This presentation explores the question of how can we do the most good to address suffering and improve flourishing throughout the globe. This is not an easy question to answer, as there are many specific actions we can take to do so. The presentation thus considers the underlying principles behind what we mean by "doing good," and how we can use rational thinking to quantify the amount of good we do in the world. From that basis, it proceeds to consider the kind of paths we can take that would maximize the good we can do. It then examines what other people committed to applying rational thinking to doing good have done as part of the Effective Altruism movement. Finally, it considers specific actions that each of us can take to bring our inherently limited resources to bear on addressing global suffering and improving global flourishing. Please express your thoughts on the presentation through leaving comments, clicking like, and sharing it with others. The presentation was brought to you by Intentional Insights, a nonprofit that empowers people to reach their goals using science-based strategies to help build an altruistic and flourishing world (www.intentionalinsights.org). Sign up for our newsletter here: http://intentionalinsights.org/newsletter The video for the presentation is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qQEZHtUFI

1. Want To Do The Most Good?
Dr. Gleb Tsipursky
Co-Founder and President, Intentional Insights
Tenure-Track Professor, The Ohio State University
Author, Find Your Purpose Using Science and other books

2. Decrease Global Suffering &
Increase Global Flourishing
• Utilitarianism
– Do most good for the
most number
• Negative
Utilitarianism
– Focus on reducing the
most suffering

3. The Power of Stories:
Fulfill a Dying Child’s Wish!
• Would you grant one
wish of every child
diagnosed with a life-
threatening medical
condition?
• Albay wished to be a
pirate treasure hunter

4. Or Save 17 Children from Death:
Fulfill a Lifetime of Wishes!
• Make-A-Wish
Foundation spends
about $50K on one
wish
• Against Malaria
Foundation saves a
life for under $3K

5. Most People Fall For Stories
(the narrative fallacy)
• Only 3% research
effectiveness of
charity before
donating
• To avoid falling for
narrative fallacy
– Apply the scientific
method to charity!

6. Quantifying Utility
(also known as nerding out on doing good!)
• Quality-Adjusted Life
Years (QALYs)
– Both quality and
quantity of life lived
– One QALY equates to
one year in perfect
health.

7. Quantifying Effectiveness
(even more nerding out on doing good!)
• Limited resources
• Need to choose most
cost-effective
interventions
• Divide QALYs by cost
to get most cost-
effective intervention

8. Effective Altruism
• Movement devoted to
applying the scientific
method to charity
• Quantifying QALYs
and measuring cost-
effectiveness

9. Who Do You Care About?
• People
– “Your” people or all
people?
• Animals
– “Your” animals or all
animals?
• Future beings
– Current or future
beings?

10. EA Meta-Charities:
Current Human Beings
• GiveWell.org
– In-depth reports and
rankings of global
poverty
• The Life You Can Save
– Impact calculator for
global poverty
• Giving What We Can
– 10% pledge community,
mainly global poverty

11. EA Meta-Charities:
Current Non-Human Beings
• Animal Charity
Evaluators
– In-depth reports,
ranking, and advocacy
for animal charities
• Sentience Politics
– Animal advocacy

12. EA Meta-Charities:
Future Beings and Existential Risk
• Future of Humanity Institute
– Research on various existential
risks
• Machine Intelligence
Research Institute
– Research on Artificial
Intelligence risk
• Center for Advanced
Rationality
– Spreading rationality to social
elites
• Intentional Insights
– Spreading rationality to broad
audience and into politics

13. EA Meta-Charities:
Movement-Building Organizations
• Center for Effective Altruism
– Unites a variety of projects
• Effective Altruism Foundation
– Unites a variety of projects
• Local Effective Altruism
Network
– Supporting local EA groups
• Students for High-Impact
Charity
– Spreads EA ideas to high
school and college students
• Intentional Insights
– Spreads EA ideas to broad
audience and provides support
for EA marketing efforts

14. Promise of Better Tomorrow!
• Applying scientific
method to doing good
= maximize global
flourishing and
reducing global
suffering

15. So Now You Know:
What Will You Do?
• How will this
knowledge change
your actions?
• What steps will you
take, if any, to support
the project of making
a better tomorrow
through EA methods?

16. One Great Approach:
Spread EA-themed Ideas!
• Convincing one other
person who would do
as much good as you in
a lifetime = doing all the
good yourself
• This is a key aspect of
what Intentional
Insights does
• Talk to me if you’re
interested in promoting
EA-themed ideas

17. Thank You!
• PowerPoint of this presentation: slideshare.net/intentionalinsights
• Free version of my science-based book, Find Your Purpose Using
Science: tinyurl.com/fypus2015
• Get in touch with me at gleb@intentionalinsights.org
• Intentional Insights
– Website intentionalinsights.org
– Facebook facebook.com/intentionalinsights
– Twitter twitter.com/intentinsights
– Youtube tinyurl.com/inin-youtube
– Pinterest pinterest.com/intentinsights
– Tumbler http://intentionalinsights.tumblr.com/
– Instagram https://www.instagram.com/intentional_insights/