I see, thanks for the feedback, wasn’t aware of the forum’s rules
Pigman
Karma: 3
As Effective Altruists, maybe the most effective thing to do would be to try to change the wealth distribution somehow...that could have the most positive and impactful effect.
Giving Pledge is one example of an effort to change that, but I’m not so sure of its efficacy....
Last time I checked, 1% of world’s population still holds, at least, half of the total wealth in the world. In 2013 Credit-suisse estimate that 3.2 billion individuals – more than two thirds of adults in the world – have wealth below US$10,000......With that in mind I would say that great majority of people aren’t even motivated to give the 10%.....
Logic would say that that gap in wealth will keep getting bigger and bigger, or at least has that potential.
Religious communities perhaps (and religion in general)? Like, Jesus? Historically, religion provided somewhat of a moral compass. There are a lot of historical accounts of people doing good deeds, even if it meant their death, because of religious beliefs (For example, Catholic Church saints). Their deeds managed to form (big) followings of like-minded people, people who acted the same. We could say that Jesus Christ is one of the people who shaped our world substantially, to the point of no return, in a lot of different ways, and surely “being good and doing good” is one of them. He inspires a lot of people to do good to this very day.
I’m not sure about other faiths, but Christian Catholic religious leaders (pope, priests, priest orders within the Catholic Church—like Franciscans..) often talk about good, charitable deeds and organize charities often (at least in my country). This compels some of the religious folk to volunteer their time and join humanitarian organizations that stem from the Church (Caritas, for example), join catholic missions (for example, in Africa and South America), do charitable work in their communities and be better (more good in a certain moral sense) people in general.
I also heard some people choose to join certain faiths because they thought they were doing enough good, they were “practicing” their faith instead of just talking.
Although, it seems that religion is influential mainly within its own community. But still.
[I’m giving examples from Catholicism because I’m not sure about other religions]