Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference

by William MacAskill

Research When Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, the committee suggested that he’d saved one billion lives. Was he a politician? Or a military leader? Or a superhero? No, he was a fairly regular guy from Iowa who worked in agricultural research. He wasn’t a typical academic: his credentials were limited and he used techniques that had been available to the Victorians. Moreover, the innovation that made his name was rather boring – a new type of short-stem disease-resistant wheat. That wheat, however, was able to radically increase crop yield across poor countries. It helped to cause the ‘green revolution’. Even after taking into account the fact that similar innovations may have happened even if he hadn’t done his research, Borlaug’s impact should be measured in the prevention of tens of millions of deaths. In terms of researchers with impact, Borlaug isn’t a lone example: in any list of the most influential people of all time, scientists and researchers make up a large percentage. Scientists who have clearly had a huge positive effect on the world include Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who invented synthetic fertiliser; Karl Landsteiner, who discovered blood groups, thus allowing blood transfusions to be possible; Grace Eldering and Pearl Kendrick, who developed the first whooping cough vaccine; and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, who discovered HIV. In each of these cases, even after taking into account that these developments would have ...