181–190 of 193 posts
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At least they could acknowledge that they're going abroad to help themselves, rather than the beneficiaries of their "charity."
Nothing is altruistic. I'm not sure why you're picking on these guys in particular.
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Nothing is altruistic. I'm not sure why you're picking on these guys in particular.
I'm not "picking on" anyone. I'm just reflecting that it would be refreshing if the subjects of this discussion would express some self-awareness. It's hardly surprising that they aren't.
Maybe my anecdote goes against the norm?
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The post above said, "to be net harmful, the marginal employee would need to be causing the death of a hundred people each year" and you accepted this as a "back of the napkin calculation". So it certainly appeared as though you were justifying violence, as long as you could pay the wergild (outsourced to Africa, as it's cheaper). If violence isn't justified by this, and neither is theft, then I've no idea what actio…
That is a very good point, and it made me realize that I was automatically translating the original statement to something other than what the literal words say. My internal translation of the statement that you quote would be "to be net harmful, the marginal employee would need to be causing [an equivalent level of harm expressed in QALYs as killing 100 people] per year", which is different in a subtle way. Specific…
It still suggests that, something like a 70% retroactive tax on bonuses over $10,000 going back 5 years, would be a net good if the money was spent improving people's lives. Yet I think most people would find such a proposal objectionable, despite its legality.
I talked about this on HN a few years ago, but my friends and I planned to be this guy. In college we talked about all the money we'd make and how much we'd be able to donate. We all had a job offers for $32 - 42k/year. That was amazing! We were living on less than $1k/month in college. We had plans to give away 20%, 30%, or 50% of our income. We would barely even notice. Some of us even managed to do it for a few ye…
You neatly summarized something I have been thinking about lately.
My wife and I are "digital nomads". We work on our laptops while traveling the world. Been at it since late 2011 and we spend a lot of time in places like Thailand where nomads tend to congregate, the vast majority of which cobble together a living through various entrepreneurial ventures rather than traditional employment.
At the moment we are back home visiting family and friends. "Constant friction" is pretty accurate. Not meaning arguments necessarily but constant little cultural differences, differences in how we see the world that can become contentious as ideas about how things should be done inform everything we do.
Meanwhile if you remove yourself to a community of similar people all of those little points of friction go away. Its pleasant if a little group-thinky.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a very good point, and it made me realize that I was automatically translating the original statement to something other than what the literal words say. My internal translation of the statement that you quote would be "to be net harmful, the marginal employee would need to be causing [an equivalent level of harm expressed in QALYs as killing 100 people] per year", which is different in a subtle way. Specific…
It does. Though I'm not convinced that it's particularly useful to have such a concept as "an equivalent level of harm expressed in QALYs as killing 100 people" when it's not really that at all. It still suggests that, something like a 70% retroactive tax on bonuses over $10,000 going back 5 years, would be a net good if the money was spent improving people's lives. Yet I think most people would find such a proposal…
For those interested, one way to build this charitable muscle and lifestyle is to start a charitable trust (at least in the US). It's not just for the ultra wealthy. You can start any old investment account and commit to funding it regularly say $20/month or 1% of your salary to start. Then when you hit $5k or more you can transfer those funds to a trust you create with say Fidelity or Vanguard ($25k minimum). You ca…
I'm interested in this approach - is there any charge to create the trust? Also, I wish the minimum for Vanguard was lower - I already have an investment account with them, and this seems like a great way to get started.
It starts at .6% per year, and decreases when the account size is huge.
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You and your family live in the rest of the world. It's not just altruistic, it's also rational for your own self interests. It's not mutually exclusive: That's a false dichotomy. If you can't care about your community enough to donate something , then I think your values may need reexamining. Even if that something is donation of old clothes and used items instead of throwing everything away. And finally, it's not a…
Logic doesn't apply in this case. If I donate money I am acting against logic. My self interest benefits more if I use the money for myself rather then giving it away and getting the benefits in a form that is heavily diluted. It is the aggregate donations of people that can, in the end mutually benefit my self interest. However my individual donation is just a drop in the bucket; I stand to benefit the most by not d…
The money he earns has to come from somewhere - what benefits a hedge fund is not likely to benefit the 'disposable populations' [for lack of a better term] that one of the fund's traders is supporting. In other words, if your hedge fund makes money by betting against the 3rd World, then half of your salary is only going to go so far for karmic rebalancing.
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But then maybe wanting someone else to use their money efficiently is selfish of us when they might rather develop as people by observing and empathizing with the struggles of others.
If observing and empathizing are the goals of the trip, and everyone is clear about that, then all is fine and good. However, these sorts of trips are generally understood to have the goal of helping people directly, which they are not actually good at. Anecdotally, I find that these sorts of stories generally go "we helped them so much" rather than "I learned so much and will now donate more than I would have otherw…
Why does it have to be so explicit? My observations align with yours in regards to how these trips are marketed (if I can use the term) and how most people I know who have done them describe the experience. But I have another anecdote, one which describes why I don't want to hold my speculations or "understanding of the world" in too high esteem:
I know at least one person who was so sheltered that the big realizations on her trip (a "mission" trip as it were so) were that: not all children are born in fancy suites with a host of doctors tending to every need; you can't get processed American lunches out in the middle of the desert; "kids are literally hungry because they don't have enough food". Hearing this was equal parts astonishing and enraging and yet it made me check my own entitlement as well. Why should I want to attack her motivations? Why should I challenge her because the "result" wasn't "good enough", i.e. she didn't suddenly become enlightened as to what it was like to live in such a situation, instead she merely realized that she had a desire to care about the issue and support others who care as well (see: cash donations)? Any minute I could have said obviously, there are people in terrible situations all over the world and it would have done nothing because I already thought it. There will always be "those kinds" of people; we don't want to be them, but they also don't want to be us. The truth is that even if her interests end up being entirely selfish, she'll probably have more of an impact on those things than I ever will. I can appreciate that, even if it's not efficient, altruistic, or whatever. It's frustrating, but not terrible.