Thanks for the comment! I agree with all of your arguments for value creation—thanks for expanding the claims in the original post. Fair point that living simply is far from doing nothing—sort of a glib title I suppose.
Simple living is a key tenet of Singer’s ethics, so it was definitely emphasized in early EA, but I agree we have strayed from those roots. It’s worth thinking about our actions as individuals and a community through this lens, too—maybe people earning to give should set spending thresholds, maybe EAG should be held virtually, etc.
Interestingly, I think we’ve lost some of this frugality rhetoric because it is dangerous from an “evangelistic” POV. Telling people they should give more to charity is one thing, but telling them they need to buy less stuff and also give more is even harder...
Thanks for the comment! I agree with all of your arguments for value creation—thanks for expanding the claims in the original post. Fair point that living simply is far from doing nothing—sort of a glib title I suppose.
Simple living is a key tenet of Singer’s ethics, so it was definitely emphasized in early EA, but I agree we have strayed from those roots. It’s worth thinking about our actions as individuals and a community through this lens, too—maybe people earning to give should set spending thresholds, maybe EAG should be held virtually, etc.
Interestingly, I think we’ve lost some of this frugality rhetoric because it is dangerous from an “evangelistic” POV. Telling people they should give more to charity is one thing, but telling them they need to buy less stuff and also give more is even harder...