8 ms·

Is it just me or do a whole lot of EA people just love to keep talking but never do anything actually altruistic? I mean I get the idea of trying to optimize t

by dheera 3y ago

Is it just me or do a whole lot of EA people just love to keep talking but never do anything actually altruistic? I mean I get the idea of trying to optimize the value of charitable donations. But donating something is infinitely better than chatting all day and donating nothing. Even on a small scale, the number of times I've seen non-EA people do something nice is way, way more than the number of times I've seen an EA person come out of their "circle" and do something nice.

mplewis 3y ago
This is how EA works. It wouldn’t be maximally effective to donate the money now, would it? Compounding interest says you should hoard it until your dying day and only then invest in a charitable cause.
- verteu 3y ago
  No, you'd need to account for several things (curing someone of malaria has compounding returns, high-impact opportunities may dry up, etc). There's substantial discussion: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7uJcBNZhinomKtH9p/giving-now-vs-later-a-summary https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7uJcBNZhinomKtH9p/... I do agree that utilitarianism provides too much room for mental gymnastics which bad actors can use to feign benevolence.
- jstarfish 3y ago
  This is the smartest thing for the 99% though. While we're alive, we need the money now. Donate your estate once you're dead. It has a side benefit of discouraging accelerated inheritance schemes.
  - dheera 3y ago
    What if you have children? You could say they "need the money now" more than you do, and never donate. You could even write a recursive will that defines N=5, and requires your daughter or son, as a condition of inheriting the money, (a) never donate it during their lifetime and (b) compound it for a lifetime in S&P500 (c) write their own will with the exact same text with the only change being N = N-1 (d) donation is only allowed if you are N=0, and only under agreeing to fulfill (a), (b), and (c), do you even get to have the money.
jjtheblunt 3y ago
> keep talking but never do anything actually altruistic? all sorts of interesting slicing and dicing of charitable activities are tracked, and it's really curious. https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics-on-u-s-generosity/ https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics-on...

by dheera 3y ago

mplewis 3y ago

This is how EA works. It wouldn’t be maximally effective to donate the money now, would it? Compounding interest says you should hoard it until your dying day and only then invest in a charitable cause.

verteu 3y ago
No, you'd need to account for several things (curing someone of malaria has compounding returns, high-impact opportunities may dry up, etc). There's substantial discussion: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7uJcBNZhinomKtH9p/giving-now-vs-later-a-summary https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7uJcBNZhinomKtH9p/... I do agree that utilitarianism provides too much room for mental gymnastics which bad actors can use to feign benevolence.
jstarfish 3y ago
This is the smartest thing for the 99% though. While we're alive, we need the money now. Donate your estate once you're dead. It has a side benefit of discouraging accelerated inheritance schemes.
- dheera 3y ago
  What if you have children? You could say they "need the money now" more than you do, and never donate. You could even write a recursive will that defines N=5, and requires your daughter or son, as a condition of inheriting the money, (a) never donate it during their lifetime and (b) compound it for a lifetime in S&P500 (c) write their own will with the exact same text with the only change being N = N-1 (d) donation is only allowed if you are N=0, and only under agreeing to fulfill (a), (b), and (c), do you even get to have the money.

jjtheblunt 3y ago

> keep talking but never do anything actually altruistic? all sorts of interesting slicing and dicing of charitable activities are tracked, and it's really curious. https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics-on-u-s-generosity/ https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics-on...