I think this is a heuristic I’ve leaned on more in the past, and it’s something I probably should return to more, so thank you for flagging.
But I think the reason I started using it less is because there are times when this leads me astray (or at least somewhat astray) i.e. when I see a homeless person and immediately want to give them some money so they can eat some food tonight. I don’t want to not feel compassion for them, but as a base EA thing, I do want to make sure that I make the decision to put the money into an institution that’s more likely to help them to better outcomes, or help those worse off. So when I feel this recurring tension, this doubt, I do feel like I’m having to make a slight decision away from doing what feels obviously good and right to me. That is to say, what is “kind” is not aways apparent, or rather, what is the kindest, isn’t.
I think this is a heuristic I’ve leaned on more in the past, and it’s something I probably should return to more, so thank you for flagging.
But I think the reason I started using it less is because there are times when this leads me astray (or at least somewhat astray) i.e. when I see a homeless person and immediately want to give them some money so they can eat some food tonight. I don’t want to not feel compassion for them, but as a base EA thing, I do want to make sure that I make the decision to put the money into an institution that’s more likely to help them to better outcomes, or help those worse off. So when I feel this recurring tension, this doubt, I do feel like I’m having to make a slight decision away from doing what feels obviously good and right to me. That is to say, what is “kind” is not aways apparent, or rather, what is the kindest, isn’t.