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

225 Pages·2015·2.32 MB·English

by  William MacAskill

PRAISE FOR
DOING GOOD BETTER
“Beautifully written and extremely smart. Doing Good Better should be required reading for anyone
interested in making the world better.”
—Steven D. Levitt, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Freakonomics and When to Rob a Bank
“MacAskill tackles a monumental question: How can we make the biggest difference for the greatest
number of people? His answer is a grand vision to make giving, volunteering, spending, and working more
worthwhile.”
—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take
“Effective altruism—efforts that actually help people rather than making you feel good or helping you show
off—is one of the great new ideas of the twenty-first century. Doing Good Better is the definitive guide to
this exciting new movement.”
—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of The
Better Angels of Our Nature
“Doing Good Better is a superb achievement. Will MacAskill, a leader of the effective altruism movement
and a rising star in philosophy, now displays his talent for telling stories that pack a punch. This must-read
book will lead people to change their careers, their lives, and the world, for the better.”
—Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics at Princeton University and author of Animal
Liberation and The Most Good You Can Do
“Humanity currently spends more money on cigarette ads than on making sure that we as a species survive
this century. We’ve got our priorities all wrong, and we need effective altruism to right them. If you want to
make a real difference on the biggest issues of our time, you need to read Doing Good Better.”
—Jaan Tallinn, cofounder of Skype, Kazaa, and MetaMed
“MacAskill leads his readers on a witty, incisive tour through the ideas and applications of effective
altruism, which seems increasingly poised to become a dominant social movement of the twenty-first
century.”
—Julia Galef, cofounder of the Center for Applied Rationality
“This is the most valuable guide to charitable giving ever published. Even readers who disagree with
MacAskill’s conclusions about the value of particular charitable donations will make smarter decisions by
learning from his analysis.”
—Paul Brest, codirector of the Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society and former president of
the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
“Doing Good Better provides an absolutely indispensable framework for anyone wanting to actually help
others with their money, time, or career. Warning: Failure to read it, share it, and keep it close as you set out
to ‘do good’ is likely to be harmful to yourself and others!”
—Charlie Bresler, executive vice president of Men’s Wearhouse and executive director of the Life You
Can Save
“Are you interested in giving away money more effectively? This is the very best book on how to do that.”
—Tyler Cowen, Holbert C. Harris professor of economics at George Mason University and author of
Average Is Over
“Doing Good Better has a rare combination of strikingly original ideas, effortless clarity of delivery, and a
thoroughgoing practicality that leaves the reader inspired to get out of their chair and take on the world.
Humanity faces some big challenges in the twenty-first century; this is a much-needed manifesto for social
change, and Will MacAskill is the ideal ambassador.”
—Eric Drexler, founder of nanotechnology and author of Engines of Creation
“MacAskill brings fresh, bold thinking to today’s big problems. He leads from first principles to
counterintuitive conclusions. Like laser eye surgery, this book will change how you look at the world
forever.”
—Uri Bram, bestselling author of Thinking Statistically
“Inspiring, engrossing, and at times hilarious. I couldn’t put it down. This book will change your life.”
—Nick Cooney, author of How to Be Great at Doing Good
“William MacAskill shows that we can make a surprisingly large life-changing difference to those in
disadvantaged parts of the world—provided that our altruistic impulses are intelligently channeled. This
fascinating and clearly written book deserves wide readership: It can in itself do great good if its message is
heeded.”
—Lord Martin Rees, former president of the Royal Society
“Think philosophers are dry, inaccessible, and obsessed with mere ideas, not actions? Think again.
MacAskill puts forward an eye-popping claim: By combining heart and mind, one can make the world a
better place. And then he shows you how.”
—Dean Karlan, professor of economics at Yale University and coauthor of More Than Good Intentions
“This is a challenging and thought-provoking book. We are encouraged first to ask ourselves whether we
are altruistic enough, and second whether we practice effective altruism, a much tougher and more
contested ask. This book will guarantee lively debates and should encourage us all to ask searching
questions.”
—Fiona Reynolds, former director-general of the National Trust
“Doing Good Better is a must-read for anyone with both a heart and a brain. MacAskill demolishes the lazy
myths of nothing-you-can-do-ism and demonstrates the power of asking the right questions. This is an
important book. It’s also surprisingly fun. Figuring out what really helps people is a challenging scientific
puzzle, and these pages are full of unexpected twists—enlightening and invigorating.”
—Joshua Greene, director of Harvard’s Moral Cognition Lab and author of Moral Tribes

