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Thank you for a concrete example. I think you will agree though, that the outcome you describe isn't inevitable or most-likely. Over time you will likely figur
by yboris 6y ago
Thank you for a concrete example. I think you will agree though, that the outcome you describe isn't inevitable or most-likely.
Over time you will likely figure out a good life-work-philanthropy balance. Much of the conversation within EA is about self-care and long-term planning. If giving 70% of your income to charity works for you, that's magnificent. But if you realize you need to give less and take more care of yourself so you don't burn out, that's the appropriate decision.
I gave 50% one year but it didn't work out long term. I've been giving 10% for almost a decade and intend to ramp up to 20% in the future. My wife does 10% too - it works out well for us.
- yrimaxi 6y agoBurn out wasn’t the point. I explicitly disregarded that by putting in the premise that the hypothetical person is not and will not get burned out with that philanthropy schedule. I could have just as well have written that they made a million a year and only donated 5%—that’s besides (my/the) point. I guess we are all so alienated these days that we don’t find working on Wall Street—or Main Street—in order to indirectly help other people with our money instead of helping directly not the least bit weird at all. Or to help people by working as a programmer and donating a lot of your salary to some school instead of just working there as a teacher, helping people directly (to use another example). (Oh, that reminds me. I need to take my vitamin D supplements right about now. I calculated that being in the Sun is not worth my time so I have to compensate a bit, you see.)
- UnFleshedOne 6y agoWell, in the end, do you want to avoid feeling weird, or to help people? Both of those are valid desires, but they don't always go together. Sometimes you can find something that does both and that's great, but not everyone can.
- yrimaxi 6y agoDescribing non-alienation as “feeling good” (as another commenter did) or “not feeling weird” is a great way to pathologize my observation of how weird it is to work a six-figure, ad/surveillance-optimizing job at Google in order for there to be more malaria nets in Africa. Trust me: I don’t believe that EA is sound in any way (or “effective”, if you like), but in this thread I chose to focus on just one aspect of it, indeed its most bizarre feature, which apparently isn’t bizarre at all to all of the Soylent-drinking life-optimizers out there, so my point has been like, as they say, seeds on barren ground.
- UnFleshedOne 6y agoSorry, I was using your own terms from the post I replied to. I didn't mean to sound patronizing (well, only a little bit :)). My point stands though: "non-alienation" and "actually helping" are orthogonal. But not usually treated as such. You have a point about working in a net-negative occupations. You might be doing more harm over all.