All of Ryan Baker's Comments + Replies

I think this is a reasonable response, but Cowen did anticipate the "slavery is immoral" response, and is right that this wouldn't be a utilitarian response.  You can fix that since there is an easily drawn line from utilitarianism to this response, but I think Cowen would respond that in this scenario we both wouldn't and shouldn't bother to do such fine reasoning and just accept our partialities.  He does make a similar statement during the Q&A.

I'd contend that this an example of mixing practical considerations with philosophical considerat... (read more)

Cowen would benefit by understanding that EA has to have a duality, encompassing both philosophical aspects and practical aspects.  The goal of EA is to have a practical effect on the world, but it's effect will be limited if it's not persuasive.  The persuasive aspect requires it to describe it's philosophical underpinnings.  It cannot rely solely upon a pre-existing partial point of view, because it's a departure from pre-existing partial points of view.  You might call it a refinement of reciprocal altruism which would be a widely sh... (read more)

Interesting piece. One challenge in extending it to decision making is "resources". It's not clear if you mean financial instruments or some kind of stockpiling. There appears to be some not fully considered vacillation on that topic.

Financial instruments are probably the default, but as we move into more and more long term views, the meaning of these becomes more vague. Does it really pass "resources" to a future generation by having stockpiled financial instruments? While in a micro-economic level these are very translatable... (read more)