Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content cover image

#292 - How Much Does the Future Matter?

Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

00:00

The Novelty of Effect of Altruism

In the definition of effect of altruism, one could be forgiven for wondering what is novel about simply wanting to do as much good as one can. I actually think that mode of reasoning is somewhat unusual, and that's what's distinctive about effectism. In general, when people try to do good, they are looking at what causes have been made salient to them - where in my case, that was extreme poverty. But what I wasn't doing at the time was kind of taking a step back and thinking of all the things, all the many, many problems in the world.

Transcript
Play full episode

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app