Reflective altruism
I’m a philosopher at Vanderbilt University (views my own). The purpose of this blog is to use academic research to drive positive change within and around the effective altruism movement. Discussions are long-form and structured around thematic series. Subscribe below for biweekly posts.
Home | Start Here | About Me | Navigation | Comment Policy | Stay in Touch
-
Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils (Part 4: Space)
Parts 1-3 of this series suggested that the best way to reconcile Existential Risk Pessimism with the Astronomical Value Thesis is through the Time of Perils Hypothesis. But should we believe the Time of Perils Hypothesis? One argument that is often made for the Time of Perils Hypothesis appeals to space settlement. Let’s look more…
-
Billionaire philanthropy (Part 1: Introduction)
What is the role of billionaire philanthropists within effective altruism and within society? What should that role be? In this series, I ask what drives billionaire philanthropists, how they are taxed and regulated, and what sorts of influence they should be allowed to wield within a democratic society.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 2: Ord on climate risk)
Toby Ord predicts a one in a thousand chance that climate change will lead by 2100 to irreversible existential catastrophe. But what does the evidence say? Here we begin to get a different story.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 1: Introduction)
Many effective altruists think that humanity faces high levels of existential risk. In this series, I look at some places where the risks may have been exaggerated.
-
Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils (Part 3: The time of perils)
In Part 2 of this series, we looked at failed ways out of the tension between Existential Risk Pessimism and the Astronomical Value Thesis. Now let’s introduce a hypothesis that might resolve the tension.
-
Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils (Part 2: Failed solutions)
In Part 1 of this series, we saw how the Pessimistic view that existential risk is high might come into conflict with the Astronomical Value Thesis that it’s very important to mitigate existential risk. It turns out that this conflict is robust to many ways of challenging the initial argument.
-
Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils (Part 1: The problem)
Suppose that humanity faces very high levels of existential risk. Surely that means we should do more to mitigate existential risk, right? Surprisingly, the opposite is true.
-
A note about methodology
I have an awful lot in common with many effective altruists. We begin in similar places, but end up quite far apart.
-
What I like about effective altruism
I don’t hate everything about effective altruism. In fact, there are ten things about the movement that I admire a great deal.
