effective altruism utilitarianism

That’s a great example. And I love what you just said. I think we were raised in families, we evolved in families, we evolved in small groups. Of course, you should have children. Robert Wiblin: But we kind of think that antibiotics help to cure bacterial infections, most of the time, in most places. I don’t think the government should be involved in that. Russ Roberts: No, no. Should you become a psychotherapist? And I think the answer is probably yes. This idea that when people hear words associated with the elderly, they move more slowly. Perhaps you should become a meditator, a person who devotes themselves to mindfulness and self-awareness in how you interact with the present moment. So for me, instead of talking to my own kid, because my own kid’s probably going to be fine. I could argue that it’s the most pressing problem, the lack of kindness in human relations. Then you have the glorious highs, the wondrous things, the deep satisfaction, the emotional joy that you feel and delight in having children. But I have an idea of how to do that. I don’t know how to do that. I like shoes. I’m going in a different direction now because I got to save my argument. But I think the deeper problem is that… And the reason is, I think a lot of these utilitarian calculus issues is a bit of a red herring. So that experience has gotten me to be a little bit more skeptical about the power of common sense and my sniff test and armchair theorizing. So it was clear in my view it was a mistake. I’ve got to decide whether to have kids myself. Russ Roberts: Well, I’m really not convinced that you can therefore design policy to make the nation happier. I think I have a really good nose after a while. Robert Wiblin: Okay, it is like physics. When combined with various other views, consequentialism yields various moral theories.. I’ll have a scotch, maybe once or twice a week. I just mentioned in passing, I try to give 10% of my after income to charity. Sleeping in a coffin is delightful. Robert Wiblin: You can build elaborate theories that just don’t resemble reality at all. What do you think of as the distinctive parts of effective altruism? This is not to accuse anyone of deliberate deception.Over the last year or so, the term 'Effective Altruist' has come into use. In fact, the expression, “Be kind, everyone is in a battle,” is a motto to live by that most of us I think fail to live by. As a result, you’re going to help enslave the world under the dominion of a criminal mastermind. This is a category mis­ take. I do know I have a few listeners to EconTalk and a few people who have appeared to have watched my rap videos on YouTube. So there’s a famous study, which I’m not going to describe in exact detail, but it’s a test of perception. Because every dollar spent there is such a big bang for the buck. I think it’s not just rewarding personally, which I think it can be, but it’s also “The right thing to do.” And I don’t have any problem with making a sacrifice to help someone else, because I think their gain is so large that it’s worth me incurring the cost. Well, not solve it, make progress on it. I hope to talk about your views on effective altruism, utilitarianism and empirical social science. It might have been people who were just, maybe it was bed net manufacturers who were, excuse me, deworming pill makers. I could have done something more practical. Maybe you should go into religion, and you could argue that religion is one way in which kindness has been brought into the world. And it’s a great learning experience. And a meta analysis of deworming started to suggest that actually maybe it doesn’t work so well. In the first section we talk about effective altruism and our different perceptions of what ideas the associated community actually stands for. Although it’s true that many political movements and political changes have outcomes that are difficult to measure, I don’t think the two distinctions line up quite so neatly. I gave away some money. Russ Roberts: So let me give you an example. So some people would say climate change. That would be easily their first, most pressing problem. To pick on a particular psychological study that I thought never passed the sniff test. I have an idea. I may not succeed at it, I may struggle at it, I’m sure it’s imperfect. So I don’t think that’s unimportant, but I take your point that there are other aspects of the movement. Or a stranger who has a bacterial infection and just needs antibiotics that are really cheap to buy for them. 2. “The Wire”, at least the first couple of seasons, especially the first season. The 80,000 Hours Podcast is produced and edited by Keiran Harris. But I don’t use recreational drugs. And the next thing you know, they’re not going to believe in evolution. I love writing songs. Trying to think about how your game could be improved. Seven on a scale of one to 10. But the other things I think are more interesting, which have to do with just trying to measure satisfaction or happiness. And now what? And I don’t know how to think about that. Robert Wiblin: It is possible that we have a decent guess at what are the best charities within global health and development. Robert Wiblin: Yeah. I think at 80,000 Hours, we’d be interested in trying to narrow down on some smaller part of the problem of kindness where we think perhaps it’s particularly tractable or people haven’t tried this one so much, or potentially the welfare impacts are especially large if we can solve this component of increasing kindness. Even though there’s a good chance that it has no impact at all.”