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A similar thought I've had is that the effectiveness of personal altruism is dwarfed by that of social institutions. For this reason, at least some portion of o
by analog31 4y ago
A similar thought I've had is that the effectiveness of personal altruism is dwarfed by that of social institutions. For this reason, at least some portion of our altruistic impulses should be directed towards strengthening and spreading those institutions.
- atlasunshrugged 4y agoI think plenty of people in EA believe the same thing, for instance 80,000 hours has government and policy listed as a priority area for people to work in https://80000hours.org/articles/government-policy/ https://80000hours.org/articles/government-policy/
- m101 4y agoThe problem with this stuff is that they are manipulating govt to take people's money in order to promote their own vision of what is good at taxpayer expense. I suppose they think their concept of good is better than everyone else's.
- eru 4y agoYou will find plenty of libertarians in their ranks.
- rr808 4y ago> dwarfed by that of social institutions & govt. A poor family on section 8 vouchers, couple of kids in school, medicaid healthcare costs the government perhaps $100k/yr, + charities for food, clothing etc. You'll never get that in donations.
- pdonis 4y ago> at least some portion of our altruistic impulses should be directed towards strengthening and spreading those institutions. Which in most cases is going to involve destroying the existing institutions in societies that aren't creating much wealth, since it's precisely their existing institutions--corrupt governments and low social trust--that are preventing wealth from being created.
- eru 4y agoYou don't need to destroy them outright. You can also help people vote with their feet.