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?

In general it's arguable to what extent presidents are leaders vs figureheads that the true powers rally behind.

Non-American here... there are certain things that give me the figurehead vibe. Such as should not be atheist - if not figurehead people would care more about culturally Christian / traditional / conservative VALUES than faith.

Faith is a deeply personal issue and suggests the importance of personality i.e. figureheadism.

Values, such as, values that align with religious conservative etc. ones even if the candidate is atheist would suggest more actual power.

When you ask your boss for a holiday, you care not if he approves it because of christian charity or atheist empathy.

Maybe at this point someone will ask why would have an atheist religious conservative values. My answer will be that a hyper-masculine nationalist even when atheist will have 90% the same values. For example he will be against abortion because he wants more kids because he wants more soldiers beca use he wants more national power. But this may be too much of an (Eastern) European kind of conservative logic and perhaps incomprehensible in the US I don't know.

I should add I was here demonstrating how some people think NOT endorsing it. Don't shoot/downvote the messenger.

Such as should not be atheist - if not figurehead people would care more about culturally Christian / traditional / conservative VALUES than faith.

The point is that in the USA faith is (or at least was) a reasonable signal for values.

My answer will be that a hyper-masculine nationalist even when atheist will have 90% the same values.

Due to the cultural history of the USA hyper-masculine nationalist atheists with conservative values are rare. Currently the only place to find them is in certain corners of NRx.

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Effective altruism and political power

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Effective altruism and political power

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