Israeli here. It seems very unlikely that serving in the IDF is optimal in terms of global utility per marginal effort. On the other hand, using “tricks” to avoid military service might have negative costs in terms of subverting the rule of law and/or mutual trust in society (it is sort of defecting in Prisoner’s Dilemma), but these costs are probably not so high (on the margin) as to offset the good you can do if you use this time for something truly effective.
If you are only thinking about sign of the effect, then, well. The morality of Israel’s government is a mixed bag, but serving might produce some opportunities for you to influence for the better. It depends a lot on in which branch of the military you serve. For example, increasing technological capabilities might allow reducing civilian casualties during warfare, whereas serving as a combatant might allow you to directly reduce harm to civilians, although I imagine that in some situations that might call for disobeying orders at personal cost.
Btw, I also recommend you to visit the Israeli LessWrong meetups, where you can meet some likeminded people.
Israeli here. It seems very unlikely that serving in the IDF is optimal in terms of global utility per marginal effort. On the other hand, using “tricks” to avoid military service might have negative costs in terms of subverting the rule of law and/or mutual trust in society (it is sort of defecting in Prisoner’s Dilemma), but these costs are probably not so high (on the margin) as to offset the good you can do if you use this time for something truly effective.
If you are only thinking about sign of the effect, then, well. The morality of Israel’s government is a mixed bag, but serving might produce some opportunities for you to influence for the better. It depends a lot on in which branch of the military you serve. For example, increasing technological capabilities might allow reducing civilian casualties during warfare, whereas serving as a combatant might allow you to directly reduce harm to civilians, although I imagine that in some situations that might call for disobeying orders at personal cost.
Btw, I also recommend you to visit the Israeli LessWrong meetups, where you can meet some likeminded people.