willmacaskill

8 ms·

1.
by willmacaskill 10y ago
I'm glad to hear this! We want to encourage people to incorporate EA into their life as much as they feel comfortable with, and everyone's circumstances are different. And note you can be a 'hard EA' without earning to g
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by willmacaskill 10y ago
I think that's exactly wrong, I'm afraid. In traditional charity, the incentives that charities have are to do whatever is going to fundraise the most. So the charities that get biggest are those that are best at looking good, rat
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by willmacaskill 10y ago
Thanks for the enthusiasm! I think a lot of your questions can be answered here (including the other pages that these pages link to): http://www.openphilanthropy.org/research/our-process and http://www.givew
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What's the best way to spend $20,000 to do good? (Response to Paul Bucheit)(80000hours.org)
1 points by willmacaskill 11y ago|0 comments
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What do leaders of effective non-profits say about working in non-profits?(80000hours.org)
8 points by willmacaskill 11y ago|0 comments
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by willmacaskill 11y ago
Re: bizarro candidate? Yes, certainly. (as long as they're actually going to be much better for the world and your donation will make a difference). Lower probability of larger upside can easily beat guarantee of doing more modest amo
7.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
Some general comments I have on the article (which I thought in general was very good): - At 80,000 Hours (the social impact career advice service I cofounded) we don't advise that many people to aim to earn to give in the long-term; l
8.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I think that's a really important concern. At 80,000 Hours when we encourage people to earn to give we ensure they're embedded in the effective altruism community, take things like the Giving What We Can Pledge and so on - mechani
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by willmacaskill 11y ago
I think that startups where the users are principally people in poor countries is a very promising area for socially minded people to work in. Startups usually (but not always) generate value for their users in the form of consumer surplus.
10.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
Hi Derek! Nice to see you here!| I actually already think that earning to give isn't the best path for most altruistic people who would be willing to work anywhere. This is a change of view from a few years ago. The reasons are: i) qui
11.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
Hey - I'm the guy described in the post - if anyone wants to ask me about anything to do with effective altruism, 80,000 Hours, Giving What We Can, GiveWell (which I didn't cofound but is part of the same charitable movement), or
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What's the most efficient way to save a live?(theatlantic.com)
2 points by willmacaskill 11y ago|0 comments
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by willmacaskill 11y ago
Yeah, I seem to recall that the US gives a similar % of income as other countries once you subtract out donations to churches and to universities, which are both a much bigger thing than in other countries.
14.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
That's great! (I'm guessing I probably know you, but can't tell who you are). I'm hoping to donate >50% too; I've been donating about 10% but I've been on a low salary; next year I'll be able to do 50%
15.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I know; his brother actually just gave up and started introducing himself as "Wage" (pronounced as you'd think) rather than "WAG-ee"
16.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I agree volunteering abroad can be a great way to experience first-hand some of the problems in the world, which can lead you to do much more in your life than you would otherwise. I did it as a student and it was important in my life. But
17.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I agree it's important to think about; and that morally you can't just take benefits - harms = net good. It's reasonable at least to be more morally concerned about avoiding harm than about doing good. That said, I've ne
18.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I and 80,000 Hours take really seriously the harm you might do through your work. I'd feel very uncomfortable to say the least to recommend that someone work in Big Tobacco in order to earn to give. I don't think of finance like I
19.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
I think this is a really important concern. Btw, 5% is still quite a bit more than the average, so good work! We're attempting to overcome this worry through community and behavioural economics hacks. E.g. I take every opportunity that
20.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
This is a really tricky issue; there are lots of competing considerations either way. (e.g. the return you get from your money; but your donated money also generates a 'social return', which can be much higher than what you get in
21.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
That's not true. There are hundreds of thousands of different aid project, it would be miraculous if all were entirely ineffective. E.g. you'd have to be crazily skeptical to suggest that the programs recommended by GiveWell aren&
22.
by willmacaskill 11y ago
What I find most amazing is when bright Ivy League graduates go and do manual labour, like building a school, in a poor country with massive unemployment. It's not exactly playing to comparative advantage.
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by willmacaskill 11y ago
Matt is a friend of mine, and someone who got career advice from what ultimately became 80,000 Hours, a startup non-profit I cofounded. I'm really happy to see the positive response on here; we've advised a lot of people to '