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--:-- Noelle King: Welcome to Today Explained. I'm Noelle King.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Noelle King: Today, we're talking about a movement that's been gaining traction in the world of philanthropy. It's called effective altruism, and it's all about making charity more effective. Dylan Matthews is a senior correspondent at Vox, and he's been following this movement closely.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: So, effective altruism is a life philosophy slash social movement that emerged about 10 years ago from a group of philosophers based around Oxford. And the basic premise is that people could be doing a lot more to help others and make the world a better place than they are, and that they should try to do that in as cost-effective and efficient a way as they can.
--:-- Noelle King: That sounds pretty old school, but you're saying there are some new things. Tell me about one thing that makes effective altruism or EA different.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: The most important one, I think, was the focus on effectiveness and the idea that there were huge differences between the most and least effective thing you could do with your money. When I was raised in my church and I was in a fairly liberal Episcopal congregation, we were never like crunching the numbers and saying, well, we could do this thing on hunger in our community or we could do this thing on homelessness, but this would get this many people housed, this would get this many people fed.
--:-- Noelle King: That's a great example. So, this question about how best to give is something that you've thought about a lot. And you've even founded an organization to address this issue.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Yes, I founded Giving What We Can, which is an organization that's dedicated to promoting effective giving. And we've been working to help people make more informed decisions about their charitable donations.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really interesting. So, how does this movement actually work? How do people get involved?
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Well, there are a few different ways to get involved. One way is to take the Giving What We Can pledge, which is a pledge to give 10% of your income to highly effective charities. And there are also a number of organizations that are working to promote effective giving and provide resources and support to people who are trying to make a positive impact.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really cool. Now, I want to talk about some of the big players in this movement. There are a few billionaires who have been really influential in shaping the direction of effective altruism.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Yes, that's right. There are a few billionaires who have been really influential in this movement. One of them is Dustin Moskovitz, who is the co-founder of Facebook and the founder of Asana. He and his wife, Cari Tuna, have been really generous donors to the effective altruism movement.
--:-- Noelle King: And what about Sam Bankman-Fried? He's another big player in this movement.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Yes, Sam Bankman-Fried is a really interesting figure. He's the founder of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, and he's been really generous with his donations to the effective altruism movement. He's actually one of the biggest donors to the movement.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really interesting. Now, I want to talk about the future. Effective altruism is not just about making a positive impact in the present day, but also about thinking about the long-term consequences of our actions.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: That's right. One of the big intellectual shifts that's happened within EA is away from near-termism and toward long-termism. We're thinking about the long-term future of the world and how we can make a positive impact on that.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really interesting. So, what does this mean in practice? How do people think about the long-term future of the world?
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Well, one way to think about it is to consider the fact that humans are a pretty young species. We've only been around for about 200,000 to 300,000 years, and yet we're already thinking about the long-term future of the world. We're thinking about the fact that the vast majority of people who will ever live will live in the future.
--:-- Noelle King: That's a really interesting perspective. So, what are some of the things that people are thinking about in terms of the long-term future of the world?
--:-- Dylan Matthews: One of the things that people are thinking about is the potential for human extinction. We're thinking about the fact that there are a number of risks that could lead to human extinction, such as nuclear war, pandemics, and the development of advanced technologies that could be used for destructive purposes.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really sobering. So, what can we do to prevent human extinction?
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Well, one thing that people are thinking about is the development of advanced technologies that could be used to prevent human extinction. For example, we could develop technologies that would allow us to detect and prevent pandemics before they spread.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really interesting. So, what's the next step for effective altruism? Where do you see this movement going in the future?
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Well, I think one of the next steps for effective altruism is to continue to grow and expand its reach. We need to continue to educate people about the importance of effective giving and provide resources and support to people who are trying to make a positive impact.
--:-- Noelle King: That's really great to hear. Well, thank you, Dylan, for joining us on the show today.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Noelle King: That's it for today's show. Thanks for listening to Today Explained. If you want to learn more about effective altruism, check out our show notes for links to resources and further reading.
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