juliawise comments on High school students and effective altruism - Less Wrong

9 Post author: VipulNaik 14 March 2014 07:04PM

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Comment author: juliawise 23 March 2014 04:31:30PM *  1 point [-]

By high school I was very into altruism, but it took me a lot longer to discover the effectiveness piece. Some ideas I wish I had heard about then:

  • Effects matter more than personal virtue (it's better to accomplish something than to just have good intentions.)

  • Different projects and charities produce different effects, and it's important which ones you choose.

  • You may want to study things beyond typical do-gooder subjects (anthropology/sociology, foreign languages, etc.) Subjects like economics aren't just for greedy/selfish people - they can help you help other people.