Effective Altruism
Effective altruism is a movement aiming to figure out how people can use their limited resources to help others as much as possible… and then persuade them to do it. It’s a pluralistic movement addressing global poverty, climate change, animal welfare, existential risks from technology, disease, and much more.
Why care about effective altruism?
On average, if $4,500 more goes towards funding mosquito nets via Against Malaria Foundation, one child who would otherwise have died of malaria would probably survive. Without that donation, they would probably die. Their family would lose a child that they loved and the child themselves would lose a lifetime of experiences. The reality of our world is that our decisions about how much effort and resources we dedicate to helping others, and crucially, how wisely we deploy them, have consequences for others’ welfare. It sounds dramatic, but this fact pertains to the life, death, suffering and thriving of very real individuals. These individuals might seem distant and abstract. If you met them, they would not.
Effective altruism and me
I aspire to be the best effective altruist I can. I channel my research efforts towards informing the movement, and I’ve taken the Giving What We Can Pledge, a commitment to give "at least 10% of your income to the organizations that you think can do the most good with it." Given my circumstances, 10% of my income is not very ambitious, so I try to donate more. I am still a long way short of donating the amount I aspire to, but I detail my recent efforts here. In terms of directing my efforts, my guess is that I can do most good by supporting the effective altruism movement itself rather than any specific intervention or cause area.
Effective altruism and you
If you are unfamiliar with effective altruism, here’s a short introduction to the movement. Whatever you have to contribute – time, money, publicity, influence, expertise – effective altruism can help you figure out where it's needed most.
Longtermism
I am sympathetic to the view that, because so many individuals could *potentially* live in the very far future, how "effective" our actions are in terms of increasing wellbeing depends mostly on how those actions affect the far future. Here's a short introduction to that idea. Of course, its implications are nuanced. But, figuring out whether there's anything we can do to make the long-term future better, or avoid making it worse, seems important. To say the very least.
Effective altruism is a movement aiming to figure out how people can use their limited resources to help others as much as possible… and then persuade them to do it. It’s a pluralistic movement addressing global poverty, climate change, animal welfare, existential risks from technology, disease, and much more.
Why care about effective altruism?
On average, if $4,500 more goes towards funding mosquito nets via Against Malaria Foundation, one child who would otherwise have died of malaria would probably survive. Without that donation, they would probably die. Their family would lose a child that they loved and the child themselves would lose a lifetime of experiences. The reality of our world is that our decisions about how much effort and resources we dedicate to helping others, and crucially, how wisely we deploy them, have consequences for others’ welfare. It sounds dramatic, but this fact pertains to the life, death, suffering and thriving of very real individuals. These individuals might seem distant and abstract. If you met them, they would not.
Effective altruism and me
I aspire to be the best effective altruist I can. I channel my research efforts towards informing the movement, and I’ve taken the Giving What We Can Pledge, a commitment to give "at least 10% of your income to the organizations that you think can do the most good with it." Given my circumstances, 10% of my income is not very ambitious, so I try to donate more. I am still a long way short of donating the amount I aspire to, but I detail my recent efforts here. In terms of directing my efforts, my guess is that I can do most good by supporting the effective altruism movement itself rather than any specific intervention or cause area.
Effective altruism and you
If you are unfamiliar with effective altruism, here’s a short introduction to the movement. Whatever you have to contribute – time, money, publicity, influence, expertise – effective altruism can help you figure out where it's needed most.
Longtermism
I am sympathetic to the view that, because so many individuals could *potentially* live in the very far future, how "effective" our actions are in terms of increasing wellbeing depends mostly on how those actions affect the far future. Here's a short introduction to that idea. Of course, its implications are nuanced. But, figuring out whether there's anything we can do to make the long-term future better, or avoid making it worse, seems important. To say the very least.
