Taylor Lorenz clashes with critics over Dario's 'adults worth 2-3x more than infants' EA quote
TaylorLorenz · x · 2026-11-08
Tech journalist Taylor Lorenz got into a heated X exchange over a Dario Amodei quote on effective altruism moral math.
- Her core argument: lives saved by, say, vaccination programs can be measured objectively, but claiming an adult's life is 'worth 2-3x more' than an infant's because adults have 'deeper experiences' is a purely subjective moral judgment
- Critics (ArmandDoma, austinc3301) pushed back: EA bought malaria nets for the poor — is that bad? And what's her superior alternative to EA-style thinking?
- Lorenz accused them of deliberately misrepresenting her and timnitGebru's point, stressing they oppose subjective life-worth rankings, not data-driven giving
Related event: Dario's Quantified Moral Weights Spark EA Ethics Debate(2 posts)→
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