Right. The problem with offsetting is that rather than (1) doing something bad (eg kicking (medieval) peasants) and then (2) offsetting it somehow (eg by donating money), the better outcome is where you do (2), ie the offset and then just don’t do the bad thing at all.
Someone might claim they won’t do (2) unless they do (1), and therefore the better outcome is that they do both (1) and (2) rather than neither (1) or (2). But this is deeply suspicious and suggests a very contorted psychology. (“Funny thing is that if I don’t kick the peasant, I just can make myself donate, actually. Soooo, are you going to line him up for me or shall I do it?”)
Amanda Askell, Tyler John, and Hayden Wilkinson have an excellent paper on offsetting but I don’t think it’s public. Here’s a link to some earlier work by Amanda that was all I could find after a quick google.
I’m excited to read it when it comes out! I’ve read Askell’s post on it before, I think it’s mostly right, though I don’t think it gets at the potential problems with offsetting for even more mild harms enough.
Right. The problem with offsetting is that rather than (1) doing something bad (eg kicking (medieval) peasants) and then (2) offsetting it somehow (eg by donating money), the better outcome is where you do (2), ie the offset and then just don’t do the bad thing at all.
Someone might claim they won’t do (2) unless they do (1), and therefore the better outcome is that they do both (1) and (2) rather than neither (1) or (2). But this is deeply suspicious and suggests a very contorted psychology. (“Funny thing is that if I don’t kick the peasant, I just can make myself donate, actually. Soooo, are you going to line him up for me or shall I do it?”)
Amanda Askell, Tyler John, and Hayden Wilkinson have an excellent paper on offsetting but I don’t think it’s public. Here’s a link to some earlier work by Amanda that was all I could find after a quick google.
I’m excited to read it when it comes out! I’ve read Askell’s post on it before, I think it’s mostly right, though I don’t think it gets at the potential problems with offsetting for even more mild harms enough.