This is a headgum podcast. I don't know what to think I don't know what to say.

Yeah, but that's all right.

That's okay.

I don't know anything. That's okay.

Hello and welcome to factually. I'm Adam Conover. Thank you so much for joining me on the show again.

You know, it's giving season and if you're like me you might be wondering where the hell should I give my money I mean you want to make the world a better place right but it's difficult to know what charity or organization to donate to that's actually going to make a difference,

especially because we've got a world full of billionaires donating money all the time,

and the world doesn't actually seem to be getting better, right?

So how do we actually make an improvement with our money?

Well, a couple years ago, a savior emerged in the form of a movement called

Effective altruism.

This was a group of scientists, philosophers, and researchers who pledged to use their huge brains to figure

out what the most effective forms of charity were.

They did rigorous research, they conducted studies, they held conferences, and they convinced a lot of very

rich people to donate huge amounts of money for the betterment of humanity.

It seemed like a really great thing until a couple years later when the entire movement collapsed.

It turns out they got into bed with the crypto fraudsters like Sam Bankman Freed and now the entire

philosophical movement behind effective altruism has been largely discredited.

How did this happen? How did a group of people dedicated to figuring out the best and most

selfless ways to better humanity get embroiled in one of the largest

financial frauds of all time. Is it even possible for philanthropy to do good in the world

when things like this happen? and how can average people like you or me

...