Some GiveWell charities largely benefit young children, too, but if I recall correctly, I think donations have been aimed at uses for the next year or two, so maybe only very young children would not benefit on such a person-affecting view, and this wouldn’t make much difference.
Agreed that this wouldn’t make much of a difference for donations, although maybe it matters a lot for some career decisions. E.g. if future people weren’t ethically important, then there might be little value in starting a 4+ year academic degree to then donate to these charities.
(Tangentially, the time inconsistency of presentists’ preferences seems pretty inconvenient for career planning.)
I think this could make a difference for careers and education, but I’d guess not 10x in terms of cost-effectiveness of the first donations post-graduation. Most EAs will probably have already started undergraduate degrees by the time they first get into EA. There are also still benefits for the parents of children who would die, in preventing their grief and possibly economic benefits. People over 5 years old still have deaths prevented by AMF, just a few times less per dollar spent, iirc.
I’d guess few people would actually endorse presentism in particular, though.
Good points!
Agreed that this wouldn’t make much of a difference for donations, although maybe it matters a lot for some career decisions. E.g. if future people weren’t ethically important, then there might be little value in starting a 4+ year academic degree to then donate to these charities.
(Tangentially, the time inconsistency of presentists’ preferences seems pretty inconvenient for career planning.)
I think this could make a difference for careers and education, but I’d guess not 10x in terms of cost-effectiveness of the first donations post-graduation. Most EAs will probably have already started undergraduate degrees by the time they first get into EA. There are also still benefits for the parents of children who would die, in preventing their grief and possibly economic benefits. People over 5 years old still have deaths prevented by AMF, just a few times less per dollar spent, iirc.
I’d guess few people would actually endorse presentism in particular, though.