Want To Do The Most Good?Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

Co-Founder and President, Intentional InsightsTenure-Track Professor, The Ohio State University

Author, Find Your Purpose Using Science and other books

Decrease Global Suffering & Increase Global Flourishing

• Utilitarianism– Do most good for the

most number• Negative

Utilitarianism– Focus on reducing the

most suffering

The Power of Stories: Fulfill a Dying Child’s Wish!

• Would you grant one wish of every child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition?

• Albay wished to be a pirate treasure hunter

Or Save 17 Children from Death:Fulfill a Lifetime of Wishes!

• Make-A-Wish Foundation spends about $50K on one wish

• Against Malaria Foundation saves a life for under $3K

Most People Fall For Stories (the narrative fallacy)

• Only 3% research effectiveness of charity before donating

• To avoid falling for narrative fallacy– Apply the scientific

method to charity!

Quantifying Utility(also known as nerding out on doing good!)

• Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)– Both quality and

quantity of life lived– One QALY equates to

one year in perfect health.

Quantifying Effectiveness(even more nerding out on doing good!)

• Limited resources• Need to choose most

cost-effective interventions

• Divide QALYs by cost to get most cost-effective intervention

Effective Altruism

• Movement devoted to applying the scientific method to charity

• Quantifying QALYs and measuring cost-effectiveness

Who Do You Care About?

• People– “Your” people or all

people?• Animals

– “Your” animals or all animals?

• Future beings– Current or future

beings?

EA Meta-Charities: Current Human Beings

• GiveWell.org– In-depth reports and

rankings of global poverty• The Life You Can Save

– Impact calculator for global poverty

• Giving What We Can– 10% pledge community,

mainly global poverty

EA Meta-Charities: Current Non-Human Beings

• Animal Charity Evaluators– In-depth reports,

ranking, and advocacy for animal charities

• Sentience Politics– Animal advocacy

EA Meta-Charities: Future Beings and Existential Risk

• Future of Humanity Institute– Research on various existential

risks• Machine Intelligence Research

Institute– Research on Artificial Intelligence

risk• Center for Advanced Rationality

– Spreading rationality to social elites

• Intentional Insights– Spreading rationality to broad

audience and into politics

EA Meta-Charities:Movement-Building Organizations

• Center for Effective Altruism– Unites a variety of projects

• Effective Altruism Foundation– Unites a variety of projects

• Local Effective Altruism Network– Supporting local EA groups

• Students for High-Impact Charity– Spreads EA ideas to high school

and college students• Intentional Insights

– Spreads EA ideas to broad audience and provides support for EA marketing efforts

Promise of Better Tomorrow!

• Applying scientific method to doing good = maximize global flourishing and reducing global suffering

So Now You Know:What Will You Do?

• How will this knowledge change your actions?

• What steps will you take, if any, to support the project of making a better tomorrow through EA methods?

One Great Approach: Spread EA-themed Ideas!

• Convincing one other person who would do as much good as you in a lifetime = doing all the good yourself

• This is a key aspect of what Intentional Insights does

• Talk to me if you’re interested in promoting EA-themed ideas

Thank You!• PowerPoint of this presentation: slideshare.net/intentionalinsights• Free version of my science-based book, Find Your Purpose Using

Science: tinyurl.com/fypus2015 • Get in touch with me at gleb@intentionalinsights.org • Intentional Insights

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