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Copyright © 2015 by William MacAskill Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity,
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA MacAskill, William.
Doing good better : how effective altruism can help you make a difference / William MacAskill.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-69819110-5
1. Altruism. 2. Helping behavior. I. Title.
HM1146.M33 2015
171'.8—dc23
2015000705
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other
contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any
responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any
control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Version_1
To Toby Ord, Peter Singer, and Stanislav Petrov, without whom this book would
not have been written
CONTENTS
PRAISE FOR DOING GOOD BETTER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION
Worms and Water Pumps: How can you do the most good?
ONE
You Are the 1 Percent: Just how much can you achieve?
PART ONE
THE FIVE KEY QUESTIONS OF EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM
TWO
Hard Trade-offs: Question #1: How many people benefit, and by how much?
THREE
How You Can Save Hundreds of Lives: Question #2: Is this the most effective
thing you can do?
FOUR
Why You Shouldn’t Donate to Disaster Relief: Question #3: Is this area
neglected?
FIVE
The Best Person Who Ever Lived Is an Unknown Ukrainian Man: Question #4:
What would have happened otherwise?
SIX
Why Voting Is Like Donating Thousands of Dollars to Charity: Question #5:
What are the chances of success, and how good would success be?
PART TWO
EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM IN ACTION
SEVEN
Overhead Costs, CEO Pay, and Other Confusions: Which charities make the
most difference?
EIGHT
The Moral Case for Sweatshop Goods: How can consumers make the most
difference?
NINE
Don’t “Follow Your Passion”: Which careers make the most difference?
TEN
Poverty Versus Climate Change Versus . . . : Which causes are most important?
CONCLUSION
Becoming an Effective Altruist: What should you do right now?
APPENDIX
Thinking Like an Effective Altruist: The five key questions of effective altruism.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
Worms and Water Pumps
How can you do the most good?
Until 1989, Trevor Field was a typical middle-aged South African man who had
lived a fairly normal life. He enjoyed fresh steaks, cold beer, and fishing with his
friends. Working in advertising for magazines like TopCar and Penthouse, he
had never thought seriously about using his skills for the greater good. When he
discovered the PlayPump, however, everything changed.
That year, Field and his father-in-law, a farmer, visited an agricultural fair in
Pretoria. There, he met a water engineer named Ronnie Stuiver who was
demonstrating a model for a new type of water pump. The demonstration
reminded Field of a fishing trip he’d taken years before, during which he had
watched the women of a rural village wait for hours next to a windmill-powered
water pump. There had been no wind that day, but the women, who had trekked
for miles, still needed to bring water back to their homes. So they simply sat and
waited for the water to flow. Field had been struck by how unfair this was. There
simply must be a better way to do this, he thought. Now he was witnessing a
potential solution.
Stuiver’s invention seemed brilliant. Instead of the typical hand pump or
windmill pump found in many villages in poor countries, Stuiver’s pump
doubled as a playground merry-go-round. Children would play on the merry-go-
round, which, as it spun, would pump clean water from deep underground up to
a storage tank. No longer would the women of the village need to walk miles to
draw water using a hand pump or wait in line at a windmill-powered pump on a
still day. The PlayPump, as it was called, utilized the power of playing children
to provide a sustainable water supply for the community. “African [kids] have
almost nothing—not even books in school let alone playground equipment—and
access to water is a huge problem,” Field later told me. “I thought it was just the