Tumber, Catherine. "Forum Response: The Logic of Effective Altruism". The Boston Review, 6 July 2017.

Tumber, Catherine. "Forum Response: The Logic of Effective Altruism". The Boston Review, 6 July 2017.

• There a number of historical similarities between the concept of wealth used by the effective altruists and that envisioned by Andrew Carnegie. Just as Mr. Carnegie's wealth which made possible his philanthropy was earned through the ruthless exploitation of his workers, the wealth of rich countries is built upon forcible seizure of resources throughout history peaking during colonialism.
• By participating at a high level in the global financial system, as do the effective altruists, the wealth being generating is coming from the sacrifices and impoverishment of others, usually those in the poorest parts of the world. This makes many effective altruists just as contradictory and hypocritical as the philanthropism of Mr. Carnegie.
• More broadly, the author argues that effective altruism serves to depoliticize the issue of global poverty in a way ultimately harmful to the global poor.