Skip to content

Can ‘effective altruism’ really change the world?

We must transform the world, not simply make choices that appear to be rational within the current global order. Scott Weathers responds here.

Published:
shutterstock_292652312.jpg
shutterstock_292652312.jpg

Credit: www.shutterstock.com/aga7ta. All rights reserved.

Let’s imagine you have some spare cash to give away and you want to do something useful with your money. Should you spend it on food for starving children or vaccinations in refugee camps? Mosquito nets or courses in financial literacy? Animal rights at home or carbon off-setting in Latin America? Or a ballet school for disadvantaged kids from a slum because you’ve always liked to dance, and beauty helps to fight the ugliness of the world?