[Effective Altruism #2] How is it effective?
Hi STEEMIT!
Today, let’s take a look at what “effective” in effective altruism means!
In most areas of life, we understand that it’s important to base our decisions on evidence and reason rather than guesswork or gut instinct. For example, when you buy a new phone, you probably look at a lot of consumer reviews. Certainly, you won’t buy a phone that costs 1,000 times more than an identical one.
However, we’ve actually not been utilizing this kind of evidence-based reasoning when it comes to solving more important issues.
(Source: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/sites/givingwhatwecan.org/files/attachments/moral_imperative.pdf)
This chart is from Dr. Toby Ord’s essay, showing the number of years of healthy life (measured in DALYs) you can save by donating $1,000 to a particular intervention. Investing $1,000 in surgical treatment for Kaposi’s Sarcoma has a small relative impact and cannot be seen on this chart. Comparatively, educating high-risk groups is estimated to save 1,400 times more DALYs compared to the first method.
When tackling global issues, although some may lack solid data, some experts claim certain strategies are more effective than others. By comparing such data, can we participate and support the most effective cause, such as helping the most people?
Of course, supporting a cause dear to your heart is important- but similar to when we buy a new phone, maybe it’s also important to compare and see which one is the most cost-efficient. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
The story continues…
Sources & References:
https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/sites/givingwhatwecan.org/files/attachments/moral_imperative.pdf
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/metrics_daly/en/
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