Siobhan_M

[Linkpost] Why Dean Kar­lan, chief economist of USAID, re­signed on Tuesday

• Siobhan_MNov 28, 2024, 3:19 PM

  2 points

  1 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Ben Millwood🔸’s comment on: Open Wallets, Empty Hearts [linkpost]

  I had a similar question to yours about what the essay is trying to say about Givewell-style effective altruism. My interpretation, which could be wrong, was that the author is saying that Givewell-style EA is a good thing, but is not a moral obligation. I responded in a blog post (not aimed at EAs, but people who may share the same hesitancies as the author) “How do you know how to save a drowning child across the world?”.

  Following from this, I think criticisms of effective altruism often end up with a conclusion that is too far in the other direction: the conclusion that we only have moral obligation to people in our immediate circles and thus should focus on parochial charity, a conclusion that does not leave room for moral concern and yes, even obligation,² for the global rich to people living in poverty far from us.

  I don’t think any argument that focuses solely on helping within communities that we are already in — communities that are, even in the US alone, highly segregated by income; and are globally even more vastly unequal — adequately addresses the moral ill that is global poverty.

  I argue that people who might share the concerns of the author (as I understood them) about EA might want to take the option of donating to direct cash transfers or effective community-based organizations in low- and middle-income countries.

The im­pact of the coun­ter­fac­tual dol­lar: a defence of your lo­cal food pantry

• Siobhan_MDec 9, 2022, 7:27 AM

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: technicalities’s comment on: Learn­ing from non-EAs who seek to do good

  Thanks for the comment—this and the other comments around cause neutrality have given me a lot to think about! My thoughts on cause neutrality (especially around where the pressure points are for me in theory vs. practice) are not fully formed; it’s something I’m planning to focus a lot on in the next few weeks, in which time I might have a better response.

• Siobhan_MDec 9, 2022, 7:21 AM

  2 points

  1 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Karthik Tadepalli’s comment on: Learn­ing from non-EAs who seek to do good

  Thanks for this thought! I’d considered putting something similar in the original post simply based on anecdotes, but not being a community builder or someone who joined in college I wasn’t sure enough to include it. I’d be interested to know your or others’ thoughts on what community-building in particular could do to catalyze more interaction between EA and other ways of doing good?

• Siobhan_MDec 9, 2022, 7:18 AM

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Zoe Williams’s comment on: Learn­ing from non-EAs who seek to do good

  This is a great summary, thank you so much!

Learn­ing from non-EAs who seek to do good