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comment by user-inactivated

There was a big push on r/drugs for Erowid. It's a great website and a great idea, and I'm not a big fan of "effective altruism," but I can't help but think there were probably some more deserving charities. Oh well. It's not a negative.





user-inactivated  ·  3625 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Someone at a Richard Stallman (of the Free Software Foundation, another organization on the list) talk I attended asked him why he is so focused on the politics of software, when there are many political problems that are more fundamental and need attention. His answer was something along the lines of acknowledging that free software is not the most important issue in the world, but it was important and was what he knew best. I think most of the organizations in that list are in the same boat; they are worthwhile but not things most of humanity is passionate about. They are things prominent subsets of reddit users are passionate about.

Meriadoc  ·  3623 days ago  ·  link  ·  

In the "what you know" category for me as well, EFF and FSF getting money is always huge in my book, as well as planned parenthood.

user-inactivated  ·  3625 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah. The "what you know best" argument has always struck me as a fairly big hole in the effective altruist case. I've never seen a particularly good counter.

user-inactivated  ·  3625 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm alright with it, they are the most comprehensive database I've come across and I can't imagine they really pull to much in the way of donations. Would be a shame to see it go down.

user-inactivated  ·  3625 days ago  ·  link  ·  

They come very close to going down every year, as far as I can tell. Which raises the point that perhaps the marginal effectiveness of your donated dollar is much higher at Erowid than at the Gates Foundation etc.