One can expect to live a life at least 100-1000 times longer than those other poor people, or live a life that has at least 100-1000 times as much positive utility, as well as the points in the other comments.
Although this argument is a decent one for some people, it’s much more often the product of motivated cognition than carefully looking at the issues, so I did not include it in the post.
One can expect to live a life at least 100-1000 times longer than those other poor people
.. when you say “can expect to”, what do you mean? Do you mean “it is extremely likely that..”? That’s the problem. If it was a sure deal, it would be logical to spend the money on it—but in fact it’s extremely uncertain, whereas the $50 being asked for by a group like Aravind Eye Hospital to directly fund a cataract operation is (close to) relieving significant suffering with a probability of 1.
One can expect to live a life at least 100-1000 times longer than those other poor people, or live a life that has at least 100-1000 times as much positive utility, as well as the points in the other comments.
Although this argument is a decent one for some people, it’s much more often the product of motivated cognition than carefully looking at the issues, so I did not include it in the post.
Thanks for the reply.
.. when you say “can expect to”, what do you mean? Do you mean “it is extremely likely that..”? That’s the problem. If it was a sure deal, it would be logical to spend the money on it—but in fact it’s extremely uncertain, whereas the $50 being asked for by a group like Aravind Eye Hospital to directly fund a cataract operation is (close to) relieving significant suffering with a probability of 1.