I don’t have anything to add, but I think you’re right. It’s very hard to hear the “Americans matter more than other people” implied or stated in the article comments.
Marjolein Oostrom
Karma: 20
Love this article! As a new EA person, I appreciate this way of thinking, but I’m not willing to give up on some causes that I care about more due to life experiences than any kind of logic. If I didn’t give to them the alternative wouldn’t to give more to givewell, the alternative would be to not give that money at all.
Also thanks for the reminder on the distinction between animal welfare and rights. It’s a useful way to think about difference between group philosophies
Absolutely, thanks for the great points. I think you are correct that the issue would be more the utilitarianism than sacrifice. I was not aware of that survey. I’d be interested in how many vegans were involved in EA
The vegan community. Both are ultimately about reducing suffering, and of course, EA is also very involved in animal welfare.
The main difference is that EA seems primarily interested in outcomes, and veganism is also interested in self-sacrifice and symbolism. You don’t avoid eating animal products because you think it will make a huge difference, but simply because it’s the right thing to do. As Loki said in “American Gods”, “The symbol is the thing”.
Maybe the vegan community would find EA a bit icky just because it feels like EA consists of rich people sacrificing very little of their personal lifestyle but making the “right” donations to absolve themselves.
Marjolein Oostrom’s Quick takes
Great idea!
So in Peter Singer’s The Life You can Save, he mentions one way to be an EA is activating for increased GDP investment in humanitarian aid.
So I created this website (wordpress and d3) to try to convince people to call their representatives on the topic, espically in regards to WFP and UNICEF
https://whereourtreasureis.com/
I image the WFP and UNICEF may not be the most effective NGO’s, but they still do good work, and they seem better then the for-profits like Chemonics that get most of the USA federal funding.
I do plan to expand on the Fustula Foundation, which does get a little bit of federal funding and is on Singer’s list as a effective organization.
If anyone has ideas on improvements, please let me know. Honestly, people don’t seem that interested when I tell them about it, so I know there’s room for improvement!
Have you read “Methods of Math Destruction” or “Invisible Women”? Both are on how bias in mostly white, mostly well/off, mostly male developers lead to unfair but self enforcing ai systems.