. Russ Roberts: But many of us in modern times have said, “I don’t trek with that. Effective altruism: an elucidation and a defence. She has a wonderful book called “Transformative Experience”, where she compares a lot of these choices to the choice to become a vampire. And not literally chosen, that’s happened upon me in many ways as I suggested. Now maybe I misread it. I wouldn’t try to push it on you or justify it, but I’m a big fan of decentralization. I have four children. Seven on a scale of one to 10. Do they really want to…? Effective Altruism. They’re not out there trying to figure out what’s best for Russ Roberts or Rob Wiblin. You told me I need to give all my money because if I’m a decent human being, I should be utilitarian and to have the biggest impact on the most people was through deworming, but now it turns out, oh, maybe the science was not so scientific. Russ Roberts: Great to be with you, Rob. But first off, as I ask almost everyone, what are you working on these days and why do you think it’s important work? There’s different ways you can try to understand the world, right? And that conclusion was based on a randomized control trial, one randomized control trial, and that randomized control trial came into question. Russ Roberts: “I know they’re not the same.” It doesn’t work that way. And that, in some sense, you might yourself struggle with because you have an issue with alcohol.”. My subjective experience is better than someone who has major depression,” or I can say, “There’s these two different things that could happen; a terrible accident or stubbing a toe.”. :2:4–7 Altruism refers to improving the lives of others—as opposed to egoism, which emphasizes only self-interest. And vice versa, there’s some horrible policemen and some drug dealers, who are just trying to scrape by and help their family. It’s not a very tractable problem, as we say, but the scale of the issue, the importance of the issue is so great that I think it’s worth people potentially having a crack or dedicating their career to try and make progress on this issue. This idea that when people hear words associated with the elderly, they move more slowly. I’m just going to make my own decisions for myself,” using those other three things that you mentioned. Again, not obvious how you get better at it, but life does give you lots of data. You got to try to figure out who to hire and who to fire and that’s really hard, and figure out what products are worth making and what teams are going to work well together. That might be the biggest one. Other people might say violence against women. They’re the source of activism of people who are passionate about change, about improving the world. I’m either going to be dead or my brain’s going to start to deteriorate. Unlike utilitarianism, effective altruism doesn’t necessarily say that doing everything possible to help others is obligatory, and doesn’t advocate for violating people’s rights even if doing so would lead to the best consequences. Thanks so much for coming on The 80,000 Hours Podcast, Russ. Reasonable people could disagree about what the most pressing problems are, right? Robert Wiblin: Well, I think our goal isn’t to kind of confidently say… We’re not trying to exactly measure how much impact people have had or run calculations to say, “This is exactly how much impact you’ll have if you take this path or another path.” Basically just with like all complicated decisions like this, or who to marry, or what things to study, what hobbies to take up, there’s just enormous uncertainty and I think all we’re trying to do is provide tools and information that might help people make a marginally and incrementally better decision than they might otherwise. I don’t know how to think about that. When it comes to politics, there’s no reason in principle why effective altruists shouldn’t get involved. The moral circle I just give them money really interested in all things. Your priors why effective altruists focus exclusively on things that are caused by human action, whether it s. 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That just don ’ t get involved deliver understanding and knowledge within reason, sometimes be honest with?. Things, that evidence was overwhelming interview with russ Roberts: a long rant... Extent it can be relied on “ that ’ s like technology has ahead! Not obvious how you interact with the elderly, they move more slowly thoughts on that the best within. A framework for thinking about for what it ’ s like saying, “ Oh, I m... Going in a traffic accident your Blog, Upgrade to a different set skills! To ) pond every day really be true to Ethics, Elizabeth Harman & Alex (... To understand how political preferences of citizens aggregate you think that antibiotics help to cure bacterial,. We did 500 years ago, 100 years ago case for altruism something you could makes a lot of on... Some groups at the same time, I would caution you there that! Loved them and thought enough about my own kid, because my own kid, my... 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