7 – Kill All Humans?

[content warning: suicide, human extinction. Might be a bad idea to listen to if you suffer suicidal tendencies.] We speak to Jason, who would take extreme measures to end all suffering.  However, lacking extreme powers, he recommends doing good as efficiently as possible, and offers these resources: Givewell – researches charities for effectiveness. 80,000 hours – Have a greater social impact with your career. He also provided us with a link to the World Happiness Report Other things mentioned in this episode:   Jeremy Bentham – founder of utilitarianism. Steven was right – he was one of the earliest advocates of animal rights from the very beginning. Utility Monsters (also in comic form) There are a few responses to Utility Monsterism, here’s a link with some quick lay-person summaries. But my favorite is PhilGoetz, who argues that humans are utility monsters, so it’s kinda a non-issue – we’ve all decided we’re cool with Utility Monsterism. VHEMT – the voluntary human extinction movement Those Who Walk Away From Omelas (pdf) – short story by Ursula LeGuin The Transdimensional Justice Monster Scott Alexander’s retelling of the final act of Job (and sadly, according to comments there, he wasn’t the first to think of it – a Christian philosopher beat him to it by a few years. Still, Scott’s version is FAR more entertaining!) The Hedonic Treadmill – Not that Treadmilly?  (Ctrl-F for “Hedonic Adaptation” to get to the relevant part in the linked page) Turns out, the idea that people adapt to negative events and return to their previous set-point is a myth. Although the exact effects vary depending on the bad event, disability, divorce, loss of a partner, and unemployment all have long-term negative effects on happiness. Unemployment is the one event that can be undone relatively easily, but the effects persist even after people become reemployed. I’m only citing four studies here, but a meta analysis of the literature shows that the results are robust across existing studies. The same thing applies to positive events. While it’s “common knowledge” that winning the lottery doesn’t make people happier, it turns out that isn’t true, either. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Peter Singer’s book “Famine, Affluence, and Morality“, and his essay “All Animals Are Equal“(pdf) Also very famous among Rationalists is Singer’s book “The Life You Can Save” 80,000 Hours states that being a Tobacco CEO causes so much harm that it cannot be countered by donating all earnings to altruism, no matter how effective. Larks of Effective-Altruism.