Blog #2

Upon reading the article a second time in conjunction with annotations, I do not know if my overall opinion on not really liking the EAs mindset has changed. Don’t get me wrong, I applaud the Effective Altruists for being the change they want to see in the world, but what they ask for everyone to give is just madness. At my core, I must be a skeptical person. The website provided one thing I did like I will admit, facts. One of my gripes about the article was I wanted to actually see where all this money was going. I had assumptions about where it was going (most of which I assumed correctly), but still was never told before. Reading the EA’s website I couldn’t shake the feeling of this is what they want you to see and the article had a brief look on the inside.

Which brings me to my reread of the article afterward. I did feel as though I had more insight into the article. Both being able to sympathize with the movement more and simultaneously pulling away. I still stick beside the main idea before where someone should only give an amount that they can comfortably do. In today’s world that 10% even for all employed people is absurd in today’s world in the USA. The cost of living is increasing, inflation is increasing, student loans are increasing, healthcare is increasing, and wages are not keeping up with inflation. On the website itself, it linked a breakdown of the average household saves or pays debts with 8% of what they pull in. The EA wants to take your rainy day nest egg, ability to pay loans, or retirement then take away what makes you happy. They can stay away.

Decoding the text was helpful in a way. Taking a deeper look at the text and making sure you understand everything is nice. There was one word in the article that I was fairly sure I knew, but I didn’t know if I had a firm grasp on it. The word was ‘utilitarianism.’ Merriam-Webster defines it as:

 a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences; specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utilitarianism)

I had the idea was to do the most amount of good as you can, but it goes a little deeper. It is more about weighing the options of what you can do, then picking the solution that can affect the most people possible positively.