Name: Doing Good Better
ISBN: 9781592409662

Doing Good Better

An up-and-coming visionary in the world of philanthropy and a cofounder of the effective altruism movement explains why most of our ideas about how to make a difference are wrong and presents a counterintuitive way for each of us to do the most good possible. While a researcher at Oxford, William MacAskill decided to devote his study to a simple question: How can we do good better? MacAskill realized that, while most of us want to make a difference, we often decide how to do so based on assumptions and emotions rather than facts. As a result, our good intentions often lead to ineffective, sometimes downright harmful, outcomes. As an antidote, MacAskill and his colleagues developed effective altruism—a practical, data-driven approach to doing good that allows us to make a tremendous difference regardless of our resources. Effective altruists operate by asking certain key questions that force them to think differently, set aside biases, and use evidence and careful reasoning rather than act on impulse. In Doing Good Better, MacAskill lays out these principles and shows that, when we use them correctly—when we apply the head and the heart to each of our altruistic endeavors—each of us has the power to do an astonishing amount of good.

What Hacker News says

jonahbentonDec 2023

With all respect to the intention, this is a dead end.

There are many ways to argue the Basecamp decision. Framework themselves had a nice recent email to customers titled "We are not sustainable" that summarizes the conundrum.

It's worth reading MacAskill "Doing Good Better" and following the Ethical Altruism thread and the 80,000 hours stuff but with the awareness that the FTX fraud grew in that primordial soup. B-Corps are similarly non-useful as a signal of actual organization behavior. Some useful metrics are produced from corporate governance ESG/CER work but those have also to be read without the rose tinted glasses.

There is in some US states a binding corporate structure called something like Public Benefit Corp. They are as often as not used as the shell for a quasi government entity (and whether those are ultimately bound to ethical and sustainable practices is a question probably answered best with another question- "on what timeframe.")

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lcpriestApr 2022

I think you would really enjoy Doing Good Better by William MacAskill.

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blackshawApr 2021

Fully agreed. William MacAskill's book Doing Good Better is also fantastic; I recommend reading them both as a pair. (MacAskill is one of the founders of EA.)

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mdorazioJan 2021

See "Effective Altruism" as a topic and the book "Doing Good Better" as a more in-depth exploration of what's being said here [1]. It's really interesting to see how psychology and outcomes are interrelated.

[1] https://www.effectivealtruism.org/doing-good-better/

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yborisJan 2020

Effective Altruism has changed my life: I'm now giving at least 10% of my income to cost-effective charities thanks to the ideas behind the movement.

Good books to start with:

The Life You Can Save - Peter Singer

The Most Good You Can Do - Peter Singer

Doing Good Better - William MacAskill

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JabavuAdamsJan 2020

Have a look at the book Doing Good Better for concrete and efficient ways to help with extreme poverty, if you're interested. As residents of the developed world, we have incredible leverage to help, if we allocate funds effectively.

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