I don’t want to tell anyone that they should care about helping as many people as possible. I want to tell them that they have a fantastic, exciting opportunity to help lots of people and have a big impact on the world, if they want to.
Someone who is struggling to find a meaningful job might also be someone who’s struggling to find some purpose for their life in general. (This has been true for me.) That might make them exceptionally receptive to a cause that does offer such a purpose.
Yes, this seems right. A lot of people could usefully contribute to effective altruism seem turned off by moralisation. And some effective altruists are demotivated by it. It’s generally pretty easy to make a point about how people can help without using the word ‘should’, ‘ought’ or ‘obligated’. I think it’s better to engage our intuitive and emotional mind with this talk of excitement.
I don’t want to tell anyone that they should care about helping as many people as possible. I want to tell them that they have a fantastic, exciting opportunity to help lots of people and have a big impact on the world, if they want to.
Someone who is struggling to find a meaningful job might also be someone who’s struggling to find some purpose for their life in general. (This has been true for me.) That might make them exceptionally receptive to a cause that does offer such a purpose.
Yes, this seems right. A lot of people could usefully contribute to effective altruism seem turned off by moralisation. And some effective altruists are demotivated by it. It’s generally pretty easy to make a point about how people can help without using the word ‘should’, ‘ought’ or ‘obligated’. I think it’s better to engage our intuitive and emotional mind with this talk of excitement.