Realistically I’d probably wrap up my affairs and prepare my loved ones, but broadly I think the comparative advantage is in performing high-risk services. The first thought that came to mind is volunteering for useful dangerous experiments that need live human subjects, but there’s probably a lot of bureaucratic barriers there.
I wonder if there are any legally feasible high risk and helpful services that also pay really well...
I’m not limiting myself to ” high-risk activities that pay well”, I’m limiting myself to “legally feasible high risk and helpful services that also pay really well” ;)
The “helpful” is the goal, the rest are instrumental. I think most stuff leading to morally good outcomes is legal. Even illegal stuff which might be good if only it were legal turns out bad simply due to the practical realities of illegal operations.
Out of curiosity, can you name any such activities? The first thing I thought of was donating your organs (whichever ones were healthy enough to donate). Especially if you could arrange to have them all taken at once when you die, and then put the money into a college fund for your kids or whatever.
To be honest, if I’d know one of my parent’s kidneys had gone into paying for my chemistry class, I probably would have attended more.
For “high paying” I guess it depends on how much your earning potential at your current job is. Off the top of my head, there’s a few dangerous but very high-paying blue collar jobs—Crab fisherman, oil rig worker, and the like. Working with carcinogens and radiation is also a go, as mentioned elsewhere, though I’m not sure about compensation there. For “social good”, Terminally ill patients are at least eligible to volunteer to test drugs for their particular illness.
I’m still in the “spend time with your loved ones and help them come to terms with it” camp though.
Realistically I’d probably wrap up my affairs and prepare my loved ones, but broadly I think the comparative advantage is in performing high-risk services. The first thought that came to mind is volunteering for useful dangerous experiments that need live human subjects, but there’s probably a lot of bureaucratic barriers there.
I wonder if there are any legally feasible high risk and helpful services that also pay really well...
If you’re looking for high-risk activities that pay well, why are you limiting yourself to legal options?
I’m not limiting myself to ” high-risk activities that pay well”, I’m limiting myself to “legally feasible high risk and helpful services that also pay really well” ;)
The “helpful” is the goal, the rest are instrumental. I think most stuff leading to morally good outcomes is legal. Even illegal stuff which might be good if only it were legal turns out bad simply due to the practical realities of illegal operations.
Out of curiosity, can you name any such activities? The first thing I thought of was donating your organs (whichever ones were healthy enough to donate). Especially if you could arrange to have them all taken at once when you die, and then put the money into a college fund for your kids or whatever.
To be honest, if I’d know one of my parent’s kidneys had gone into paying for my chemistry class, I probably would have attended more.
For “high paying” I guess it depends on how much your earning potential at your current job is. Off the top of my head, there’s a few dangerous but very high-paying blue collar jobs—Crab fisherman, oil rig worker, and the like. Working with carcinogens and radiation is also a go, as mentioned elsewhere, though I’m not sure about compensation there. For “social good”, Terminally ill patients are at least eligible to volunteer to test drugs for their particular illness.
I’m still in the “spend time with your loved ones and help them come to terms with it” camp though.