FAQs
Here we have collected some of the most common questions we receive about effective altruism.
Common Questions
What is effective altruism?
Effective altruism (EA) is a global movement of ideas that uses research, reason and critical thinking to do as much good as possible. There are many problems that need to be solved, but we cannot do everything at once.
This means that we must prioritize the interventions that have the greatest effect. Our goal is to find ways to help as many people as possible with the limited resources we have.
Within EA there are e.g. organizations that evaluate charitable efforts , which career choices make the biggest difference and within which social problems additional resources can contribute the most.
The insights from the work guide thousands of people who want to maximize the benefit of their donations and careers.
Read more: Introduction to effective altruism , About the movement
What does Effective Altruism Sweden do?
We work to ensure that the research and tools developed to maximize impact reach aspiring world-improvers in Sweden, so that more resources go to where they make the biggest difference. In concrete terms, this means that we:
Offers free advice on career choices and effective donation opportunities.
Arranges lectures, courses and discussion evenings.
Shares research results on radio, podcasts and debate articles.
Works to strengthen the network of effective altruists that exists in Sweden.
Supports new projects and organizations that have the potential to make a big difference, such as the donation platform geeffektivt.se .
Read more: Effective Altruism Sweden , Get involved
Do you think that what I am doing right now is not the most effective?
Perhaps. There are many options for those who want to do good, e.g. different social problems, approaches and charities. Some will have a significantly greater effect than others.
If you haven’t made an effort to choose the most effective, it is unlikely that you have accidentally dotted the best option. It is difficult to do even if you spend a lot of time making an optimal choice.
The research done in effective altruism suggests that you can probably do even more good by evaluating and comparing more possibilities.
Read more: Some causes are better than others
How do you measure and compare different ways of doing good?
Randomized control studies can be carried out for some interventions in the fight against disease and poverty. That insight was behind Sweden’s Riksbank’s prize in economics in memory of Alfred Nobel in 2019 . In health, there are also measures to compare measures, e.g. DALY , which is used by both the WHO and the Public Health Agency.
Those kinds of quantitative methods do not capture all the aspects that are important to consider, but they can be a good starting point. Sometimes the difference in effect between different measures is also so great that the measures can be used to set priorities even if they are not exact.
In other areas, other analysis tools are required. The Future of Humanity Institute, for example, researches the main ways to reduce the risk of existential catastrophes. Here it can be a matter of looking at what has worked historically, drawing lessons from relevant research fields and trying to make estimates of the expected value that are as good as possible given the evidence one has.
Impact measurement is difficult, and effective altruism research institutes are working to find better ways to compare different ways of doing good.
Ten years of work have resulted in insights and methods that seem promising – for example, when it comes to evaluating efforts in global health and choosing which problem to try to solve with your career – but there is still a lot of research to be conducted.
Transparency is an important value within EA and organizations such as GiveWell publish detailed reports of their analyzes so that outsiders can review them. Being open with our methods, assumptions and uncertainties is part of the work of trying to make estimates like this as good as possible.
What if I don't have enough money to donate?
You make the best judgment whether you have margin to donate or not. It is worth mentioning, however, that even smaller sums can make a big difference if you choose the most effective measures.
SEK 45 is enough for a mosquito net that can protect two people from malaria for up to six years, and for SEK 30 you can prevent malnutrition in a child for a year.
But there are also other options if you want to do a lot of good and don’t have the opportunity to donate. For example, you can make a career choice that helps others, or get involved as a volunteer.
Read more: Donate Effectively , Career Guide for World Betterers
What has effective altruism accomplished?
Funny you ask! Internationally, the movement has, among other things, collected billions for effective charity and influenced 3,000 people to change careers in order to make a bigger difference.
The Center for Effective Altruism has made a longer compilation where you can read more.
Read more: Impact
How do I do the most good?
You can make a big difference with both your time and your money. Making a well-thought-out career choice or donating money to effective charities are really good options for those who want to maximize their impact.
