Like many here, I want to support effective altruist (EA) causes—by giving money, buying ethical products, voting, et cetera.
But nowadays the world appears to be more full of misinformation than ever. This seems to be a problem when I want to choose EA causes to support. I have trouble figuring out what I can do about this. How am I supposed to verify that a particular person or organization is both honest and competent, and that I am not merely getting manipulated?
I asked a related question some months ago: Supposing that the “Dead Internet Theory” is true or largely true, how can we act on that information? The responses I got very not very helpful. They mostly boiled down to “yes, you have to be careful”. That is not particularly actionable. If I take that to heart, it will mostly just lead to analysis paralysis and apathetic inaction. But more likely I just won’t take it to heart because it is too much work.
Does anyone have more actionable advice? What do you do when choosing EA causes, and how do you “vet” them?
[Question] How to account for misinformation when looking for effective altruist causes?
Like many here, I want to support effective altruist (EA) causes—by giving money, buying ethical products, voting, et cetera.
But nowadays the world appears to be more full of misinformation than ever. This seems to be a problem when I want to choose EA causes to support. I have trouble figuring out what I can do about this. How am I supposed to verify that a particular person or organization is both honest and competent, and that I am not merely getting manipulated?
I asked a related question some months ago: Supposing that the “Dead Internet Theory” is true or largely true, how can we act on that information? The responses I got very not very helpful. They mostly boiled down to “yes, you have to be careful”. That is not particularly actionable. If I take that to heart, it will mostly just lead to analysis paralysis and apathetic inaction. But more likely I just won’t take it to heart because it is too much work.
Does anyone have more actionable advice? What do you do when choosing EA causes, and how do you “vet” them?