I expect that figuring out the highest EV charity is very noisy, such that it doesn’t make that big a difference. And that doing this makes giving more emotionally satisfying and fun, which is great! (At least for me personally, this is the case). It also makes the amount of good done lower variance, which seems emotionally good.
I basically agree that on utilitarian grounds it’s somewhere between totally irrelevant and slightly negative though, and definitely not a good use of effort.
I expect that figuring out the highest EV charity is very noisy, such that it doesn’t make that big a difference. And that doing this makes giving more emotionally satisfying and fun, which is great! (At least for me personally, this is the case). It also makes the amount of good done lower variance, which seems emotionally good.
I basically agree that on utilitarian grounds it’s somewhere between totally irrelevant and slightly negative though, and definitely not a good use of effort.