Okay. The “effective”-part in Effective Altruism” refers to the tool (rationality). “Altruism” refers to the values. The cool thing about “Effective Altruism”, compared to rationality (like in LW or CFAR), is that it’s specific enough that it allows a community to work on relatively concrete problems. EA is mostly about the global poor, animal welfare, existential risk and a few others.
What I’d imagine “Effective self-care” would be about is such things as health, fitness, happiness, positive psychology, life-extension, etc. It wouldn’t be about “everything that isn’t covered by effective altruism”, as that’s too broad to be useful. Things like truth and beauty wouldn’t be valued (aside from their instrumental value) by either altruism nor self-care.
“Effective Egoism” sounds like the opposite of Effective Altruism. Like they are enemies. “Effective self-care” sounds like it complements Effective Altruism. You could argue that effective altruists should be interested in spreading effective self-care both amongst others since altruism is about making others better off, and amongst themselves because if you take good care for yourself you are in a better position to help others, and if you are efficient about it you have more resources to help others.
On the negative side, both terms might sound too medical. And self-care might sound too limited compared to what you might have in mind. For example,one might be under the impression that “self-care” is concerned with bringing happiness levels to “normal” or “average”, instead of super duper high.
effective altruists should be interested in spreading effective self-care both amongst others since altruism is about making others better off, and amongst themselves because if you take good care for yourself you are in a better position to help others, and if you are efficient about it you have more resources to help others.
Consider this line to have gotten an extra thumbs-up from me. :)
“Effective self-care” … “Effective Egoism”
The fact that you have highlit the differences between these two closely-related concepts, which I hadn’t managed to think through on my own, means this thread has been worthwhile whatever the result of the poll might be.
“Effective self-care” or “effective well-being”.
Okay. The “effective”-part in Effective Altruism” refers to the tool (rationality). “Altruism” refers to the values. The cool thing about “Effective Altruism”, compared to rationality (like in LW or CFAR), is that it’s specific enough that it allows a community to work on relatively concrete problems. EA is mostly about the global poor, animal welfare, existential risk and a few others.
What I’d imagine “Effective self-care” would be about is such things as health, fitness, happiness, positive psychology, life-extension, etc. It wouldn’t be about “everything that isn’t covered by effective altruism”, as that’s too broad to be useful. Things like truth and beauty wouldn’t be valued (aside from their instrumental value) by either altruism nor self-care.
“Effective Egoism” sounds like the opposite of Effective Altruism. Like they are enemies. “Effective self-care” sounds like it complements Effective Altruism. You could argue that effective altruists should be interested in spreading effective self-care both amongst others since altruism is about making others better off, and amongst themselves because if you take good care for yourself you are in a better position to help others, and if you are efficient about it you have more resources to help others.
On the negative side, both terms might sound too medical. And self-care might sound too limited compared to what you might have in mind. For example,one might be under the impression that “self-care” is concerned with bringing happiness levels to “normal” or “average”, instead of super duper high.
Consider this line to have gotten an extra thumbs-up from me. :)
The fact that you have highlit the differences between these two closely-related concepts, which I hadn’t managed to think through on my own, means this thread has been worthwhile whatever the result of the poll might be.