(1) We should do good things. (2) Good things often differ in how good they are. (3) It is preferable to do more good rather than less. If you agree, you might be interested in effective altruism.
Thanks for writing this. It is good to get back to basics (malaria nets!) without derailing the EA trolley into things like AGI and space exploration. Not sure how you prevent those fringe(?) topics from becoming the default frame of reference when talking about EA.
"If EA had stopped there and spent their time helping improve the lives of the poorest humans on the planet, I think they would be hailed as heroes. But they didn’t stop there."
Thanks for writing this. It is good to get back to basics (malaria nets!) without derailing the EA trolley into things like AGI and space exploration. Not sure how you prevent those fringe(?) topics from becoming the default frame of reference when talking about EA.
"If EA had stopped there and spent their time helping improve the lives of the poorest humans on the planet, I think they would be hailed as heroes. But they didn’t stop there."
I wrote a bit more here:
https://neilscott.substack.com/p/the-alienating-affect-of-effective