Thanks for the post! I broadly agree with the arguments you give, though I think you understate the tensions between promoting earning to give vs direct work.
Personal example: I’m currently doing AI Safety work, and I expect it to be fairly impactful. But I came fairly close to going into finance as it was a safe, stable path I was confident I’d enjoy. And part of this motivation was a fuzzy feeling that donations was still somewhat good. And this made it harder to internalise just how much higher the value from direct work was. Anecdotally, a lot of smart mathematicians I know are tempted by finance and have a similar problem. And in cases like this, I think that promoting longtermist donations is actively in tension with high impact career advice
Thanks Neel for sharing your personal experience! I can see how this would be a concern with promoting earning to give too heavily.
However, Michael’s post advocating for promoting earning to give, it’s about promoting effective giving. This is a really important distinction. GWWC is focused on promoting effective giving more broadly to the wider public and not focused on promoting earning to give as a career path.
Promoting effective giving outside the EA community helps fund important work, provides many people with a strong opportunity to have a big impact, and also brings people into the EA community.
Thanks for the post! I broadly agree with the arguments you give, though I think you understate the tensions between promoting earning to give vs direct work.
Personal example: I’m currently doing AI Safety work, and I expect it to be fairly impactful. But I came fairly close to going into finance as it was a safe, stable path I was confident I’d enjoy. And part of this motivation was a fuzzy feeling that donations was still somewhat good. And this made it harder to internalise just how much higher the value from direct work was. Anecdotally, a lot of smart mathematicians I know are tempted by finance and have a similar problem. And in cases like this, I think that promoting longtermist donations is actively in tension with high impact career advice
Thanks Neel for sharing your personal experience! I can see how this would be a concern with promoting earning to give too heavily.
However, Michael’s post advocating for promoting earning to give, it’s about promoting effective giving. This is a really important distinction. GWWC is focused on promoting effective giving more broadly to the wider public and not focused on promoting earning to give as a career path.
Promoting effective giving outside the EA community helps fund important work, provides many people with a strong opportunity to have a big impact, and also brings people into the EA community.