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NancyLebovitz comments on Open thread, 7-14 July 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: David_Gerard 07 July 2014 07:14AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 11 July 2014 11:02:46AM *  3 points [-]

suppose someone's life plan was to largely devote themselves to making money until they were in, say, the top 10% in cumulative income. They also did not plan to save money to any very unusual extent.

then after that was accomplished, they would switch goals and devote themselves to altruism.

Given that the person today is able to make the money and resolves to do this, I wonder what people here think the chance is of doing it. For example, fluid intelligence declines over time. So by the time you're 60 years old and have made your money and have kids, will you really be smart enough to diametrically change direction and have much impact? Maybe Bill Gates has enough brain cells, but his IQ might be 160. And maybe you'll just forget about altruism and learn to enjoy nice cars more.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 11 July 2014 04:57:54PM 3 points [-]

It doesn't seem that unusual for rich people to become more charitable as they get older, though perhaps I'm just hearing about the famous ones. I assume a large part of it is feeling as though one has solved the money-making game, and now it's time to do something new. (Rich people getting into politics is probably similar.)

Is anything known about how to maintain fluid intelligence?

Comment author: [deleted] 11 July 2014 09:42:04PM *  0 points [-]

A Google search turned up a few articles:

Senior citizens who performed as well as younger adults in fluid intelligence tended to share four characteristics in addition to having a college degree and regularly engaging in mental workouts: they exercised frequently; they were socially active, frequently seeing friends and family, volunteering or attending meetings; they were better at remaining calm in the face of stress; and they felt more in control of their lives.

Although there is some controversy and debate on the best ways to improve fluid intelligence, studies are showing a strong link between non-academic pursuits and improved fluid intelligence.

A quick look into some trends:

This report suggests a non-monotonic relationship but maybe a positive correlation between income and percentage of income donated to charity. Unfortunately, this depressingly suggests a negative correlation. (Edit It seems non-monotonic over some intervals but negative overall. Further edit I don't have high confidence either way. Alexander Berger, a research analyst at GiveWell, thinks the piece in The Atlantic is just wrong. I note that some studies are citing "discretionary income" or income with a whole bunch of expenses subtracted out.)

This doesn't seem to list percentages but gives the impression of increasing giving with age. And it's the same story in the UK. Edit This is better:

In 2005, people in the 65-74 years age bracket gave the most dollars to charitable contributions. The people in the 75 years and older age bracket gave the highest portion of income.

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