I’m sorry this was downvoted so much. If I had to guess, I would say it was because this post challenges EA doctrines (donating to nonprofits) while touching on sensitive political issues (homelessness) while being a subjective essay. If you want more karma on this forum, or more success in changing minds, try writing more formally and verifiably.
”No moral problems in life are shaped like Trolley Problems, and a lot are shaped like Giving Money to Homeless People.”
That’s a bold claim that you have not made an argument for. In sensitive political issues, it is unusual to make someone better off without making someone else worse off, somehow. That’s typically why those issues are sensitive instead of uncontroversial. A possible downside of large-scale nonprofit donations that I find greatly underdiscussed in EA is the potential for donors to impose negative externalities on third parties. Unilateral donation lacks the sensitivity that public policy requires. So, can’t we use nonprofits for uncontroversial issues, and public policy for sensitive issues? That’s an aspiration that entails making (meta-)political judgements. It will have failures in practice.
I’m sorry this was downvoted so much. If I had to guess, I would say it was because this post challenges EA doctrines (donating to nonprofits) while touching on sensitive political issues (homelessness) while being a subjective essay. If you want more karma on this forum, or more success in changing minds, try writing more formally and verifiably.
”No moral problems in life are shaped like Trolley Problems, and a lot are shaped like Giving Money to Homeless People.”
That’s a bold claim that you have not made an argument for. In sensitive political issues, it is unusual to make someone better off without making someone else worse off, somehow. That’s typically why those issues are sensitive instead of uncontroversial. A possible downside of large-scale nonprofit donations that I find greatly underdiscussed in EA is the potential for donors to impose negative externalities on third parties. Unilateral donation lacks the sensitivity that public policy requires. So, can’t we use nonprofits for uncontroversial issues, and public policy for sensitive issues? That’s an aspiration that entails making (meta-)political judgements. It will have failures in practice.