Posthumanism and Effective Altruism represent distinct approaches to addressing complex ethical and societal challenges. Posthumanism offers a critical lens on human identity and the role of technology, while Effective Altruism provides a framework for maximizing positive impact through strategic action. While both have potential benefits, they also face criticisms regarding their potential drawbacks and limitations.
| Attribute | Posthumanism | Effective Altruism |
|---|---|---|
| Core tenets and principles | Challenges traditional humanism, questions the centrality of the human experience, critiques anthropocentrism, decenters the human, rejects human exceptionalism and instrumentalism. | Maximizing benefits and prioritizing causes to do the most good; using evidence and reason; prioritization, impartiality, open truth-seeking, and collaboration; equal consideration of interests; honesty, transparency, pledging donations; importance, tractability, and neglectedness framework. |
| Ethical implications and considerations | Ethical dilemmas concerning AI development, autonomy, consciousness, and the potential loss of distinctively human attributes. Challenges the anthropocentric bias, advocating for a more egalitarian distribution of moral consideration. | Helping others and alleviating suffering; commitment to everyone's needs; impartiality, fairness, responsibility, potential unintended consequences; ongoing ethical reflection; potential for 'moral licensing'. |
| Impact on social structures and norms | Challenges the notion that humans are the only agents of the moral world, calls for a rethinking of corporate sustainability. | Ties to elite universities and the technology industry; adds meaning to life; encourages global empathy; promotes a scientific mindset; potential for concentrated giving. |
| Relationship to technology and innovation | Technology plays a crucial role in shaping posthuman identity, redefining what it means to be human. Involves using technology to extend longevity and enhance physical and cognitive performance. | Technology enables informed decisions, data-driven decision-making, scaling solutions, resource distribution; online platforms; some advocate unrestricted technological progress, others are cautious about AI and existential risks. |
| Views on human nature and identity | Challenges traditional notions of human identity and agency. Questions the notion of a fixed and essential human nature. Critiques traditional humanism for its emphasis on the autonomous, rational, and essential self. | Desire to help others; harnessing selflessness; moral obligations are clear; importance of individual action; encourages extending knowledge and living less selfishly. |
| Practical applications and real-world examples | Development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), prosthetic limbs and exoskeletons, neural implants, and genetic engineering. Science fiction and gothic/horror literature. | Donating to effective charities, global health projects, research; GiveWell, Against Malaria Foundation, Evidence Action, Lead Exposure Elimination Project, Wave; funding malaria net distribution and AI alignment research. |
| Criticisms and counterarguments | Critics argue that posthumanism is anti-humanist and overly deterministic. Concerns that it fails to provide a clear normative ethics. | Oversimplification; not addressing broken value systems, debt, imperialism, corruption, and power inequality; overly analytical donors might give less; charitable imperialism; discounting ethical dimensions of relationships and moral worth of species or ecosystems; association with FTX bankruptcy. |
| Historical context and evolution | Coined by literary theorist Ihab Hassan in 1977. Can be seen as a response to the limitations and constraints of humanism. | Developed during the 2000s, name coined in 2011; influenced by Peter Singer, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill; intellectual roots in Singer's 1972 essay; Giving What We Can established in 2009; gained popularity outside academia. |
| Influence on art, literature, and culture | Science fiction and gothic/horror literature. Explores questions about what the world could look like if humans weren't the central characters. | William MacAskill's 'Doing Good Better' and 'What We Owe the Future'; Peter Singer's 'Animal Liberation' and 'The Most Good You Can Do'. |
| Accessibility and Understandability | Complex and multifaceted philosophical movement. Lack of clear boundaries and definitions, overemphasis on theory. | Using evidence and reason to benefit others; finding unusually good ways of helping; making doing good a greater focus; core concepts are accessible. |
| Community and support networks | Information on specific community and support networks dedicated to posthumanism is limited in the search results. | Global network prioritizing helping others and using evidence-based reasoning; commitment to a friendly, open, and welcoming environment; Centre for Effective Altruism; shared housing and online forums. |
| Long-term vision and goals | Proposes that technological progress will free humans from many or all the limitations of their condition. Seeks to direct the evolution of human beings by promoting their improvement through technological means. | Protecting and improving the long-run future; 'Longtermism'; considering existential risks and improving institutions; ensuring human civilization flourishes far into the future. |