Asterisk Magazine

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Asterisk Magazine is a web and print magazine funded by Effective Altruism organizations which spreads "ideas from in and around the EA community."[1] Articles are full of EA and LessWrong 'rationalist' ideas but rarely mention those movements by name. The founder advertised for jobs on the Effective Altruism forum.[2] Many EA and rationalist bloggers such as Aella, Scott Alexander, Ozy Brennan, Sarah Constantin, and Kelsey Piper have written for the magazine.[3] A few contributors are mainstream academics, pollsters, or even building contractors, but almost all have connections to some related movement such as pro-natalism.[4]

Funders

At launch in 2022, Asterisk's website said that it was funded by the Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) = the Centre for Effective Altruism USA Inc.[5] Effective Ventures received at least £3.3 million and $300,000 from Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX and reported itself to the British authorities after it was revealed that FTX was a fraud.[6]

The inquiry found that as two members of the trustee board had connections with FTX (one trustee was the CEO of the FTX Foundation and the other was an unpaid advisor to the FTX Future Fund as mentioned above), this led to a lack of clarity as to whether they were acting for the charity or on behalf of FTX Foundation at any given time. ... During the inquiry, the two trustees with connections to FTX resigned from their positions at the charity.

By 2025, Asterisk said that it was funded by the Open Philanthropy project (a partnership between the EA organization GiveWell and a billionaire).[7] The web magazine has no ads and no paywall, so the only other visible means of support is selling print subscriptions and taking donations through a very small link. The website lists thirteen staff as of 2025, and even if most are contractors paid by the piece, that is a substantial bill.

See also

  • Vox Media: their Future Perfect section is also funded by EA organizations and staffed by EA believers

References

  1. ↑ Clara Collier, Effective Altruism Forum, 2022 "Asterisk is a new quarterly magazine/journal of ideas from in and around the EA community." https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/clara-collier
  2. ↑ https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/DXcg6N6CGvRA2vrCk/?commentId=25inLo7AuXzate4QJ
  3. ↑ https://asteriskmag.com/contributors
  4. ↑ eg. Lyman Stone, Asterisk writer, PhD candidate, pollster, and pronatalist https://ifstudies.org/about-us/lyman-stone
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221122063843/https://asteriskmag.com/about
  6. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk
  7. ↑ https://asteriskmag.com/about
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