INHUMAN ALTRUISM: “Effective Altruism” and the Faux Philanthropists of Silicon Valley

“Everybody wants to save the world; nobody wants to help mom do the dishes.” — P.J. O’Rourke

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.” — Adam Smith

One of the great tragedies of our internet misinformation age is that simple terms and concepts have been totally discombobulated. Take for example the idea of altruism, which Wikipedia defines as:

Altruism is the principle and practice of concern for the well-being and/or happiness of other humans or animals above oneself. While objects of altruistic concern vary, it is an important moral value in many cultures and religions. It may be considered a synonym of selflessness, the opposite of selfishness.

Furthermore, modern evolutionary observations describe that the well being of an entire species (especially humans) depends upon a significant number…