Giving with your heart, and your head

By KIRSTI WEISZ

Many Australians donate to charities they feel an emotional connection with, but the growing social movement and philosophy known as effective altruism encourages people to take a more rational approach.

Effective altruism, described as the new social movement of this  generation, is the focus of a major gathering in Melbourne from tomorrow, one of only three held internationally in this series. Australian ethicist Prof Peter Singer and British philosopher David Pearce are keynote speakers.

The movement encourages people to apply evidence and reason to determine the most effective way to influence social change.

This approach was important because it combined “both the heart and the head”, Prof Singer said, when recently in Melbourne talking about his new book, The Most Good You Can Do.

“[Effective altruists’] lives revolve around altruism, trying to make the world a better place … and thinking about what kind of positive impact you are making on the world,” Prof Singer said.

In his 2013 TedTalk about the Hows and Whys of Effective Altruism, Prof Singer said reason helped us put perspective on our situation.

“That's why many of the most significant people in effective altruism have been people who have had backgrounds in philosophy or economics or math,” Prof Singer said.

“That might seem surprising, because a lot of people think philosophy is remote from the real world, economics, we're told, just makes us more selfish, and we know that math is for nerds.

“But in fact it does make a difference.”

The more you earn, the more you can give

Effective altruism aims to influence change in two ways, according to University of Queensland School of Law research assistant William Isdale.

Mr Isdale said effective altruism made people think squarely about questions of whether they were doing enough and whether they were doing enough in the right way.

“Some ways of doing good are much more effective than others,” he said.

“Effective altruism implores us to consider whether there are alternative ways of spending our time and money that could achieve much more good.”

Medical resident and bioinformatics student Ryan Carey changed his career path as a result of the effective altruism movement.

Being involved in bioinformatics allows Dr Carey to play a small role in developing the next generation of medical technologies.

“In the past, I've worked as a junior doctor, but currently I'm studying bioinformatics in my master's degree,” Dr Carey said.

“What I'd realised is that the good done by a doctor, although meaningful, is lesser in its scope than medical technologies, which can be used by whole populations.”

Prof Singer’s lecture used effective altruist Matt Wage as an example of how working in financial banking could also help do the most good.

Mr Wage, who was a philosophy student in Prof Singer’s class at Princeton University, took a job at a firm on Wall St so that he could donate half his income.

“One thought I find motivating is to imagine how great you’d feel if you saved someone’s life,” Mr Wage told The New York Times.

“It turns out that saving this many lives is within the reach of ordinary people who simply donate a piece of their income.”

What about a career in social sectors?

One perspective on effective altruism that Prof Singer explained is that a career in finance or banking may make a bigger difference than one in an organisation such as Oxfam, which can be filled by another candidate.

“The good that you will do is not everything that you do, it’s only the extent to which you can do the job better than the second best candidate in the field … and probably that’s going to be a relatively marginal difference,” Prof Singer said in a previous lecture in Melbourne.

But social impact expert Richard Meredith said this underestimated the complexity of the issues around the social impact sectors, particularly the importance of getting the best people.

“The social sector is seen by so many people as the bridesmaid of the economy,” Mr Meredith said.

“It’s a 20^th century mindset; they treat it as if it’s not a real part of the economy but in fact … [it’s] the fastest growing part of the economy.”

Mr Meredith was concerned about Prof Singer’s logic being very simple and tempting.

He was also worried it undermines charities’ abilities to be effective without being profitable and efficient.

“Every sector of the pluralist economy is an important sector and the social impact sector is a growing vibrant sector,” he said.

“People need to be actively involved in it in order for people to do what needs to be done to ensure that we have a harmonious society.”

More for overseas aid

Effective altruism generally has a universal focus – aiming to make the world a better place – and looks to international aid and charities.

Prof Singer touched briefly on the recent cuts to overseas aid in his lecture, saying it was “shameful” and more needed to be done.

Mr Isdale said effective altruists would like to see an increase in the foreign aid budget as Australia could afford to do more.

“If, collectively, we're not willing to meet our moral obligations to the world's poor, that doesn't mean that we, as individuals, have a good excuse for not contributing,” he said.

Mr Isdale said the average citizen had more power to change the world than ever before in history.

“We can eliminate extreme poverty, and we will do it much faster if we use our resources most effectively,” he said.

“That is what effective altruism asks us to do.”

The term effective altruism was coined in late 2011 by the Centre for Effective Altruism. Melbourne will be hosting one of the only three global programs about effective altruism on August 14-16 as part of Effective Altruism Global 2015. Details HERE