Persson (Uehiro Fellow, Gothenburg) has jokingly said that we are neglecting an important form or altruistic behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKmxR1L_4Ag&feature=player_detailpage#t=1481s
We have a duty not to kill
We have a duty not to rape
but we do not have a duty, at least not a strong duty, to save lives
or to have sex with someone who is sexually-starved
Its a good joke.
What worries me is that it makes Effective Altruism of the GWWC and 80000h kind analogous to "fazer um feio feliz" an expression we use in portuguese meaning "making happy an ugly one". The joke is only funny because the analogy works to an extent.
And given it works, should Eff Alt be finding the most effective ways of getting the sexually deprived what they'd like to have?
Evolutionarily, sex is pretty high in the importance scale. Our psychology is engineered towards it (Buss2004).
Could finding the best matchmaking algorithm be an important utilitarian cause?
Could finding the best matchmaking algorithm be an important utilitarian cause?
I don't know whether much better matchmaking algortihms are possible. The idea that there a soulmate out there for everyone is problematic. Even when in theory two people would be a good match, they won't form a relationship when one of them screws up the mating process.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, even in Discussion, it goes here.