Effective Altruism

The philosophy of effective altruism could really change the world. The essential idea is to apply the cold thinking and ambition we display when helping ourselves to, instead, helping others. Is the best way to help people in need the same for everyone? While some people's skills would be most helpful doing social work, others' might be better geared towards making loads of money and then donating it to effective charities. Sure, social work helps a lot. But what if the shrewdest Wall Street money moguls were to dedicate all of their savoir-faire to earning money for the hopelessly poor, instead of simply increasing their already massive net worth? That would constitute much more of an effective change than if they were to volunteer at a soup kitchen, however noble their sentiment.

This developing field of moral philosophy has been championed by Princeton Professor Peter Singer, and it has really caught my eye. It makes sense that were the most competitive spirits in the world to put themselves in the service of the world, it could really effect huge change. This TED talk that he gave really inspired me (though the way he sold the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a big Princeton donor, slightly put me off, even though it was to prove a point).

As I, in typical millennial fashion, seek a purpose in life, discovering this philosophy comes as a great boon. What better purpose is there to life than servicing those in need, in the most efficient way possible?

Yesterday I rediscovered freerice, and have been enjoying myself learning words like "addlepated" and "tyro," all while donating rice by simply looking at ads. It's a great idea, one that I feel would work well with other simple games.