Effective altruism and political power

Adam Zerner

I just saw that Donald Trump is running for president. Which led me to the following thought: would any of the big names in tech have a chance at being elected president of the US? Elon Musk? Sergey Brin? Jeff Bezos? Reid Hoffman? Peter Thiel? Edit: Bill Gates?

Some follow up questions/thoughts:

As far as maximizing altruistic impact goes, would it be a good idea for them to become president?
Do these people care about maximizing altruistic impact? To what extent? If so/enough, why not do it?
What other "sane" people have enough reputation in the public eye to have a chance at acquiring a lot of political power? My first thought was tech people, but I'm sure there are others. Big hedge fund managers? Ray Dalio? Or maybe some famous scientists?
What does EA have to say about acquiring political power?

Edit: hypothetically, if one of these big-name tech people were to try to gain political power, how should they go about doing so?

Some follow up questions/thoughts:

As far as maximizing altruistic impact goes, would it be a good idea for them to become president?
Do these people care about maximizing altruistic impact? To what extent? If so/enough, why not do it?
What other "sane" people have enough reputation in the public eye to have a chance at acquiring a lot of political power? My first thought was tech people, but I'm sure there are others. Big hedge fund managers? Ray Dalio? Or maybe some famous scientists?
What does EA have to say about acquiring political power?

Edit: hypothetically, if one of these big-name tech people were to try to gain political power, how should they go about doing so?

I also find it... ironic that Bill Gates is missing from your list.

I thought about him, but it seems "too obvious"(?). Like I'd think that it's sort of clear that he has a solid chance at running and winning if he wanted to. But he doesn't, so I take that as evidence that he doesn't want to. Although I didn't think much about it, and it very well may be bad reasoning.

it's sort of clear that he has a solid chance at running and winning if he wanted to.

Really? Have you asked any "regular" people -- cashiers in a Walmart, car mechanics, secretaries -- whether they think Bill "Why isn't my computer doing what I want?" Gates would make a good POTUS..?

But the ironic part actually has to do with Gates demonstrating much more altruism than other names on your list.

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