In this talk from EAGxBerkeley 2016, Ajeya Cotra shares what led her to join the effective altruism movement, then provides an overview of its basic principles.

Below is a transcript, which we've lightly edited for clarity.

The Talk

[00:00:09] When I was a little kid, I really hated visiting my native country, India. It was hot. It was polluted. I didn't recognize any of my relatives. But most of all, it made me really sad. I saw a lot of things in India at a pretty young age: hunger, pain, anger, desperation.

[00:00:34] One day when I was about eight, my cousins and I went to a small streetside ice cream parlor in Hyderabad and we each got little ice cream cones for less than a dollar. As we were walking outside, we saw something that's sadly familiar to a lot of us who live in big cities like San Francisco and Berkeley. A woman outside the ice cream parlor was begging for money, for food. And even though she was wrapped in rags, I could count every one of her ribs.

[00:01:08] I didn't have any money to give, but without thinking, I handed over my ice cream cone. As we were walking away my cousins stared at me. “You're crazy,” they said. “Why would you ever do that?” And I didn't know how to respond. So we just walked home in uncomfortable silence.

[00:01:32] That night, and many nights after that, when everyone else in the house was asleep, I would stay up sob into my pillow because the world was unfair and full of pain. Because what was normal was to ignore that pain, and it was crazy to try to do something about it, no matter how small. Because I knew that after that old woman finished her ice cream cone, she would be hungry again, and I wouldn't be there to help her. Because I felt powerless.

[00:02:09] So I want to ask you: How many of you have had experiences like this, where you're forced to confront just how unfair the world is — and just how privileged you really are?

How do you react when you have an experience like this — with shame? Do you feel like you don't deserve the comfort that you have? Do you feel guilt — that you should be doing more to help instead of just living your life as it is?

Do you feel anger that other people — people more powerful than you, people richer than you — aren't helping? Why should you feel guilty when they're not doing anything either?

Do you feel apathy, perhaps because you've seen ...