To help save the world, you need to be rational. Mainly because it’s a really, really hard problem.
Being irrational doesn’t prevent one from stumbling upon some technique necessary for world-saving. It just doesn’t concentrate the likelihood of finding it in that direction. See for instance the irrationalist list, or Buckminster Fuller.
I’ll start with a quick clarification:
Yes, “saving the world” is deliberately vague. It will mean different things to different people.
Saving the world isn’t a yes/no thing. Some good outcomes can be better than others. Think of it as a rough utility function.
This doesn’t imply total altruism; you can want to save the world within the constraints that the rest of your life will allow.
To help save the world, you need to be rational. Mainly because it’s a really, really hard problem.
Being irrational doesn’t prevent one from stumbling upon some technique necessary for world-saving. It just doesn’t concentrate the likelihood of finding it in that direction. See for instance the irrationalist list, or Buckminster Fuller.