4 ms·

I think it would be great for someone or some think tank to devise a very well thought out publicized plan of how an ultra-rich person could efficiently redistr

I think it would be great for someone or some think tank to devise a very well thought out publicized plan of how an ultra-rich person could efficiently redistribute their wealth to do a lot of good. Seems like most of what people recommend now is just "give it to charity!" but that's not exactly well-vetted advice. Or like the snarky advice downthread to just write a check to the Treasury, that's not what I'm talking about. Something constructive and efficient.

fouronnes3 3y ago
Isn't the thorough, extensive and open-source research that GiveWell does exactly what you're asking for? The amount of evidence you'd have to give to argue against "give everything following GiveWell's recommendation" as the objective and data-driven best option is extremely high.
- tunesmith 3y ago
  I think the one conceptual point I'd make against this is that GiveWell seems oriented toward the person that wants to give a few hundred or few thousand here and there. Note that in their top offerings, there's no indication of how much money would be enough to solve the problem, or too much. For instance, malaria nets are about managing an existing problem rather than solving it. A billionaire could target their money differently, like funding research or setting up labs to target their money toward solving pressing problems rather than managing them. I don't really know much about the big problems, like maybe they are all already at the point of being at the edge of unknown unknowns, where you just have to throw money at them to do exploratory research. But I'd imagine there are others that are along the lines of "we know how to solve this, it just needs funding", funding beyond what could be crowd-sourced or from your average charitable giver, and I'd like to see those opportunities in some sort of ordered list.

4 ms·

I think it would be great for someone or some think tank to devise a very well thought out publicized plan of how an ultra-rich person could efficiently redistr

by tunesmith 3y ago

fouronnes3 3y ago
Isn't the thorough, extensive and open-source research that GiveWell does exactly what you're asking for? The amount of evidence you'd have to give to argue against "give everything following GiveWell's recommendation" as the objective and data-driven best option is extremely high.
- tunesmith 3y ago
  I think the one conceptual point I'd make against this is that GiveWell seems oriented toward the person that wants to give a few hundred or few thousand here and there. Note that in their top offerings, there's no indication of how much money would be enough to solve the problem, or too much. For instance, malaria nets are about managing an existing problem rather than solving it. A billionaire could target their money differently, like funding research or setting up labs to target their money toward solving pressing problems rather than managing them. I don't really know much about the big problems, like maybe they are all already at the point of being at the edge of unknown unknowns, where you just have to throw money at them to do exploratory research. But I'd imagine there are others that are along the lines of "we know how to solve this, it just needs funding", funding beyond what could be crowd-sourced or from your average charitable giver, and I'd like to see those opportunities in some sort of ordered list.