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Conversations with tyler is produced by the mercatus center at george mason university, bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. For a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful lenks, visit conversations with tyler dot com. To day i'm here with will macaskill, who is one of the most important and influential philosophers period. august teenth is the publication date of his new book, what we owe the future.

When Tyler is reviewing grants for Emergent Ventures, he is struck by how the ideas of effective altruism have so clearly influenced many of the smartest applicants, particularly the younger ones. And William MacAskill, whom Tyler considers one of the world’s most influential philosophers, is a leading light of the community.

William joined Tyler to discuss why the movement has gained so much traction and more, including his favorite inefficient charity, what form of utilitarianism should apply to the care of animals, the limits of expected value, whether effective altruists should be anti-abortion, whether he would side with aliens over humans, whether he should give up having kids, why donating to a university isn’t so bad, whether we are living in “hingey” times, why buildering is overrated, the sociology of the effective altruism movement, why cultural innovation matters, and whether starting a new university might be next on his slate.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded July 7th, 2022 Other ways to connect

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