When people see effective altruists focused on cash transfers, distributing bed-nets and cheap medicine—and claiming they’re doing the most good—there’s a common reaction: “This looks naive and narrow : Sure these interventions help the immediate beneficiaries, but they hardly look like they’re solving the world’s greatest problems. ”
This is only anecdotal evidence, but I and a few others who’ve tried pitching people on these interventions haven’t got that reaction. More broadly, I’m curious as to what your evidence is that this is contrary to “common-sense do-gooding”. Many non-EAs I know find it common sense, and say that they knew that bednets were a great giving opportunity, and that they’ve thought that they should donate to them before I suggested it.
It looks like they’ve [...] ignored the historical record (in which science, technology and better government are some of the main drivers of progress)
That is the historical record, but it’s not obvious that thinking that we should give to global poverty charities ignores it or is refuted by it. You’d need to make an argument that a particular, individual sort of work that was available in the past did the most good, and that this is good evidence that an analogous sort of work (e.g. creating a generic tech start-up) will do more good than spending those resources on deworming or bednets or cash transfers.
More broadly, there is an interpretation of common sense which is cautious, empirical, friendly to global poverty charities, and sceptical about at least some x-risk interventions. But I suspect that it’s fruitless to debate whether this interpretation is correct or not. People can mean many different things by the phrase “common sense”, and these will often bear a distinct resemblance to what the person thinks themself. (We could try to work out what the average person thinks, or would think after suitable reflection. It’s not obvious how much weight we should give to that, but it’s certainly worth taking into account to some extent. I suspect that they’re open to seeing global poverty charities as the best, and wouldn’t be sold on many particular far future interventions, but I really don’t know.)
My main evidence is that these things are only supported by a relatively small proportion of other groups that contain some people who care a great deal about making a difference e.g. people involved in international development, social entrepreneurs, tech entrepreneurs who care about impact, the non-profit sector, some academics, people who work at the UN, etc.
Also, it seems clear that existing altruistic communities regard a much wider range of projects as plausibly high impact, and think it’s weird to focus on just one narrow area.
I think GWWC would also agree that objections along the lines of “what about the long-run or systemic effects” are some of the most common reactions to pitching AMF etc.
This is only anecdotal evidence, but I and a few others who’ve tried pitching people on these interventions haven’t got that reaction. More broadly, I’m curious as to what your evidence is that this is contrary to “common-sense do-gooding”. Many non-EAs I know find it common sense, and say that they knew that bednets were a great giving opportunity, and that they’ve thought that they should donate to them before I suggested it.
That is the historical record, but it’s not obvious that thinking that we should give to global poverty charities ignores it or is refuted by it. You’d need to make an argument that a particular, individual sort of work that was available in the past did the most good, and that this is good evidence that an analogous sort of work (e.g. creating a generic tech start-up) will do more good than spending those resources on deworming or bednets or cash transfers.
More broadly, there is an interpretation of common sense which is cautious, empirical, friendly to global poverty charities, and sceptical about at least some x-risk interventions. But I suspect that it’s fruitless to debate whether this interpretation is correct or not. People can mean many different things by the phrase “common sense”, and these will often bear a distinct resemblance to what the person thinks themself. (We could try to work out what the average person thinks, or would think after suitable reflection. It’s not obvious how much weight we should give to that, but it’s certainly worth taking into account to some extent. I suspect that they’re open to seeing global poverty charities as the best, and wouldn’t be sold on many particular far future interventions, but I really don’t know.)
My main evidence is that these things are only supported by a relatively small proportion of other groups that contain some people who care a great deal about making a difference e.g. people involved in international development, social entrepreneurs, tech entrepreneurs who care about impact, the non-profit sector, some academics, people who work at the UN, etc.
Also, it seems clear that existing altruistic communities regard a much wider range of projects as plausibly high impact, and think it’s weird to focus on just one narrow area.
I think GWWC would also agree that objections along the lines of “what about the long-run or systemic effects” are some of the most common reactions to pitching AMF etc.