How Many Lives Can You Save? -- Taking Charity Seriously

Google Tech Talk
March 25, 2013
(more info below)
Presented by Toby Ord

ABSTRACT

People admire doctors and rescue workers and marvel at the possibility of saving someone's life -- something that few of us would ever achieve. And yet at the same time, we routinely hear that for a small sum of money we could save someone's life in a developing country and this scarcely impacts our behaviour. There is an important disconnect between these two attitudes and it has serious moral implications. I will speak about the evidence which shows that we really can make a tremendous difference by giving, and then explore the moral case for giving much more than we typically do. I will then look at the great disparity in effectiveness between different charities and show how choosing *where* to give can be even more important than the decision to give in the first place.

• Category

  • Science & Technology

• License

  • Standard YouTube License