THOUGHT PRECEDES deed as lightning precedes(先于，在……之前) thunder, wrote the poet Heinrich Heine(德国诗人海因里希·海涅). So it has proved with effective altruism (EA), an ethical doctrine cooked up by philosophers in Oxford that has gone from the ivory tower to the corridors of power with remarkable speed.(有效利他主义（EA）的历程印证了这一点：这一由牛津哲学家提出的伦理学说，以惊人的速度从象牙塔走进了权力走廊。) Effective altruists fill Silicon Valley, staff the world’s leading artificial-intelligence companies—and alarm the Trump administration. “The United States will NEVER be an effective-altruist country,” pledges the Pentagon. The secretary of war brands the philosophy “defective altruism(利他主义)”; others in the administration call it “dystopian(反乌托邦的)”. Take those attacks as a sign of its influence.
诗人海因里希·海涅曾写道：思想先于行动，正如闪电先于雷鸣。有效利他主义（EA）的历程印证了这句话。这一由牛津哲学家提出的伦理学说，以惊人的速度从象牙塔走进了权力走廊。有效利他主义者遍布硅谷，供职于全球顶尖的人工智能公司——也让特朗普政府感到不安。五角大楼誓言：“美国永远不会成为一个有效利他主义国家。”战争部长给这一哲学贴上“缺陷利他主义”的标签；政府中其他人则称其“反乌托邦”。这些攻击恰恰说明了它的影响力。
Some complain that the 21st century has seen little fresh thinking. Into the void have stepped(填补空白的是……) MAGA(让美国再次伟大) and Co, making nostalgic(怀旧的) populism the century’s big political project. But the century’s big idea is effective altruism. As we report, what began in the 2000s as a geeky way to make charitable giving more cost-effective has changed into a movement that subjects the world to complex, even bizarre, moral calculations.(正如我们报道的那样，它始于2000年代，最初只是一种让慈善捐赠更具成本效益的极客式方法，如今已演变成一场运动，用复杂甚至怪异的道德计算来审视世界。) For many of its adherents(追随者，拥护者), the urgent ethical requirement for people who want to do good is to stop artificial intelligence from wiping out(消灭，毁灭) humanity.
有人抱怨21世纪鲜有新鲜思想。填补这一空白的是MAGA及其同路人，他们让怀旧民粹主义成为本世纪最大的政治工程。但本世纪最重大的思想是有效利他主义。正如我们报道的那样，它始于2000年代，最初只是一种让慈善捐赠更具成本效益的极客式方法，如今已演变成一场运动，用复杂甚至怪异的道德计算来审视世界。对许多追随者而言，想做善事的人最紧迫的伦理要求就是阻止人工智能毁灭人类。
EA is sociologically important, too. EAs are not numerous, but the idea has swept up(席卷，吸引) a generation of gifted youngsters who have made fortunes in cryptocurrency and AI. As the technology mints(铸造，创造) more billionaires, effective altruists will channel(输送，引导) billions of dollars to causes that will shape society. EAs helped start OpenAI(开放人工智能公司) and Anthropic(人工智能安全公司), the leading labs, in the belief that those who understood the dangers of AI should control its development. To a degree(某种程度上), they now do—though, ironically, by creating more labs, and thus competition, they have probably accelerated AI’s progress.
EA在社会学意义上也很重要。EA信徒人数不多，但这一理念席卷了一代在加密货币和AI领域发家致富的天才年轻人。随着技术造就更多亿万富翁，有效利他主义者将把数十亿美元输送到塑造社会的各项事业中。EA信徒帮助创办了领先实验室OpenAI和Anthropic，他们相信理解AI危险的人应当控制其发展。某种程度上，他们现在确实做到了——但讽刺的是，通过创建更多实验室、制造竞争，他们可能反而加速了AI的进步。