the meetup is to collect criticism and the question how to process it so we can improve as a movement.

For new people who have never heard of EA before, we recommend some background reading:

GiveWell on Effective Altruism (http://blog.givewell.org/2013/08/13/effective-altruism/)
What is effective altruism? (http://effective-altruism.com/ea/45/what_is_effective_altruism/) By Will MacAskill

For regular visitors, this meetup is an opportunity to think critically and exchange with others.
Meta-meeting

We'll have a meeting about the meetup group itself and possible projects prior to the meetup. If you're interested or would like to give your opinion, you're welcome to join us at 12.45 at the same place.

Practical

Note that the location has been changed to the La Place. We have this Google Doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/16bBtla1iVzkJjie-JK7Ozb9Ao8SbyJ9U924XyaEXTqY/edit?usp=sharing) where anyone can make suggestions, also for the coming meetups. And feel free to join our facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/262932060523750/?ref=br_tf) as well.

If you have trouble finding us you can reach me (Sören) at 0031684140766.