Hello everyone! My name is Carlos. I recently realized I should be leading a life of service, instead of one where I only care about myself, and that has taken me here, to the place that is all about doing the most good.
I’m an odd guy, in that I have read some LessWrong and have been reading Slate Star Codex/Astral Codex Ten for years, but am for all intents and purposes a mystic. That shouldn’t put me at odds here too much, since rationality is definitely a powerful and much needed tool in certain contexts (such as this one), it’s just that it cannot do all things.
I wonder if there are others like me here, since after all, the decision to give to charity, particularly to far-off places, is not exactly rational.
Hoping to learn a lot, and to figure out a way to make my career (been a software developer for 11 years) high impact, or at least, actually helpful.
You guys are the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars, and I am ready to be an X-Wing pilot in it!
Moya is probably the most mystic person I know of, so nice to see that you already encountered her. :D
Here in the Forum, we really try to be nice and welcoming, if you follow along, I don’t see any reason this couldn’t work out. ;)
If you are open to suggestions, I want to recommend you looking into the Podcast Global Optimum from Daniel Gambacorta. He talks about how you can become a more effective altruist and has some good thinking about the pros and cons of different topics, for example the episode about how altruistic should you be?.
”[…] the decision to give to charity […] is not exactly rational.” Can you please explain?
Hi Felix, thanks for the recs! What I mean by giving to charity not being exactly rational, is that giving to charity doesn’t help one in any way. I think it makes more sense to be selfish than charitable, though there is a case where charity that improves ones community can be reasonable, since an improved community will impact your life.
And sure, one could argue the world is one big community, but I just don’t see how the money I give to Africa will help me in any way.
Which is perfectly fine, since I don’t think reason has a monopoly on truth. There are such things as moral facts, and morality is in many ways orthogonal to reason. For example, Josef Mengele’s problem was not a lack of reason, his was a sickness of the heart, which is a separate faculty that also discerns the truth.
Hello everyone! My name is Carlos. I recently realized I should be leading a life of service, instead of one where I only care about myself, and that has taken me here, to the place that is all about doing the most good.
I’m an odd guy, in that I have read some LessWrong and have been reading Slate Star Codex/Astral Codex Ten for years, but am for all intents and purposes a mystic. That shouldn’t put me at odds here too much, since rationality is definitely a powerful and much needed tool in certain contexts (such as this one), it’s just that it cannot do all things.
I wonder if there are others like me here, since after all, the decision to give to charity, particularly to far-off places, is not exactly rational.
Hoping to learn a lot, and to figure out a way to make my career (been a software developer for 11 years) high impact, or at least, actually helpful.
You guys are the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars, and I am ready to be an X-Wing pilot in it!
Hi Carlos,
welcome to the Forum!
Moya is probably the most mystic person I know of, so nice to see that you already encountered her. :D
Here in the Forum, we really try to be nice and welcoming, if you follow along, I don’t see any reason this couldn’t work out. ;)
If you are open to suggestions, I want to recommend you looking into the Podcast Global Optimum from Daniel Gambacorta. He talks about how you can become a more effective altruist and has some good thinking about the pros and cons of different topics, for example the episode about how altruistic should you be?.
”[…] the decision to give to charity […] is not exactly rational.” Can you please explain?
With kind regards
Felix
Hi Felix, thanks for the recs! What I mean by giving to charity not being exactly rational, is that giving to charity doesn’t help one in any way. I think it makes more sense to be selfish than charitable, though there is a case where charity that improves ones community can be reasonable, since an improved community will impact your life.
And sure, one could argue the world is one big community, but I just don’t see how the money I give to Africa will help me in any way.
Which is perfectly fine, since I don’t think reason has a monopoly on truth. There are such things as moral facts, and morality is in many ways orthogonal to reason. For example, Josef Mengele’s problem was not a lack of reason, his was a sickness of the heart, which is a separate faculty that also discerns the truth.