If you are a consequentialist and decide that donating $10,000 to SIAI is a good idea, then you already believe the benefit of $10,000 of the SIAI’s work significantly exceeds the benefit of saving the life of a child in the developing world. So now, would you say it is obvious that being evicted is 33 times worse than letting a child die because they lack basic medical care? Would you have even a handful of children die so that you can keep your credit rating?
I don’t know. I am pretty unconvinced that the SIAI will this much good in the world, but I would not call someone irrational if they risked everything they had to help ameliorate abject poverty and I would not necessarily call someone irrational if they believed that working on AI was more important than saving or improving lives directly.
To answer your questions, I don’t think it’s obvious that being evicted is 33 times worse than letting a child die (ignoring that the original question was about $2700, not $10,000), but it might actually turn out to be the case, since if somebody is evicted and has their credit ruined (and by hypothesis has none of the oher safeguards), it’s quite possible that they will never recover, and thus will never be financially secure enough to make future donations of vastly more consequence than the difference between a large donation now and a large donation in 1 year (after they’ve established an emergency fund).
I think the question is really whether it’s rational to donate all your savings now (if you have no reliable way of handling the unexpected case of losing your income source). Doing so greatly increases the probability of a personal catastrophe that one might not properly recover from. A more rational alternative, I would submit, is to donate a smaller amount now, while continuing to save until you have a sufficient emergency fund, and then donate more at that point. It is more rational, I believe, because the end results are quite similar (the same amount donated over the long term), but the personal risk (and the risk of not being able to make future donations) is greatly lessened.
I would call someone irrational if they risked a significant part of their potential future income (donations) to help ameliorate poverty, or help SIAI, immediately. Altruists need to look out for themselves.
If you are a consequentialist and decide that donating $10,000 to SIAI is a good idea, then you already believe the benefit of $10,000 of the SIAI’s work significantly exceeds the benefit of saving the life of a child in the developing world. So now, would you say it is obvious that being evicted is 33 times worse than letting a child die because they lack basic medical care? Would you have even a handful of children die so that you can keep your credit rating?
I don’t know. I am pretty unconvinced that the SIAI will this much good in the world, but I would not call someone irrational if they risked everything they had to help ameliorate abject poverty and I would not necessarily call someone irrational if they believed that working on AI was more important than saving or improving lives directly.
To answer your questions, I don’t think it’s obvious that being evicted is 33 times worse than letting a child die (ignoring that the original question was about $2700, not $10,000), but it might actually turn out to be the case, since if somebody is evicted and has their credit ruined (and by hypothesis has none of the oher safeguards), it’s quite possible that they will never recover, and thus will never be financially secure enough to make future donations of vastly more consequence than the difference between a large donation now and a large donation in 1 year (after they’ve established an emergency fund).
I think the question is really whether it’s rational to donate all your savings now (if you have no reliable way of handling the unexpected case of losing your income source). Doing so greatly increases the probability of a personal catastrophe that one might not properly recover from. A more rational alternative, I would submit, is to donate a smaller amount now, while continuing to save until you have a sufficient emergency fund, and then donate more at that point. It is more rational, I believe, because the end results are quite similar (the same amount donated over the long term), but the personal risk (and the risk of not being able to make future donations) is greatly lessened.
I would call someone irrational if they risked a significant part of their potential future income (donations) to help ameliorate poverty, or help SIAI, immediately. Altruists need to look out for themselves.