Hi Everyone,
I’m wondering what research people here are aware of on the relative value of interventions to elevate the levels of altruism in society.
I’m wondering both in terms of the value in mitigating catastrophic risks and in evaluating specific interventions for their effectiveness.
Intuitively I imagine such interventions to have the following benefits, but am not aware of specific research to quantify it:
Multiplier for other interventions.
One would expect a more altruistic society would invest more in altruism interventions.
What is the multiplier for a $1 invested in boosting societal altruism in terms of additional dollars available to global health interventions, climate mitigation, etc
Catastrophic risk reduction
Similarly, what is the impact of $1 spent on boosting altruism on the risk of nuclear holocaust, preventing the rise of regressive government, willingness to attend climate change and other events that would impair human progress
Resilience in the face of catastrophe.
In the event of catastrophe arising, would a population that had it’s altruism boosted have a greater chance of survival?
This is the most speculative of the three, but I suspect that some effective interventions for boosting altruism would overlap with building EQ and strong community which are key to populations withstanding shocks.
As I say, I’m not aware of any quantitative research into this. I hope others can enlighten me.
[Question] What evaluations are there for interventions to boost altruism?
Hi Everyone, I’m wondering what research people here are aware of on the relative value of interventions to elevate the levels of altruism in society.
I’m wondering both in terms of the value in mitigating catastrophic risks and in evaluating specific interventions for their effectiveness.
Intuitively I imagine such interventions to have the following benefits, but am not aware of specific research to quantify it:
Multiplier for other interventions.
One would expect a more altruistic society would invest more in altruism interventions. What is the multiplier for a $1 invested in boosting societal altruism in terms of additional dollars available to global health interventions, climate mitigation, etc
Catastrophic risk reduction Similarly, what is the impact of $1 spent on boosting altruism on the risk of nuclear holocaust, preventing the rise of regressive government, willingness to attend climate change and other events that would impair human progress
Resilience in the face of catastrophe. In the event of catastrophe arising, would a population that had it’s altruism boosted have a greater chance of survival? This is the most speculative of the three, but I suspect that some effective interventions for boosting altruism would overlap with building EQ and strong community which are key to populations withstanding shocks.
As I say, I’m not aware of any quantitative research into this. I hope others can enlighten me.
I don’t know offhand of any quantitative estimates but “moral enhancement” is a potentially relevant area of study. For example:
Moral neuroenhancement
Modeling the social dynamics of moral enhancement: Social strategies sold over the counter and the stability of society
Should we select for genetic moral enhancement? A thought experiment using the MoralKinder (MK+) haplotype