Viewing profile — willmacaskill

I'm glad to hear this! We want to encourage people to incorporate EA into their life as much as they feel comfortable with, and everyone's circumstances are different. And note you…

I think that's exactly wrong, I'm afraid. In traditional charity, the incentives that charities have are to do whatever is going to fundraise the most. So the charities that get bi…

Thanks for the enthusiasm! I think a lot of your questions can be answered here (including the other pages that these pages link to): http://www.openphilanthropy.org/research/our-p…

Re: bizarro candidate? Yes, certainly. (as long as they're actually going to be much better for the world and your donation will make a difference). Lower probability of larger ups…

Some general comments I have on the article (which I thought in general was very good): - At 80,000 Hours (the social impact career advice service I cofounded) we don't advise that…

I think that's a really important concern. At 80,000 Hours when we encourage people to earn to give we ensure they're embedded in the effective altruism community, take things like…

I think that startups where the users are principally people in poor countries is a very promising area for socially minded people to work in. Startups usually (but not always) gen…

Hi Derek! Nice to see you here!| I actually already think that earning to give isn't the best path for most altruistic people who would be willing to work anywhere. This is a chang…

Hey - I'm the guy described in the post - if anyone wants to ask me about anything to do with effective altruism, 80,000 Hours, Giving What We Can, GiveWell (which I didn't cofound…

Yeah, I seem to recall that the US gives a similar % of income as other countries once you subtract out donations to churches and to universities, which are both a much bigger thin…

That's great! (I'm guessing I probably know you, but can't tell who you are). I'm hoping to donate >50% too; I've been donating about 10% but I've been on a low salary; next year I…

I know; his brother actually just gave up and started introducing himself as "Wage" (pronounced as you'd think) rather than "WAG-ee"

I agree volunteering abroad can be a great way to experience first-hand some of the problems in the world, which can lead you to do much more in your life than you would otherwise.…

I agree it's important to think about; and that morally you can't just take benefits - harms = net good. It's reasonable at least to be more morally concerned about avoiding harm t…

I and 80,000 Hours take really seriously the harm you might do through your work. I'd feel very uncomfortable to say the least to recommend that someone work in Big Tobacco in orde…

I think this is a really important concern. Btw, 5% is still quite a bit more than the average, so good work! We're attempting to overcome this worry through community and behaviou…

This is a really tricky issue; there are lots of competing considerations either way. (e.g. the return you get from your money; but your donated money also generates a 'social retu…

That's not true. There are hundreds of thousands of different aid project, it would be miraculous if all were entirely ineffective. E.g. you'd have to be crazily skeptical to sugge…

What I find most amazing is when bright Ivy League graduates go and do manual labour, like building a school, in a poor country with massive unemployment. It's not exactly playing …

Matt is a friend of mine, and someone who got career advice from what ultimately became 80,000 Hours, a startup non-profit I cofounded. I'm really happy to see the positive respons…