{"id":11208,"date":"2015-03-05T15:36:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T20:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=11208"},"modified":"2015-03-05T15:36:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T20:36:35","slug":"effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html","title":{"rendered":"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"(from<\/a>
(from Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists\u2019 writeup of my visit<\/a> (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here<\/a>). \u00a0Today, Slate Star Codex has a post up that\u2019s a nice encapsulation of my discomfort with the more totalizing part of EA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Peter Singer talks about widening circles of concern. First you move from total selfishness to an understanding that your friends and family are people just like you and need to be treated with respect and understanding. Then you go from just your friends and family to everyone in your community. Then you go from just your community to all humanity. Then you go from just humanity to all animals.<\/p>\n

By the time most people figure out what they\u2019re doing they already accept at least friends, family, and community. But going from \u201cjust my community\u201d to \u201calso foreigners\u201d is a difficult step that\u2019s kind of at the heart of the effective altruism movement. In the same way that allowing animals into the circle of concern totally pushes out the value of all humans, allowing starving Third World people into the circle of concern totally pushes out most First World charities like art museums and school music programs and holiday food drives. This is a scary discovery and most people shy away from it. Effective altruists are the people who are selected for not having shied away from it. So why shy away from doing the same with animals?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good question. After thinking about it for a while, I think my answer is that I never actually completed the process of widening my circles of concern and neither has anybody else, and because I\u2019m thinking about this one in an abstract intellectual way I\u2019m imagining actually completing it, which would be much scarier than the incomplete things I\u2019ve done before.<\/p>\n

Like, although I acknowledge my friends and family as important people whom I should try to help, in reality I don\u2019t treat them as quite<\/em> as important as myself. If my brother asked me for money, I\u2019d lend it to him, but I wouldn\u2019t give him exactly half my money no-strings-attached on the grounds that he is exactly as important to me as I am.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last night, I did something that doesn\u2019t<\/i> fit into this kind of EA framework. \u00a0I made cookies, some of which my roommates and I (and my building\u2019s doorperson) ate, and the rest of which are in the mail to a friend. \u00a0To make them, I consumed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Time \u2014 two episodes of\u00a0Bones\u00a0<\/em>worth (plus stoppage time) which I could have converted into money by doing SAT tutoring instead<\/li>\n
  2. Money \u2014 in the form of groceries spending<\/li>\n
  3. Money \u2014 in the form of postage<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Plausibly, especially if I imagine I could have been doing SAT tutoring, I \u201cspent\u201d at least $100 on the cookies last night \u2014 a full third of what I donated last year in our vaccination\/donation drive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    I don\u2019t feel very bad about it, for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s the budgeting<\/strong> reason \u2014 I spent cookie time from my budget not of work time, but of leisure time, and I\u2019m\u00a0never<\/em>\u00a0going to allocate that time to money-producing tasks, whether because I\u2019m lazy\/selfish or because if I ran the numbers, I\u2019d be\u00a0less<\/em> effective at earning money with less leisure time. \u00a0This isn\u2019t my real reason, though \u2014 if I cared primarily about converting my time into bednets, I\u2019d be a programmer.<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s the bulwark against scrupulosity cycles<\/strong> reason \u2014 It\u2019s better to stick a level of donation\/do-gooding that you can actually\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>(occasionally adjusting as your capacity changes) than one that you can\u2019t sustain and will mire you in self-loathing, unable to act. \u00a0Also not my actual reason \u2014 scrupulosity isn\u2019t a big anxiety trigger for me, I\u2019m more of a starfish on the seashore gal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Here, I care more about\u00a0the need for particularized love<\/strong>. \u00a0There are things we need simply because we\u2019re humans (inoculation against disease, etc) that can come from\u00a0anyone<\/em>. \u00a0Then there are things we want from someone who wants to give them to us particularly<\/i> (your friend sitting with you while you\u2019re sick, as opposed to just being supervised). \u00a0See here Eve\u2019s post about the longing to come first for someone<\/a>. \u00a0 That kind of service isn\u2019t fungible the way that money is, and it can\u2019t be offered to a stranger who remains a stranger. \u00a0I want to offer both this kind of help and the more generic (but desperately needed!) help that groups like GiveWell promote.<\/p>\n

    I also care about offering an icon of the world I want to build<\/strong>. \u00a0On the day that malaria joins smallpox and rinderpest in the graveyard of eradicated diseases, I\u2019ll be happy, but not satisfied. \u00a0I want people to have freedom\u00a0from<\/em>\u00a0disease and crippling poverty so they have more freedom to<\/i>\u00a0live with and for others. \u00a0I want to put some, but not all of my resources to building up the lower levels of Maslow\u2019s hierarchy<\/a>, but\u00a0I want to reserve something to build up and live the kind of life I want people to have.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists\u2019 writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here). \u00a0Today, Slate Star Codex has a post up that\u2019s a nice encapsulation of my discomfort with the more totalizing part of EA. Peter Singer talks about widening circles of concern. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":11214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morality-in-practice"],"yoast_head":"\nEffective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2015\/03\/Chocolate_Chip_Cookies.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html\",\"name\":\"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies","description":"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies","og_description":"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":425,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2015\/03\/Chocolate_Chip_Cookies.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html","name":"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-05T20:36:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"Earlier this week, I linked to the Yale Effective Altruists' writeup of my visit (my radio program on Effective Altruism and Christian Charity is here).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2015\/03\/effective-altruism-ethically-questionable-cookies.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Effective Altruism & Ethically Questionable Cookies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}