I do not think that even the thin version of EA is trivial at all. Perhaps to those who come from very rational, non-religious societies, the message appears obvious. But for many people, EA is a massive philosophical shift from everything they have been taught.
If you ask many people about charity, for example, they will focus much more on the giver than the beneficiary. Christianity, for example, focuses very strongly on the value of sacrifice, and most Christians would naturally judge the value of a given charitable act more based on how it impacted the donor than on how it impacted the recipient. An act which costs the donor greatly is valued highly even if the net impact on the recipient is minor.
But this isn’t just a Christian or religious idea. Look at all the half-marathons all over the world where people run to support charities. The message is: if you’re willing to suffer through 20 km of pain, it feels justified that I give $20 to MSF. As if the suffering and commitment of the runner were related to the rightness of another person donating to a charity. Yet we find it perfectly natural.
With effective altruism, we are not at all making a trivial argument. Rather we’re asking people to take a dramatic philosophical jump, to focus not on the sacrifice but on the effect.
Perhaps “earning to give” is the most obvious case in point. Imagine an engineer earning $500K/year and donating $100K tax-deductibly to effective charities, at a net cost to herself of just $50K, which she doesn’t even notice. She may feel like she’s not doing enough, she still has a great lifestyle and wants for nothing.
If she were to quit her job and volunteer to go to work in Niger, making a great personal sacrifice, the vast majority of people would consider that a very altruistic act. They would focus on her—what’s she’s sacrificing and why. Radio stations would interview her, journalists would write about her, etc.
But EA turns that logic on its head, and says “Listen, if you really want to do the most good possible, actually, your $100K is worth more to us than your presence in Niger. Please just stay in your job and keep your luxurious lifestyle and keep giving us the money.”
This mentality is a radical philosophical shift for anyone educated in the Christian tradition, whether knowingly or otherwise. Christianity says that if giving $100K doesn’t really cost you anything, doesn’t make you suffer, than it doesn’t count, it won’t bring you closer to heaven. If you give up everything and devote your life to charity, that probably will get you into heaven. EA says the opposite—focus only on how to have the most impact. And if you can have the most impact without having to suffer, that is a win/win situation.
I do not think that even the thin version of EA is trivial at all. Perhaps to those who come from very rational, non-religious societies, the message appears obvious. But for many people, EA is a massive philosophical shift from everything they have been taught.
If you ask many people about charity, for example, they will focus much more on the giver than the beneficiary. Christianity, for example, focuses very strongly on the value of sacrifice, and most Christians would naturally judge the value of a given charitable act more based on how it impacted the donor than on how it impacted the recipient. An act which costs the donor greatly is valued highly even if the net impact on the recipient is minor.
But this isn’t just a Christian or religious idea. Look at all the half-marathons all over the world where people run to support charities. The message is: if you’re willing to suffer through 20 km of pain, it feels justified that I give $20 to MSF. As if the suffering and commitment of the runner were related to the rightness of another person donating to a charity. Yet we find it perfectly natural.
With effective altruism, we are not at all making a trivial argument. Rather we’re asking people to take a dramatic philosophical jump, to focus not on the sacrifice but on the effect.
Perhaps “earning to give” is the most obvious case in point. Imagine an engineer earning $500K/year and donating $100K tax-deductibly to effective charities, at a net cost to herself of just $50K, which she doesn’t even notice. She may feel like she’s not doing enough, she still has a great lifestyle and wants for nothing.
If she were to quit her job and volunteer to go to work in Niger, making a great personal sacrifice, the vast majority of people would consider that a very altruistic act. They would focus on her—what’s she’s sacrificing and why. Radio stations would interview her, journalists would write about her, etc.
But EA turns that logic on its head, and says “Listen, if you really want to do the most good possible, actually, your $100K is worth more to us than your presence in Niger. Please just stay in your job and keep your luxurious lifestyle and keep giving us the money.”
This mentality is a radical philosophical shift for anyone educated in the Christian tradition, whether knowingly or otherwise. Christianity says that if giving $100K doesn’t really cost you anything, doesn’t make you suffer, than it doesn’t count, it won’t bring you closer to heaven. If you give up everything and devote your life to charity, that probably will get you into heaven. EA says the opposite—focus only on how to have the most impact. And if you can have the most impact without having to suffer, that is a win/win situation.