Excerpt from my upcoming book, “Ways To Save The World”
As was noted earlier, this does not mean we should necessarily pursue absolute perfect selflessness, if such a thing is even possible. We might conceive that this would include such activities as not taking any medicine so that those who are more sick can have it, not eating food and giving all of your food away to those who are starving, never sleeping but instead continually working for those who are less fortunate than yourself. As is obvious, all of these would lead imminently to death and so would ultimately not really be that good in the grand scheme of things.
Instead, the most effective way to be selfless is to be intelligently selfish in such a way that enables you to maximize your own capacity to serve others. This I call the “proximity principle,” which says that the most efficient way to do good for others is to prioritize that which is closest in proximity, both because by helping yourself and those closest to you, you are most likely to maximize your power to be effective in the future, and also because, all else being equal, it is simply easiest and most efficient to help those who are closest to you in time and space, rather than those who are on the opposite side of the world or billions of years in the future.
For example, it might be best to educate yourself, become financially independent, have a family and friends that meets your emotional needs, take care of yourself psychologically, and give these much higher prioritization than helping others, at least insofar as is practicable, since if you are falling apart in one or several of these ways, it might make it much more difficult for you to be effective in helping others. Once you have your own house in order, you can be exponentially more effective in helping the world at large and creating long-term impact.
For reference, I originally created this short-form so I could reference in an estimate of lives saved by longtermists. Here is the original context in which I mention it:
The Proximity Principle
The take-away from this post is not that you should agonize over the trillions of trillions of trillionsof men, women, and children you are thoughtlessly murdering each time you splurge on a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte or watch cat videos on tik-tok — or in anyway whatsoever commit the ethical sin of making non-optimal use of your time.
The point of this post is not to create a longtermist “dead children currency” analogue. Instead it is meant to be motivating background information, giving us all the more good reason to be thoughtful about our self-care and productivity.
I call the principle of strategically caring for yourself and those closest to you “The Proximity Principle,” something I discovered after several failed attempts to be perfectly purely altruistic. It roughly states that:
It is easiest to affect those closest to you (in time, space, and relatedness)
Taking care of yourself and those closest to you is high leverage for multiplying your own effectiveness in the future
To account for proximity, perhaps in addition to conversion rates for time and money into lives saved, we also need conversion rates for time and money into increases in personal productivity, personal health & wellbeing, mental health, self-development, personal relationships, and EA community culture.
These things may be hard to quantify, but probably less hard than we think, and seem like fruitful research directions for social-science oriented EAs. I think these areas are highly valuable relative to time and money, even if only valued instrumentally.
In general, for those who feel compelled to over-work to a point that feels unhealthy, have had a tendency to burn out in the past, or think this may be a problem for them, I would suggest erring on the side of over-compensating.
This means finding self-care activities that make you feel happy, energized, refreshed, and a sense of existential hope — and, furthermore, doing these activities regularly, more than the minimum you feel you need to in order to work optimally.
I like to think if this as keeping my tank nearly full, rather than perpetually halfway full or nearly empty. From a systems theory perspective, you are creating a continuous inflow and keeping your energy stocks high, rather than waiting til they are fully depleted and panic mode alerts you to refill.
For me, daily meditation, daily exercise, healthy diet, and good sleep habits are most essential. But each person is different, so find what works for you.
Remember, if you want to change the future, you need to be at your best. You are your most valuable asset. Invest in yourself.
The Proximity Principle
Excerpt from my upcoming book, “Ways To Save The World”
As was noted earlier, this does not mean we should necessarily pursue absolute perfect selflessness, if such a thing is even possible. We might conceive that this would include such activities as not taking any medicine so that those who are more sick can have it, not eating food and giving all of your food away to those who are starving, never sleeping but instead continually working for those who are less fortunate than yourself. As is obvious, all of these would lead imminently to death and so would ultimately not really be that good in the grand scheme of things.
Instead, the most effective way to be selfless is to be intelligently selfish in such a way that enables you to maximize your own capacity to serve others. This I call the “proximity principle,” which says that the most efficient way to do good for others is to prioritize that which is closest in proximity, both because by helping yourself and those closest to you, you are most likely to maximize your power to be effective in the future, and also because, all else being equal, it is simply easiest and most efficient to help those who are closest to you in time and space, rather than those who are on the opposite side of the world or billions of years in the future.
For example, it might be best to educate yourself, become financially independent, have a family and friends that meets your emotional needs, take care of yourself psychologically, and give these much higher prioritization than helping others, at least insofar as is practicable, since if you are falling apart in one or several of these ways, it might make it much more difficult for you to be effective in helping others. Once you have your own house in order, you can be exponentially more effective in helping the world at large and creating long-term impact.
For reference, I originally created this short-form so I could reference in an estimate of lives saved by longtermists. Here is the original context in which I mention it:
The Proximity Principle
The take-away from this post is not that you should agonize over the trillions of trillions of trillions of men, women, and children you are thoughtlessly murdering each time you splurge on a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte or watch cat videos on tik-tok — or in anyway whatsoever commit the ethical sin of making non-optimal use of your time.
The point of this post is not to create a longtermist “dead children currency” analogue. Instead it is meant to be motivating background information, giving us all the more good reason to be thoughtful about our self-care and productivity.
I call the principle of strategically caring for yourself and those closest to you “The Proximity Principle,” something I discovered after several failed attempts to be perfectly purely altruistic. It roughly states that:
It is easiest to affect those closest to you (in time, space, and relatedness)
Taking care of yourself and those closest to you is high leverage for multiplying your own effectiveness in the future
To account for proximity, perhaps in addition to conversion rates for time and money into lives saved, we also need conversion rates for time and money into increases in personal productivity, personal health & wellbeing, mental health, self-development, personal relationships, and EA community culture.
These things may be hard to quantify, but probably less hard than we think, and seem like fruitful research directions for social-science oriented EAs. I think these areas are highly valuable relative to time and money, even if only valued instrumentally.
In general, for those who feel compelled to over-work to a point that feels unhealthy, have had a tendency to burn out in the past, or think this may be a problem for them, I would suggest erring on the side of over-compensating.
This means finding self-care activities that make you feel happy, energized, refreshed, and a sense of existential hope — and, furthermore, doing these activities regularly, more than the minimum you feel you need to in order to work optimally.
I like to think if this as keeping my tank nearly full, rather than perpetually halfway full or nearly empty. From a systems theory perspective, you are creating a continuous inflow and keeping your energy stocks high, rather than waiting til they are fully depleted and panic mode alerts you to refill.
For me, daily meditation, daily exercise, healthy diet, and good sleep habits are most essential. But each person is different, so find what works for you.
Remember, if you want to change the future, you need to be at your best. You are your most valuable asset. Invest in yourself.