I wrote an essay for @nytimes.com Ideas about how people decide where to give away money and how the tech industry's obsession with optimization filtered into so many parts of our culture. Here's a gift link www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/b... - ThreadSky

emmagoldberg.bsky.social • 187 days ago

I wrote an essay for @nytimes.com Ideas about how people decide where to give away money and how the tech industry's obsession with optimization filtered into so many parts of our culture. Here's a gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/charity-holiday-giving-optimized.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fk4.nep8.HbD9jvAftSqg&smid=url-share

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stephenerich.bsky.social•187 days ago

Yes. New York Subway rides more expensive than a taxi. That’s why New Yorkers get so good at ignoring each other. Without justice and equality, local giving is overwhelming. Easier to stick within your budget, give to a distant but logical cause, and take the moral license. But it numbs.

emmagoldberg.bsky.social•187 days ago

A piece of writing that really influenced me while working on this was @rachelmcohen.bsky.social beautiful essay on why she rethought the importance of volunteering, after years of being taught instead to focus only on systemic change. Highly recommend https://www.vox.com/culture/368201/volunteer-charity-donations-systemic-change-activism-nonprofits-loneliness-philanthropy

rachelmcohen.bsky.social•187 days ago

yours is a perfect stirring companion, I love it

suzannepritzker.bsky.social•187 days ago

📌

refrag.bsky.social•187 days ago

📌

emmagoldberg.bsky.social•187 days ago

Also, comments on the piece are open, and if you have thoughts in agreement or disagreement, come and share them! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/charity-holiday-giving-optimized.html#commentsContainer

phcoco.bsky.social•187 days ago

Give locally. Amazing how many small charities and nonprofits are working in communities providing needed services effectively and efficiently. They need your gifts of time and money. Strong communities build strong citizens.

ruckus.bsky.social•187 days ago

thoughtful piece. and any time Peter Singer gets some air time, things get interesting

kingteef.bsky.social•187 days ago

The New York Times supports apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

cissell.bsky.social•187 days ago

📌

mapp.bsky.social•187 days ago

Well said! I think some of this is just that a lot of these people are new to wealth and are easily influenced by each other about it (look at their boring expensive houses that are all alike.) But they also want big grand things to put their money toward and local "little" things bore them.

green496.bsky.social•187 days ago

I generally agree that the focus in charitable giving on total optimization is flawed. That being said, it’s still valuable to consider that some charities are simply better at what they do than others. After all, we should want our buck to go as far as possible.

green496.bsky.social•187 days ago

Unfortunately a huge problem for EA is that there isn’t a precise way to evaluate charity effectiveness. Even if you could use a single number to quantify that (eg, life-years saved), accurately computing that number is basically impossible.

eddingtonlimit.bsky.social•187 days ago

I think the same about government efficiency, it’s overrated. Fat in the budget is like oil for your car, you need lubrication to keep the engine from seizing.

stefanturk.bsky.social•187 days ago

Man such a good piece. Effective altruism was always a conceit for selfishness, an excuse *not* to give, but I've never seen it placed in its historical place, in opposition to other theories. So many nonprofits have to aim their programming at what gets funded, so many chronic needs are left alone.

premiumsteve.bsky.social•187 days ago

The simple answer is not to give your money to a charity that is more likely to spend the money on buildings for itself than actual real world projects to help actual real world humans

andyrowell.bsky.social•187 days ago

Welcome be to Bluesky!
Tip:
Click on your face to get to your profile. Then click "Edit Profile" at the top and put your name in the display name. Then people can find you by searching your name.

rickibobbi.bsky.social•187 days ago

Philanthropy doesn't really exist at the same level as in the US because they have working democracies, the large scale US charity system is anti democratic.

camasonian.bsky.social•187 days ago

Thoughtful piece. I was expecting you to go in a different direction and do the traditional look at charity budgets and how much gets spent on overhead versus programs.

This discussion strikes me a similar to the obsession with standardized testing in education. How you measure has consequences.

holeyhan.bsky.social•187 days ago

Great article!

Every other do-gooder friend who goes into big tech, high finance, big law, or management consulting (instead of original intents) dives in effective altruism as though to put a salve over their “guilt” or misaligned values & work.

holeyhan.bsky.social•187 days ago

The optimization of charity seems to only go after the lower-hanging fruits of goods because they are the efficient in the return on investment whereas the more difficult global commons & policy-oriented solutions have a far worse ROI.

It’s sad. This attacks the results but not the root causes.

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