Getting Started Practicing Effective Altruism
In my first blog post for this publication, I shared my desire to start exploring how I can make a genuine contribution towards solving some of the world’s biggest problems. Admittedly, that’s a pretty broad goal to have. I only possessed the faintest idea of where to start, but as my research (a.k.a. Googling) commenced, it didn’t take long for my focus to coalesce around the concepts, people, and organizations dedicated to promoting the effective altruism movement.
Effective altruism is the use of evidence and careful reasoning to find the most effective ways to improve the world. Its emphasis is on the careful analysis of actions meant to solve a given problem by applying select principles from philosophy, mathematics, economics, and other domains to lend scientific rigor to philanthropic efforts. Given the premise of this publication, that seemed like a fantastic place to start. For an introduction to what Effective Altruism is all about and a little information about its history, you can check out effectivealtruism.org.
The underlying principles behind effective altruism are relatively straightforward, but like most things in life the devil is in the details. It’s a given that I should strive to find evidence to corroborate my efforts to do good. In reality, though, most people, including myself, only possess a nebulous desire to do good while never taking steps to seriously analyze the available options before taking action. Implementing a plan to practice effective altruism will require time up front combing through disparate sets of information to figure out where to spend my time. It doesn’t allow for the quick positive vibes that come from blindly volunteering for any charity. My hope is that I can translate some of the most rigorous ideas from the existing body of research into mental models that I, or anyone, can apply to my charitable giving, volunteer efforts, and career decisions.
To get started, I’ll be using some heuristic techniques from an effective altruism advocacy organization called 80,000hours.org. The mission of 80,000 hours is to help people find high impact careers that allow them to utilize their talents to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. Be warned, though, their website contains a wealth of thought-provoking material that will likely challenge you to reconsider at least some aspect of your current career path. I recommend you read their entire career guide, but below I’ve summarized some of their ideas to show how I plan to start assessing a given problem and my potential to do something about it.
Questions For Assessing a Problem:
1. What is the problem? Determining the exact definition of the problem is the first step in being able to analyze it effectively.
2. What is the scale of the problem? What metrics will I use to measure it?
3. How many resources are already going towards solving the problem? The more resources that are being directed to solving it the less likely I’ll be to have an impact due to the principle of diminishing marginal returns.
4. How solvable is it? Is it even possible to solve the problem with actions that I am capable of and/or willing to take?
5. Is working on this problem going to be a good fit for me? Do I have the skill set to adequately contribute?
Following the assessment of the problem, I’ll then need to assess a particular action by asking some additional questions:
1. How much time am I willing to commit to the given problem?
2. What are the actions available to me that fit into my time selection?
3. How much does each action available to me move the needle on the metric I used to assess the scale of the problem? Is it simply aiding people or is the action empowering others or being amplified by influencing others?
As I learn more, I’m sure my assessment will become more nuanced, but I believe those questions will set me on the right track. Let me know what you think by adding any additional tips in the comments below. I’ve also included some additional links to sites dedicated to and related to effective altruism that I’ll be digging into more over the coming weeks.
80,000hours.org — An organization that conducts research and promotes careers that maximize social impact.
GiveWell — A non-profit charity evaluator that focuses on effective altruism
Effectivealtruism.org — A web resource dedicated to promoting effective altruism
Future of Humanity Institute — A research institute at the University of Oxford focused on strategies for defending against existential risks to humanity
Global Priorities Project — An organization that helps policy decision-makers prioritize ways to do good
Giving What We Can — A charity evaluator that includes a pledge to give 10% of income to the most cost-effective charities
