1: THIS IS NOT INVESTING. If there is no profit, if there is no business or outcome you’re specifically getting paid to achieve, you have no guarantee of making the world better in any concrete way. When you invest in a factory, and that allows the factory to buy a new widget-maker which increases profits and pays you dividends, you are causally and concretely part of making the world a better place. When you give money to a hobo, no matter how sympathetic he looks or how convincing his cardboard sign is, maybe he’s increasing his quality of life for the next 10 minutes by buying a sandwich, but he’s NOT decreasing worldsuck in any systematic way.
“so just go ahead and solve all of them.” This is moronic. Paying for bednets in Africa, the most obvious EA QALY maximizing frontrunner or whatever, has no impact on mercury in Lake Michigan! You have to pick and choose what you do because you CAN’T do everything.
One could perhaps argue that it helps stabilizing the world which can be beneficial for yourself with small probability (which would be sort of an investment) or beneficial for your children with slightly greater probability (which would be sort of an investment with offspring empathy reward as a strong proxy).
How do you know that it helps stabilize the world? This is a trick question: You have no idea. You just think and hope that it does! This is why it’s not INVESTING. You’re comparing putting money into a quantifiable profitable enterprise with putting money into a dream.
How do you know it’s beneficial to your children? You know what’s REALLY beneficial to your children? Paying for them to have access to good healthcare and living in an expensive neighborhood.
a couple of obvious problems with this worldview
1: THIS IS NOT INVESTING. If there is no profit, if there is no business or outcome you’re specifically getting paid to achieve, you have no guarantee of making the world better in any concrete way. When you invest in a factory, and that allows the factory to buy a new widget-maker which increases profits and pays you dividends, you are causally and concretely part of making the world a better place. When you give money to a hobo, no matter how sympathetic he looks or how convincing his cardboard sign is, maybe he’s increasing his quality of life for the next 10 minutes by buying a sandwich, but he’s NOT decreasing worldsuck in any systematic way.
“so just go ahead and solve all of them.” This is moronic. Paying for bednets in Africa, the most obvious EA QALY maximizing frontrunner or whatever, has no impact on mercury in Lake Michigan! You have to pick and choose what you do because you CAN’T do everything.
One could perhaps argue that it helps stabilizing the world which can be beneficial for yourself with small probability (which would be sort of an investment) or beneficial for your children with slightly greater probability (which would be sort of an investment with offspring empathy reward as a strong proxy).
How do you know that it helps stabilize the world? This is a trick question: You have no idea. You just think and hope that it does! This is why it’s not INVESTING. You’re comparing putting money into a quantifiable profitable enterprise with putting money into a dream.
How do you know it’s beneficial to your children? You know what’s REALLY beneficial to your children? Paying for them to have access to good healthcare and living in an expensive neighborhood.