(a) EA orgs aren’t doing what they say they’re doing (e.g. cost effectiveness estimates are wildly biased, reflecting bad procedures being used internally), and it’s hard to get organizations to do what they say they do
(b) Utilitarianism isn’t a form of ethics, it’s still necessary to have principles, as in deontology or two-level consequentialism
(c) Given how hard it is to predict the effects of your actions on far-away parts of the world (e.g. international charity requiring multiple intermediaries working in a domain that isn’t well-understood), focusing on helping people you have more information about makes sense unless this problem can be solved
(d) It usually makes more sense to focus on ways of helping others that also build capacities, including gathering more information, to increase long-term positive impact
He argued
(a) EA orgs aren’t doing what they say they’re doing (e.g. cost effectiveness estimates are wildly biased, reflecting bad procedures being used internally), and it’s hard to get organizations to do what they say they do
(b) Utilitarianism isn’t a form of ethics, it’s still necessary to have principles, as in deontology or two-level consequentialism
(c) Given how hard it is to predict the effects of your actions on far-away parts of the world (e.g. international charity requiring multiple intermediaries working in a domain that isn’t well-understood), focusing on helping people you have more information about makes sense unless this problem can be solved
(d) It usually makes more sense to focus on ways of helping others that also build capacities, including gathering more information, to increase long-term positive impact