I recently came across William MacAskill and his books Doing Good Better and What We Owe the Future. The former details a template for a model of approaching the world called effective altruism, while the other looks at an adjacent set of ideas called longtermism. While I’m still working through the second book, I’ve become quite interested in the concepts laid out in each and thought it was worth sharing.
In short, the idea behind effective altruism is that if we want to do good things for the world in which we live, it’s best if we focus our efforts on making the largest possible impact. MacAskill argues that this requires a tough look at the relative improvement one can make in the lives of others. Five dollars has a much higher impact on a farmer in rural Africa than it does on people poorly off in the United States.
From this basic tenet, MacAskill addresses just about every question and caveat that popped into my head while reading Doing Good Better. It’s a difficult idea to take to its final conclusion, yet the depth of thought that goes into the provided framework is clear and insightful. There are value judgements galore, and socioeconomic estimates that, to a certain extent, you simply must accept if you’re going to get anywhere. But they are all explained, and the focus on transparency and a scientific approach to altruism was extremely innovative and inspiring.
I don’t think it’s necessary to commit to the book. Just check out https://www.effectivealtruism.org to get the basics; if it appeals to you there might still not be a need for the book. But I do recommending taking a few minutes to read through what they present and let the ideas simmer. There’s something refreshing about this practical approach to making the world a better place.