GiveWell is working to push social norms in the population as a whole in the direction of higher emphasis on effectiveness-oriented giving. The more success that GiveWell has in this respect, the stronger the correlation will be between “engaging in effectiveness-oriented giving” and “raising relative status” even for the average donor.
Yes, this is important. Michael Vassar is saying something like this in his post on far-mode; that far-mode types don’t have immediate success, but they tend to (very) slowly change the norm in a positive direction.
You could even summarize by saying that there’s no point in being rational about social problems, because no-one will listen to you now, and in 100 years’ time the overall social convention will have shifted, like a giant glacier of stupid slowly falling into the sea of sanity.
Yes, this is important. Michael Vassar is saying something like this in his post on far-mode; that far-mode types don’t have immediate success, but they tend to (very) slowly change the norm in a positive direction.
You could even summarize by saying that there’s no point in being rational about social problems, because no-one will listen to you now, and in 100 years’ time the overall social convention will have shifted, like a giant glacier of stupid slowly falling into the sea of sanity.