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

by William MacAskill

It’s worth reflecting on this. In 2007 Louis Theroux, a British documentary filmmaker, released a documentary called Under the Knife in which he explored the world of cosmetic surgery in Beverly Hills. In the culmination of the show, he accused the cosmetic surgeon he’d been interviewing of wasting his talent and skills to make wannabe movie stars more attractive, rather than saving lives. What we’ve seen so far shows that Louis Theroux’s sentiment, while understandable, is misplaced. It’s the cosmetic surgeon’s decision about how to spend his money that really matters. Earning to give seems to be an enormously powerful way of doing good. It exploits the fact that even typical workers in developed countries are among the top income earners in the world, and that there are some charities that do huge amounts to help the world’s poorest people for relatively little money. Moreover, unlike the conventional ‘ethical’ careers guidance, earning to give is a path that’s open to everyone.