effective altruism

Focused on evidence-based Philanthropy, the EA movement comprises individuals and organizations trying to do the most demonstrable good in the world. Will MacAskill, one of the founders of EA, defines it as

Using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis.

An expanded definition from EffectiveAltruism.org:

Most of us want to make a difference. We see suffering, injustice and death, and are moved to do something about them. But working out what that ‘something’ is, let alone actually doing it, can be a difficult and disheartening challenge.

Effective altruism is a response to this challenge. It is a research field which uses high-quality evidence and careful reasoning to work out how to help others as much as possible. It is also a community of people taking these answers seriously, by focusing their efforts on the most promising solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

Doing the Most Good

With its focus on “doing the most good,” beyond encouraging the effectiveness of altruistic action, effective altruists tend to promote being as altruistic as possible. It’s rooted in the moral philosophy of Peter Singer, who proposed the “drowning child” thought experiment. If you’re walking down the street in a new $1,000 suit and see a child drowning in a pond, most people would say the morally right thing to do is to jump into the pond and save the child, even though it would ruin your $1,000 suit, because a child’s life is worth more than $1,000 dollars. Why, then, do most of us feel morally okay with spending thousands on a vacation, bigger house, or slightly nicer car when we could easily and effectively donate that money toward saving peoples’ lives?

As Singer argues in “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”:

If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.

One possible objection might be “How do I know that giving to some charity will actually save a life?” It’s against that objection that the effective altruism movement was founded.

Organizations

• GiveDirectly alleviates global poverty by facilitating cash transfers from donors to those in poverty. They also perform research on the effectiveness of alleviating poverty in this way.
• The Life You Can Save is an organization founded by Peter Singer to evaluate the effectiveness of charities and facilitate giving.
• Giving What We Can is a community of effective altruists was founded by philosophers Toby Ord and Will MacAskill. Prospective members are asked to make a pledge of some fraction of their income (at least 10% is recommended) in perpetuity to donate to charity. Giving What We Can provides research and recommendations on the most effective organizations to which to donate.
• 80,000 Hours is, like Giving What We Can, part of the nonprofit Centre for Effective Altruism and encourages and coaches people how to choose careers (which last on average 80,000 hours, hence the name) with meaningful social impact on the world’s most pressing problems. They have a great podcast.

Further Reading

• Leif Wenar in Wired on EA’s failure to factor in to the negative side-effects of foreign aid, an essential read
• https://michaelnotebook.com/eanotes/