(With apologies to William MacAskill and Gordon B. Hinckley)
Over the past several years, both before and after the rise and fall of FTX, people deeply involved in Effective Altruism have increasingly avoided identifying as such. Multiple local groups have not used the name (here and here), writers have said they were uncomfortable with how self-congratulatory it sounds (here), many people say it's easier to explain individual ideas than EA as a whole, (here and here), and even some very high-ranking EAs worry about reputational risk from the name (here).
Now, there are a lot of associations people have with the name Effective Altruism, and self-identification is a personal choice. But realistically, collective perception is not. If people associate a given cause area or way of approaching charity with Effective Altruism, any attempt to dissuade them from the name would be seen as confusing at best and manipulative at worst. Disidentifying from EA won't stop people from associating us with EA. It will just mean we can't influence their perception of it.
So I suggest that, rather than attempting either a collective or individual move away from Effective Altruism as a label, we should remember that of all the things that people could call us, Effective Altruism is among the best. If people are going to fight over what that label means, then it matters that this label itself is unusually well-chosen. And towards that end, I would like to draw your attention to a simple fact about the etymology of Effective Altruism. We often overlook it, but I feel that it is very instructive.
Effective Altruism means "doing good better."
It's a simple observation, really, but one that too many people, even within Effective Altruism, fail to make. "Effective" means "making an impact," and "altruism" means "care for others." So, put together, "effective altruism" means "caring for others in a way that makes an impact." In short, "doing good better."
And it's not just words. We can see that Effective Altruism means "doing good better" by looking at what we've managed to accomplish in the relatively short period Effective Altruism has been around. I don't think I can outperform Scott Alexander on enumerating all the ways we've managed to "do good better," but his article is here. So when we look at all the things we've done, from saving hundreds of thousands of lives from preventable diseases, to switching 400 million chickens to cage-free settings, to founding the field of AI safety, to donating hundreds of kidneys on an individual level, whenever anyone says that Effective Altruism was responsible for this, can anyone deny that it means "doing good better"?
And so, as people who aspire towards effective altruism, and members of the social movement known as Effective Altruism, our role should not be to apologize for our name, or distance ourselves from it. Our role should instead be to live so that Effective Altruism really does mean "doing good better." Our role should be to realize that when we haven't been seen as "doing good better," that's a problem with us, not with our name or how we use it.
So whatever you decide to do for Effective Altruism, whether it be donating to effective charities, working on emerging risks that are only starting to get attention, or building strong communities focusing on helping each other do good, remember that Effective Altruism means "doing good better," and by helping those in the most need, we can make sure to live up to our name.
