I don’t think so. For example, follow these instructions:
Say you are a poor guy on a poor country
Say you luckily got a computer when you were a child
Say while you were studying AI, you found LW.
Say bad events happen to you/your family, and now you are in urgent need.
Now you can see, although most LW readers are not like this guy, this guy is among LW readers. My point is that we should financially support this guy, independently if he belongs to LW or not. I would say it is easy to help him and we have a reason to support him, and the fact he reads LW doesn’t change the facts on his life. Again, although not common, we should be prepared to detect and solve this kind of unfortunate situation. At least this is something I would do if I had enough resources to help.
My point is that we should financially support this guy, independently if he belongs to LW or not. I would say it is easy to help him and we have a reason to support him, and the fact he reads LW doesn’t change the facts on his life.
There’s plenty of EA thought about how to donate to help the global poor. The question here is about whether you believe that the donation to one individual is more or less impactful then a donation to a GiveWell recommended charity.
>If you were looking to maximize happiness points across the world, for example, you would gain more points helping those members in need.
Wouldn’t that only be true if we thought LW readers are the most needy across the world, or perhaps most easily helped?
I don’t think so. For example, follow these instructions:
Say you are a poor guy on a poor country
Say you luckily got a computer when you were a child
Say while you were studying AI, you found LW.
Say bad events happen to you/your family, and now you are in urgent need.
Now you can see, although most LW readers are not like this guy, this guy is among LW readers. My point is that we should financially support this guy, independently if he belongs to LW or not. I would say it is easy to help him and we have a reason to support him, and the fact he reads LW doesn’t change the facts on his life. Again, although not common, we should be prepared to detect and solve this kind of unfortunate situation. At least this is something I would do if I had enough resources to help.
There’s plenty of EA thought about how to donate to help the global poor. The question here is about whether you believe that the donation to one individual is more or less impactful then a donation to a GiveWell recommended charity.