The path to "Effective Altruism"

I hate thought experiments - especially when you have to make decisions in weird scenarios that will never come to life (e.g.: would you rather die because fluffy rabbits bite you to death or because you're shot out into space in a spacesuit all alone... - like why? why would I have to ever choose between these). BUT you're going to have to bear with me on this one!

So here's the continuation of the Wild Railroad Carriage and the Simple Decision. It's a though experiment: the base where we begin from is the Simple Decision, which is the choice of changing the path of a potentially deadly wild carriage, if it meant saving a life, or not.

If you're not a cruel monster, you'd switch the tracks in order to save the poor tied up guy.

Simple Decision version 2.0: Same situation... except you're one step farther from the switch. Whoaah! I know, you're worried you won't get there in time! Don't worry, you still have enough time to step closer and change the switch for the better. :) So what do you do?

Again, if you're not a psychopath, you'll take that step and flip the switch.

Simple Decision version 2.1: Same situation.. except now you're a few more steps further away than in the last case. Whoah! Don't worry, you're close enough to see what's going on, and you have enough time to get there. What's you're choice? Do you go to the switch and save the guy?

Of course, you're not a monster... you can spare the energy and time and effort for him!

Simple Decision version 2.2: Same situation.. except now you're actually pretty far. You know what's happening, and you have the choice to save the guy. Although from this distance to get there in time, you may have to jog a little...

but of course you help, right? Come on, it's just a little jog... or else you have to watch this guy get run over.. you don't want to witness that do you? So you help, yes, you flip the switch, save the life.

Simple Decision version 2.3: Same situation.. except now you're far away, but you know if you start running, you can save the guy. In fact, in this version of the thought experiment, you have to insert some coins into the switch to make it work... seriously. You need to pay some money to save this unlucky fellow. Don't worry, you have enough change in your pockets. The question is, do you run over there and save him? Remember, you don't even know this guy! Do you do it?

You might be seeing where I'm going with this...

The real question of this thought experiment is this: How much are you willing to do to save a random person that would otherwise die?

How much time would you use from your life in order to save a life?
How much energy?
Effort?
Money?
...

It's time to face it: this is no thought experiment. This is reality. This is happening. It happened yesterday, today, and it's going to happen tomorrow and every day for the rest of your life. People are suffering, living in terrible conditions, dying from absolutely preventable causes (sanitation, cheap vaccinations, lack of clean water, and the list goes on).

Imagine yourself in the middle of the desert. Far away there are numerous train tracks, with wild railroad carriages running on them, taking the lives of innocent, random people. But much closer, around you, right next to you there are so many other things. Things like TV, video games, sports, school, hobbies, vacations, friends, family, obligations, summer camps, ... and so on.

And this is what we're doing: we're seriously just playing with all this cluttered stuff around us, instead of taking the time/money/energy to save lives. All these things that occupy every second of our lives are thrown on us by our own society... because it's reeeeaally important that you feel happy, and you enjoy your free time and don't worry, be happy as much as possible. Ignorance is bliss.

All the time we are all making the choice of spending our time on hobbies and movies and games and leisurely activities instead of helping. If you're honest to yourself, you know that there's some way you can help someone... you, me, and basically everyone in the middle and upper class of society. Not looking there, pretending there's no problem, doesn't solve the problem.


This whole "lots of people are dying and you're just sitting there not caring even a little bit" thing might be a bit harsh... but I honestly think this needs to be taken seriously by all of us. It's a very simple decision when you brake it down to this experiment. Once you have come to the decision that you do need to look up from all the cluttered junk, and take time and energy and money to help others, everything will change... at least for me it did. And the question changes from "should I help these people?" to "how can I help as much as possible?". It becomes a question of optimizing your life.