Effective Altruism (1)

A word that stuck out to me was “replaceability” which occurred several times throughout the text. It is a core concept of the EAs and they explain it as “The idea is that the only good that counts is what you accomplish over and above what the next person would have done in your place.” I agree with this statement but I see it in a “fighting for power” sense. It’s as if, if you do any good, it has to go above and beyond the person next to you or it doesn’t count. Which I find highly unlikely because if you are in the EA, helping starving children, any good you do makes a mark, big or small. So this stunned me because they are essentially recruiting power-hungry people who want to stomp on their opponents. Also, I really thought about this quote that was mentioned. It says, “If you discovered that someone else had independently come up with a project idea that you’d also had, but they produced and distributed their work first, would you be upset? Or would you be thrilled that this vitally important stuff was out there, altering perspectives and making everything better in a real, quantifiable way– even though it wouldn’t increase your social status?” I think this quote really highlights selfishness and how we can easily become selfish when someone takes your once brilliant idea. When in reality, we should be satisfied either way with the thought that this idea benefited the cause and it doesn’t matter where it came from. It’s difficult to not let social status get to our heads. We want to hold our social status above everything, we never want to go unnoticed for something we created. But this quote made me realize that even if the opposing person did have the same idea or even stole the idea, we shouldn’t think about how we’re not getting rewarded because the real reward is the idea being put into practice.

One Comment

  1. elishaemerson

    Hannah,

    You have picked up on the really important idea or replaceability and responded to it so thoughtfully. Your sentence, “It’s difficult to not let social status get to our heads,” may seem simple, but when you apply this thinking to the EA methodology and art–separately– you get very interesting results. Keep up the good work! 3/3

    You’ve also done a great job with your Establish your Blog Assignment. Your space looks fantastic. I enjoyed reading your About Me page. I, too, like to buy unnecessary plants. Though frivolous, they can feel, sometimes, at least, very necessary. They are life, no? 5/5

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