William MacAskill, a key advocate for effective altruism and philosopher, shares compelling insights into the movement's rise among younger generations. He challenges conventional charity approaches, revealing his favorite inefficient charity. The discussion dives into moral dilemmas, such as utilitarianism's implications for animal care and the ethics of procreation. MacAskill also reflects on societal progress and explores ideas for cultural innovation, including the possibility of starting a new university. His thoughts provoke deep questions about altruism, existence, and our responsibility to future generations.
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Anachronistic Charity
Will MacAskill loves the inefficient charity, Scott’s Care, for helping poor Scots in London.
Its mission, established 400 years ago, now seems absurd due to London's affluence.
insights INSIGHT
MacAskill's Moral Stance
MacAskill considers himself neither a pluralist nor a strict utilitarian.
He believes in a probabilistic combination of moral views, resulting in a pluralistic approach.
insights INSIGHT
Assessing Animal Well-being
Preference utilitarianism makes the world seem better than hedonistic utilitarianism because beings want to live.
Hedonism focuses on conscious experiences, making animal well-being unclear.
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In this book, William MacAskill advocates for longtermism, the idea that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority. He argues that future people count, there could be many of them, and we can make their lives better. MacAskill discusses various threats to humanity, including climate change, AI misalignment, and pandemics, and proposes strategies to ensure civilization's survival and improve its trajectory. The book explores moral and philosophical issues surrounding longtermism, including the risks of human extinction, civilizational collapse, and technological stagnation, while offering a measured optimism about the future's potential for human flourishing[1][5][4].
What We Owe the Future
William MacAskill
In this book, William MacAskill advocates for longtermism, the idea that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority. He argues that future people count, there could be many of them, and we can make their lives better. MacAskill discusses various threats to humanity, including climate change, AI misalignment, and pandemics, and proposes strategies to ensure civilization's survival and improve its trajectory. The book explores moral and philosophical issues surrounding longtermism, including the risks of human extinction, civilizational collapse, and technological stagnation, while offering a measured optimism about the future's potential for human flourishing[1][5][4].
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.
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