What the thing is
Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement. It uses evidence and reason to maximise benefit to others. It applies global equal consideration of interests. It prioritises causes by expected impact.
Where it came from
It emerged from converging communities in the latter half of the 2000s. These included altruist, rationalist, and futurological groups. The name ‘effective altruism’ was coined in 2011. The Centre for Effective Altruism formed that year.
What it gets right
It treats altruism as a skill to be trained, not a feeling to be trusted. It forces explicit trade-offs between causes. It insists on global impartiality, not charity-as-self-soothing.
What it gets wrong
It assumes evidence and reason are neutral tools, not shaped by the institutions that produce them. It displaces local knowledge with remote calculation. It offers no account of power beyond inefficiency.
Why it matters now
Because it codifies a dominant mode of contemporary ethics: quantified, scalable, institutionally legible, and detached from place, history or reciprocity. It is the operating system for a certain kind of tech-adjacent philanthropy—and its limits are now visible in practice.
Is it worth your time
Yes—if you care about how moral reasoning is formalised, tested and scaled in real time. No—if you expect historical sweep or cultural texture.
