It may be that building runway is, in fact, the best way to do good in the long term. And maybe certain levels of personal consumption make you more able to sustainably do good through your work.
But just engage seriously with the cost of that runway. With straightforward Givewell charities, that might mean someone dies annually that you could have saved.
I guess there are two questions it might be helpful to separate.
what is the best thing to do with my money if I am purely optimising for the good?
how much of my money does the good demand?
Looking at the first question (1), I think engaging with the cost of giving (as opposed to the cost of building runway) wrt doing the most good is also helpful. It feels to me like donating $10K to AMF could make me much less able to transition my career to a more impactful path, costing me months, which could mean that several people die that I could have saved via donating to Givewell charities.
It feels like the âcostâ applies symmetrically to the runway and donating cases and pushes towards âyou should take this seriouslyâ instead of having a high bar for spending money on runway/âpersonal consumption.
Looking at (2) - Again I broadly agree with the overall point, but it doesnât really push me towards a particular percentage to give.
For me, if the answer to #1 is in favor of saving for runway, that disposes of the question. Just need to be careful, as you are aware, of motivated reasoning.
For #2, for me, the good demands all of your money. Of course, you are not going to be the most effective agent if you keep yourself in poverty, so this probably doesnât imply total penury. But insofar as other conscious beings today are capable of positive and negative experiences like you are, it isnât clear why you should privilege your own over those of other conscious beings.
It may be that building runway is, in fact, the best way to do good in the long term. And maybe certain levels of personal consumption make you more able to sustainably do good through your work.
But just engage seriously with the cost of that runway. With straightforward Givewell charities, that might mean someone dies annually that you could have saved.
I guess there are two questions it might be helpful to separate.
what is the best thing to do with my money if I am purely optimising for the good?
how much of my money does the good demand?
Looking at the first question (1), I think engaging with the cost of giving (as opposed to the cost of building runway) wrt doing the most good is also helpful. It feels to me like donating $10K to AMF could make me much less able to transition my career to a more impactful path, costing me months, which could mean that several people die that I could have saved via donating to Givewell charities.
It feels like the âcostâ applies symmetrically to the runway and donating cases and pushes towards âyou should take this seriouslyâ instead of having a high bar for spending money on runway/âpersonal consumption.
Looking at (2) - Again I broadly agree with the overall point, but it doesnât really push me towards a particular percentage to give.
Yes thatâs right.
For me, if the answer to #1 is in favor of saving for runway, that disposes of the question. Just need to be careful, as you are aware, of motivated reasoning.
For #2, for me, the good demands all of your money. Of course, you are not going to be the most effective agent if you keep yourself in poverty, so this probably doesnât imply total penury. But insofar as other conscious beings today are capable of positive and negative experiences like you are, it isnât clear why you should privilege your own over those of other conscious beings.