Will MacAskill of Effective Altruism Fame — The Value of Longtermism, Tools for Beating Stress and Overwhelm, AI Scenarios, High-Impact Books, and How to Save

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“I often think to myself, ‘Could I justify my life now to my 15-year-old self?’ And if the answer is no, then I’m a bit like, ‘Oh, what are you doing? You’re not living up to what earlier Will would’ve wanted for present Will.’”

— Will MacAskill

William MacAskill (@willmacaskill) is an associate professor in philosophy at the University of Oxford. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest associate professor of philosophy in the world. A Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, he also cofounded the nonprofits Giving What We Can, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Y Combinator-backed 80,000 Hours, which together have moved over $200 million to effective charities. You can find my 2015 conversation with Will at tim.blog/will.

His new book is What We Owe the Future. It is blurbed by several guests of the podcast, including Sam Harris, who wrote, “No living philosopher has had a greater impact upon my ethics than Will MacAskill. . . . This is an altogether thrilling and necessary book.”

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.

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#612: Will MacAskill of Effective Altruism Fame — The Value of Longtermism, Tools for Beating Stress and Overwhelm, AI Scenarios, High-Impact Books, and How to Save the World and Be an Agent of Change

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Want to hear the first time Will MacAskill was on this podcast? Have a listen to my 2015 interview with Will MacAskill here, in which we discuss how to take a scientific approach to doing good, charity spending for the poorest of the poor versus investing in future generations, the perils of pursuing your passion, underrated existential threats, life decision frameworks, and much more.

#120: Will MacAskill on Effective Altruism, Y Combinator, and Artificial Intelligence

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Will MacAskill:

Website | Twitter

SHOW NOTES

[07:20] Recommended reading.
[13:26] How Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment changed Will’s life.
[18:12] Maintaining optimism in the age of doomscrolling.
[23:41] What is effective altruism?
[26:04] Resources for maximizing the impact of your philanthropy.
[27:45] How adopting a check-in system has most improved Will’s life.
[32:32] Caffeine limits.
[34:08] Effective back pain relief.
[41:18] What is longtermism, and why did Will write What We Owe the Future?
[43:44] Future generations matter.
[46:42] Finding the line between apathy and fatalism that spurs action toward ensuring there’s a future.
[52:23] What Will hopes readers take away from What We Owe the Future.
[55:56] What is value lock-in?
[1:01:38] Most concerning threats projected over the next 10 years.
[1:09:28] Most promising developments happening now.
[1:13:47] How Will refocuses during periods of overwhelm.
[1:18:48] Perils of AI considered plausible by the people who create it.
[1:30:42] Longtermist-minded resources and actions we can take now.
[1:36:29] Parting thoughts.

MORE GUEST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I often think to myself, ‘Could I justify my life now to my 15-year-old self?’ And if the answer is no, then I’m a bit like, ‘Oh, what are you doing? You’re not living up to what earlier Will would’ve wanted for present Will.’”
— Will MacAskill

“I give away most of my income, which is a very unusual thing to do. And you might think, oh, that’s a sacrifice that’s making my life worse, but actually I find it kind of empowering because I am making an autonomous decision. I am not merely following the dictates of what social convention is telling me to do, but I’m reasoning about things from first principles and then making a decision that’s genuinely, authentically mine.”
— Will MacAskill

“In the last podcast, we talked a lot about global health and development and what’s the difference you can make? Well, if you are a middle-class member of a rich country, it’s on the order of saving dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives over the course of your life, if you put your mind to it. That’s huge. Now, we’re talking about existential risks and the long-term future of humanity. What’s the difference you can make? You can play a part in being pivotal in putting humanity onto a better trajectory for, not just centuries, but for thousands, millions, or even billions of years.”
— Will MacAskill

“The amount of good that you can do is truly enormous. You can have cosmic significance, and that’s pretty inspiring.”
— Will MacAskill

“When you think about the difference you can make rather than just focusing on the magnitude of the problems, I think there’s every reason for optimism.”
— Will MacAskill

“Even just the progress we’ve made over the last few hundred years, people today have far, far better lives. If you extrapolate that out just a few hundred years more, let alone thousands of years, then there’s at least a good chance that we could have a future where everyone lives, not just as well as the best people alive today, but maybe tens, hundreds, thousands of times better.”
— Will MacAskill

“One thing I think that a lot of people find motivating is this thought that you’re part of this grand project, much, much grander than yourself, of trying to build a good and flourishing society over the course of not just centuries, but thousands of years, and that’s one way in which our lives have meaning.”
— Will MacAskill

“We face truly enormous challenges in our life. Many of these challenges are very scary. They can be overwhelming. They can be intimidating. But I really believe that each of us individually can make an enormous difference to these problems. We really can significantly help as part of a wider community to putting humanity onto a better path. And if we do, then the future really could be long and absolutely flourishing. And your great-great-grandkids will thank you.”
— Will MacAskill

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