Summary
Overview
In this conversation marking the 10-year anniversary of the second edition of 'Doing Good Better,' Will MacAskill and Sam Harris explore the evolution of effective altruism, its core principles, and current challenges. They discuss the movement's resilience after controversies, the philosophical foundations of cause prioritization, tensions between quantifiable impact and harder-to-measure opportunities, and concerns about political tribalism affecting philanthropic priorities. The dialogue touches on global health, animal welfare, pandemic preparedness, and AI risk, while wrestling with questions about moral progress, the boundaries of ethical concern, and the opportunity costs of current political dysfunction.
EA's Resilience and Growth After FTX Collapse
MacAskill provides an update on effective altruism's state a decade after the book's original publication, revealing surprising resilience despite the FTX scandal. The movement has experienced substantial growth across multiple metrics, with donations to effective nonprofits approaching $2 billion annually—a 50% increase in the past year. Both large and small donors are contributing, and engagement through conferences and pledges continues to grow at 20-30% annually, demonstrating that the underlying ideas have maintained their momentum even through periods of intense controversy.
- The second edition features updated statistics and a new foreword responding to objections and reflecting on the past decade's growth
- Money moved to effective nonprofits grew 50% in the past year, approaching $2 billion annually
- Giving What We Can membership (10% income pledge) grew 20-30% year over year
- Growth is across both large and small donors, not just concentrated wealth
" It was like a huge knockback. But now if you're looking at influence of the ideas, you know, really what matters, then there's been enormous restoration of growth. "
" We're now up to 1200 10 pledges that have come from people who follow this podcast and over 30 million dollars of donations have moved so right we're talking about you know thousands of lives saved there "
Core EA Cause Areas: Global Health and Development
MacAskill outlines global health and development as the primary focus area where most EA philanthropic money flows, but confronts growing cynicism about foreign aid's effectiveness—particularly from Silicon Valley figures now aligned with Trump. He defends the evidence base for effective health interventions, citing that leading aid skeptics exempt global health from their criticisms. The most effective organizations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives at about $5,000 per life, compared to $50,000 to extend life by one year in the United States, creating a 10x differential in impact.
- Global health and development receives the majority of EA philanthropic funding
- Aid skeptics like Bill Easterly proactively exempt global health from their criticisms
- GiveWell-directed donations have saved over 340,000 lives at approximately $5,000 per life
- Saving a life costs about $5,000 in poor countries vs. $50,000 per year of life in the US
- The Lancet study estimates Elon's USAID dismantling could cause 14 million unnecessary deaths in five years, 4 million under age five
" Building companies can be a great way of improving the world. It's also true that much aid can be ineffective, even sometimes harmful. That is just not true for the most effective global health and development interventions, which have saved hundreds of millions of lives over the course of the last 50 years. "
" In the United States, giving someone an extra month of life for $5,000 or saving a child's life for $5,000 in a poorer country. "
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