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Their words
They weren't infallible oracles, but they weren't blindly casting about either.
Holden Karnofsky
Everything, newest first — across every channel. Their profile → · Subscribe
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30 June 2022
15 February 2022
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Their words
These ideas can be disturbing and off-putting, but I think there is also a strong case for them, for those who wish their ethics to be principled and focused on the interests of others.
2 February 2022
From one piece Future-proof ethics 4 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Any harm can in principle be outweighed by a small enough benefit delivered to a large enough number of people.Their words
In theory, any harm can be outweighed by something that benefits a large enough number of persons, even if it benefits them in a minor way.
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Their words
Combining these three pillars yields a number of unusual, even uncomfortable views about ethics. I feel this discomfort and don't unreservedly endorse this approach to ethics.
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Indeed, I think some of the best opportunities to do good in the world come from working on issues that aren't yet widely recognized as huge moral issues of our time.
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korrents.com
Ethics based on common sense and the conventions of the time has a horrible track record.Their words
Ethics based on "common sense" seems to have a horrible track record.
20 January 2022
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Dislikedrcmnd.app
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of HumanityTheir words
All of the reviews - plus this Twitter thread by Brad DeLong - echoed the theme that the book is thinly cited and that many of its claims seem overstated or unsupported. That makes it a tough sell for me, as I’m not excited to read 500 pages of claims that aren’t particularly likely to hold up once I dig in and check them out.
23 November 2021
From one piece Minimal-trust investigations 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
Minimal-trust investigation is probably the single activity that's been most formative for the way I think.
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korrents.com
Almost everything anyone believes rests on trusting other people, and there is no alternative to that.Their words
I think it's completely reasonable to form the vast majority of one's beliefs based on trust like this. I don't really think there's any alternative.
2 September 2021
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
octopus plugTheir words
I recommend traveling with an octopus plug so you never have to fight over an airport charger (instead, you're a hero!)
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
LastPassTheir words
I recommend LastPass and maximal use of two-factor authentication.
18 August 2011
From one piece Why we can’t take expected value estimates literally (even when they’re unbiased) 8 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
Giving well seems conceptually quite difficult to me, and it’s been my experience over time that the more we dig on a cost-effectiveness estimate, the more unwarranted optimism we uncover.
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An ungrounded estimate making an extravagant claim ought to be more or less discarded in the face of the “prior distribution” of life experience.
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korrents.com
The more an argument asks you to do, the more evidence you should require before doing it.Their words
The more action is asked of me, the more evidence I require.
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Yet it seems that when people are valuing one action far above others, based on thin information, this is the time when skeptical inquiry is needed most.
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In such a world, it seems that nearly all altruists would put nearly all of their resources toward helping people they knew little about, rather than helping themselves, their families and their communities. I believe that the world would be worse off if people behaved in this way, or at least if they took it to an extreme.
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EEV doesn’t seem to allow rewarding charities for transparency or penalizing them for opacity: it simply recommends giving to the charity with the highest estimated expected value, regardless of how well-grounded the estimate is.
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And we generally prefer to give where we have strong evidence that donations can do a lot of good rather than where we have weak evidence that donations can do far more good
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Their words
I feel that any giving approach that relies only on estimated expected-value – and does not incorporate preferences for better-grounded estimates over shakier estimates – is flawed.
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