Review: The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically by Peter Singer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Say you are Mr. Spock, and you take it as a personal goal to optimize the good in the world. You’d first define what good is. After some thought, you might come up with the good that you want to focus on is eliminating medical issues in the world to reduce human pain and suffering. Then you would emotionlessly put forward your efforts and wealth to making that happen. Only after you totally solve the problems of health would you consider turning your attention to something farther up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This path follows logic and optimization based on an assumption of what “good” is. What loses with Singer’s system? Tribalism and higher human callings like the arts. What really doesn’t feel right here is the thought that if everyone followed this prescription, the world would be very grey, leaving more of humanity alive but having less to live for. This was a very thought-provoking book to read, and I’m glad I did. Although I don’t agree in total with the author, I can easily understand those that do agree and I commend those donors on putting effort and reflection into their plans. I guess the rest of us will fund the local jazz radio station.

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