Fun:Effective altruism

Tired of laughing? RationalWiki has a slightly more serious article about Effective altruism.

Carefully, correctly LessWrong

Singularity blues

Luke Muehlhauser Julia Galef Roko's basilisk/Original post Simulated reality Scott Alexander Neoreactionary movement MetaMed LessWrong Roko's basilisk Robin Hanson Aumann's agreement theorem Rationalist taboo v - t - e

Effective Altruism comes complete with:

• a credo
• a controversial founder who rejects all other religions and propounds a strict moral code
• denominations (the three most prominent ones being poverty, animal welfare, and MIRI — although MIRI supporters are theoretically a subdivision of X-risk worriers)
• sermons, including abstruse technical arguments which may seem pointless to outsiders
• saints (at least, according to Scott Alexander)
• breathless evangelists
• regular meetups
• an "optional" 10% "or more" tithe, for those who can afford it
• a tiny, but growing, cadre of full-time functionaries, some paid, some volunteers
• crazy end-times prophecies (from the MIRI faction)
• predictions of a wondrous afterlife when this vale of tears is finally over (from the MIRI / nanotechnology / transhumanist / hedonistic imperative factions)
• … and even a thought experiment about a vengeful god which some people have taken way too seriously.

So, nothing at all like a religion, then!

On the other hand, unlike most religions, effective altruism does entail a commitment to think rationally. Of course, adherents of traditional religions don't think they're being irrational, either…