Also, a more general question. Why brand it effective altruism instead of efficient altruism? Remember the old story about the starfish drying up on a beach, and a man throwing them back into the ocean? A passerby comments: “You can’t get them all before they’re gone, you won’t make a difference”. The altruist throws yet another one back into the ocean, and retorts “I did for that starfish”. The altruism seen there is probably not efficient; with a standard wage he could have made a greater difference for 6-sensed humans instead of 2-sensed starfish, but it is definitely effective.
I always have to catch myself when I want to say efficient altruism instead of effective altruism, because old-fashioned “buying food for starving neighbors” is definitely effective, but it’s not as efficient as donating to third-worlders.
This isn’t very effective altruism related, but I do shop on Amazon smile, and occasionally give via GiveWell. On a lark, I made a pledge to make a personal (and self-indulgent) donation to some wargaming webcomic, but as part of the deal, I’m getting access to advertisement space at below market rates. For me, as a part of principles / stupidity, I’m not willing to revoke my pledge to donate, but at the same time, I want to make the most of my mistake.
What should I advertise to minimize the net cost of my foolishness? I already contacted the Centre for Effective Altruism for permission to advertise for them, but I wouldn’t advertise them without permission. The wargaming comic is Erfworld, which was featured in Time about a decade back, and has a generally-intelligent userbase. What selection would be most altruistic and efficient, beyond simply going back on my pledge and donating to GiveDirectly instead?