To them I ask to read about what happened to that poor man, George Price, the population geneticist, journalist and chemist, whose work on the origins of altruism drove him first to give away all his possessions, then to let the homeless sleep in his house.
After reading his Wikipedia article, it isn’t clear to me that the origins-of-altruism research caused his unusual behavior (and subsequent suicide). He seems to have had a curious relationship with Christian religion; he also survived thyroid cancer — and thyroid problems can have profound emotional effects.
One might wonder whether brain changes affecting one’s valuation of oneself vs. others would lead a scientific mind both to curiosity about the origins of altruism, and to do altruistic acts. In that case, you need not fear that studying altruism will cause you to become excessively altruistic.
It seems like he had some problems distinguishing short- & long-term. Yes, opening your house & letting homeless people sleep there will help them in the short-term, but if it destroys your life in the long-term & makes you completely unable to help them, well then it isn’t the correct decision for maximizing the amount of altruism you can perform. It seems like he was trying to be a good altruist, but wasn’t a very good rationalist. Apologies if that seems offensive to anyone. I’m not trying to insult the man, he did much more good than many people do, I’m just trying to think about it in a broad sense.
On the other hand, he may have done a reasonable job of implementing the specific altruistic algorithm specified by Jesus (“sell your possessions, give to the poor, and follow me” — Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22).
After reading his Wikipedia article, it isn’t clear to me that the origins-of-altruism research caused his unusual behavior (and subsequent suicide). He seems to have had a curious relationship with Christian religion; he also survived thyroid cancer — and thyroid problems can have profound emotional effects.
One might wonder whether brain changes affecting one’s valuation of oneself vs. others would lead a scientific mind both to curiosity about the origins of altruism, and to do altruistic acts. In that case, you need not fear that studying altruism will cause you to become excessively altruistic.
It seems like he had some problems distinguishing short- & long-term. Yes, opening your house & letting homeless people sleep there will help them in the short-term, but if it destroys your life in the long-term & makes you completely unable to help them, well then it isn’t the correct decision for maximizing the amount of altruism you can perform. It seems like he was trying to be a good altruist, but wasn’t a very good rationalist. Apologies if that seems offensive to anyone. I’m not trying to insult the man, he did much more good than many people do, I’m just trying to think about it in a broad sense.
On the other hand, he may have done a reasonable job of implementing the specific altruistic algorithm specified by Jesus (“sell your possessions, give to the poor, and follow me” — Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22).