Career
A career is roughly 80,000 hours long. It is a tremendous resource for anyone who wants to improve the world. A well-thought-out career choice can contribute to a hundred times greater positive impact, and here is generally the main potential to do a lot of good. An effective career choice takes into account where exactly you can contribute the most and is, in short, about choosing:
1) A problem that is big, solvable and neglected by others. Many in effective altruism therefore focus on global health, animal welfare and preventing disasters, such as extreme climate change, pandemics or risks from advanced artificial intelligence.
2) A professional role that effectively tackles that problem. It can be about e.g. research, entrepreneurship or policy work.
3) And consider your personal strengths and preferences.
The 80,000 Hours organization has spent ten years evaluating the best opportunities to make a big difference with your career. We have summarized their advice in Swedish in a career guide .
Read more: Career
Donations
Did you know that with a Swedish median Swedish income of SEK 35,600, you are among the world’s wealthiest 4 percent? Meanwhile, over 700 million people live in extreme poverty – on less than $2.15 a day – and every year ten million people die from diseases that are cheap to treat and prevent. The relative wealth that comes from being born in a rich country means that many can make a big difference by donating a portion of their income to effective charities.
GiveWell is an organization that evaluates the impact of interventions in global health. They estimate that it is possible to save a life for 3,000 – 5,000 dollars. This means that by donating ten percent of a Swedish median salary during your working life, you can save approximately 20-30 lives.
The most effective aid efforts can achieve 100-1,000 times more benefit than others, so it is important to make informed donation choices. Via geeffektivt.se, you can easily donate money to proven effective measures. Ge Effektivt is approved by the Swedish Tax Agency to collect donations eligible for tax deduction.
Read more: Donate effectively
What do you mean by "doing good"?
Improving lives – reducing suffering and increasing well-being. We strive to be impartial about whose welfare we care about. For one thing, we do not attach importance to factors such as ethnicity or gender.
We also don’t care where someone lives. If we can do more good with our resources for people who live on the other side of the world, we should, all things being equal, prioritize that over doing less good for people who live geographically closer to us. Nor do we believe there is good reason to discriminate against the well-being of others based on time.
This means that it is important to also take future generations into account when we evaluate how we can do the most good. We also believe that the well-being of animals should be considered, but are unsure how much (as we do not yet know enough about their capacity for well-being and pain, and how it compares to that of humans).
Read more: What does it mean to “make a difference”?
Wouldn't it be a strange distribution of resources if everyone followed the recommendations of effective altruism?
Well, if everyone overnight suddenly acted on our advice, there would be problems. Effective altruism makes recommendations based on what others are already doing.
Many problem areas and efforts are recommended precisely to get others to care about them, and therefore there are good opportunities to make a big difference at the margin.
If many people start following our advice, the expected marginal benefit decreases, and then the recommendations need to be updated. For that reason, a central principle in effective altruism is to update one’s behavior as circumstances change.
The advice given within effective altruism should not be read as suggestions for how all the world’s resources should be distributed, but as promising possibilities given how resources are distributed in general.
Is effective altruism the same as utilitarianism?
No. Many effective altruists are also utilitarians, but far from all. Admittedly, several concepts used in EA to identify ways to make a big difference are similar to utilitarianism: we focus on increasing well-being and reducing suffering, and we want to maximize the benefit of the resources directed toward world improvement.
But EA, unlike utilitarianism, is not an attempt to provide an answer to what is morally true. EA has no normative component that you should direct your resources towards effective world improvement. We try to find the best ways to help others, and are a movement for those who want to act on those conclusions, but the extent to which you follow the advice is up to you.
Within the movement there is of course a diversity of moral positions. Some agree with Peter Singer that we have an obligation to help others and give a significant portion of their income to charity. Others get involved because they feel an inner motivation to do good or because it contributes to a sense of meaning.
Many EA concepts are relevant to aspiring world-improvers regardless of moral philosophical camp, and at EA we think it is important to weigh moral uncertainty when doing analyzes and drawing conclusions.
Read more: The Definition of Effective Altruism
Want to read more questions and answers?
You can read more questions, objections and answers at effectivealtruism.org . We also recommend this article by 80,000 Hours.