Beneficence As Opportunity

One of my friends saved a stranger’s life.

The stranger was a homeless man in the bad parts of San Francisco, where the streets are littered with urine and drugs. While pharmacologically-induced addlement is not uncommon in these parts, this man seemed particularly out of it, and when my friend checked on him, he saw that the man was splayed out and non-responsive. So my friend called for an ambulance, saving the man from an otherwise fatal overdose.

Saving someone’s life is a deeply meaningful thing. You get to know that one extra person is alive because of your actions. If you ever have the opportunity to save someone’s life directly, you’ll probably feel proud—and you should feel proud. It is fitting to feel good about doing good. My friend did something noble. He bothered to check in on some drugged-out homeless man, rather than ignoring him, like most bystanders did.

But that wasn’t the most lives that were saved that weekend. My friend’s act of heroism took place just a block or two outside the EAG San Francisco event he was attending, where over a thousand people got together to attend a conference dedicated to doing good effectively. Over the course of the weekend, around 50 people took a pledge to give away 10% of their earnings to effective charities. The best charities save lives for about $5,000—each pledger gives about $100,000 to effective charities, around $10,000 more than they would have otherwise. So over the course of the weekend, just from people taking the pledge, probably about 100 lives were saved relative to the counterfactual.

Beneficence is often thought of as a burden. We have lots of ability to do good, so morally we must. And those arguments are, I think, correct. We really do have an obligation to make doing good effectively a central part of our lives. But this isn’t the end of the story, and it’s not the way you should think about it in your day to day life.

The most meaningful lives are those that are in support of something greater. Saving someone’s life is hugely meaningful. Even if you’re not particularly wealthy, you have the ability to save lives routinely. So far this year, I’ve donated about $12,000. This hasn’t all gone to global health charities, but if it had, it would have saved around two lives. If you earn $100,000 a year, and give away 10%, then you’ll be able to save someone’s life twice a year.

This is pretty extraordinary. To give an analogy from Will MacAskill, imagine if one day you pulled a drowning child out of the pond. Then, a few months later, you pulled another child from a burning building. Months after that, you saved a child who was going to fall off a roof. And so on, saving multiple lives every year for your whole life. Take a moment to think about what it would be like to repeatedly save lives.

One takeaway from such a situation: the world is unbelievably screwed up if so many have the opportunity to save lives, and yet so many people die unnecessarily. But another takeaway is that by saving so many lives, you’re doing something amazing and meaningful. Each life you saved is one less person ripped from the world. Saving 100 lives means a hundred extra children get to grow up. You get to be like a cartoon superhero—saving lives on the regular. You get to know that the world is a better place because it has you in it. Your life can be imbued with deep meaning because you are accomplishing something genuinely important.

This would be a bit solitary if you were alone. But you’re not. You get to save lives routinely alongside a community of other smart, hardworking, thoughtful people working towards the same project as you are. I have never been so inspired as when I’ve attended effective altruism events. The places are overflowing with incredible people. Bryan Caplan, who isn’t an effective altruist, finds EA student groups to be his favorite to talk to:

As a professor and public speaker, I’ve spoken to a wide range of student groups. On reflection, my very favorite turns out to be: Effective Altruism. Indeed, I’ve had positive experiences with 100% of the EA groups I’ve encountered.

What’s so great about the Effective Altruists? They combine high knowledge, high curiosity, and high iconoclasm. When I ask EAs if they’ve heard of signaling, or the Non-Identity Problem, or pollution taxes, most of them say Yes. The ones who say No are eager to get up to speed. And if I defend a view that would shock a normal audience, EAs are more likely to be amused than defensive or hostile. They’re genuinely open to reasoned argument.

Though you might expect EAs to be self-righteous, they’re not. EA is a chill movement. While ethical vegans are greatly overrepresented in EA, they’re the kind of ethical vegans who seek dialogue on the ethical treatment of animals, not the kind of ethical vegans who seek to bite your head off.

At Forethought, where I work, all my coworkers are at least debatably effective altruists. I am humbled to be working alongside such amazing people. I’m continually impressed by how thoughtful, intellectually serious, and morally motivated my coworkers are. It’s inspiring to be working towards a meaningful goal alongside other amazing people who I deeply admire.

One of my favorite aspects of high school debate was being on a team. When I did well at a tournament, it increased my school’s ranking, so that it was a victory not just for me, but for all my friends. It is similarly inspiring to be working alongside a group of people that I admire, working on the ultimate project—making the world a better place, as effectively as possible.

Some of my favorite times of the year are effective altruism global events, which bring together lots of EAs from all around the world, all trying to make the world a better place. Outside of EAG events, caring about the welfare of crustaceans and people in a billion years is seen as weird. But inside those events, this isn’t seen as weird. And people act on these moral convictions, rather than just stating them. I was never really one for sports teams, but it’s hugely moving to be on some kind of team, broadly construed, with such noble people—people who were compelled by moral arguments to quit high-paying finance jobs and start working on shrimp welfare.

Are there better things than working alongside people you admire on important shared projects? Certainly there are not many. Ensuring that the flame of consciousness is not snuffed out, due to either malevolence or incompetence. Effective altruism is not merely an obligation, though it is that as well—it is an opportunity to leave the world better than you found it, to save lives routinely, and to contribute to the most meaningful project possible, alongside the best people you’ll ever know.