The Nonlinear Library EA - Notes on not taking the GWWC pledge (yet) by Lizka
Nov 15, 2023
04:08
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Notes on not taking the GWWC pledge (yet), published by Lizka on November 15, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
This is a belated (and rough/
short!) post for
Effective Giving Spotlight week. The post isn't meant to be a criticism of GWWC or of people who have taken the pledge[1] - just me sharing my thoughts in the hope that they're useful to others or that I'll get useful suggestions. Also, since I drafted this, there's been
a related discussion here.
I've sometimes thought about taking a
GWWC pledge, but haven't taken one yet and don't currently think I should. The TL;DR is that I'm worried about (1) runway and (2) my life changing in the future, such that donating more would be unsustainable or would trade off in bad-from-the-POV-of-my-EA-values with direct work.
Longer notes/thoughts
I'm currently prioritizing "direct work". That
doesn't mean that I can't donate (and in fact
I do and enjoy doing it when I do), but I'm worried about committing to donating in a way that would lead me to make poor tradeoffs in the future. Signing the pledge seems like a serious commitment.
In particular, I'm thinking about:
1. Having enough
runway[2]
Runway seems important (and has been discussed a fair bit before, see e.g.
here and
more recently).
… for potentially starting something on my own, or taking a poorly paid (or unpaid) opportunity to upskill
E.g. going into a Master's program, taking a sabbatical to see if I can build up a new idea, etc.
… for epistemics & independence
E.g. if I was worried about EV/CEA/the usefulness of my work, I can imagine leaving without another opportunity lined up, so I'm relatively free to consider what's wrong at EV/CEA (otherwise this would be really stressful to think about). If I had no runway at all, I'd have a much harder time thinking about leaving.
To the extent that donations trade off building runway, I should factor that in.
I.e. if the alternative to donations right now is saving money, and I'm below where I should be for having enough runway, that means donations are in some sense more costly. It doesn't mean I shouldn't donate in any situation until I've hit my runway target, just that the bar is probably higher for me right now.
How much runway someone should have (i.e. the shape of the "usefulness of runway" curve[3]) is confusing to me - I'd be interested in hearing what others think.
2. My life changing in the future, such that donating more would be unsustainable or would trade off in bad-from-the-POV-of-my-EA-values with direct work
I have a family that I may need to support in some circumstances. I've thought about (not-too-unlikely) scenarios in the coming years where I might face a choice between having drastically less time for my work, spending significant amounts of money, or not fulfilling my family obligations in a way that I think is bad. (Being there for my family is one of my core values/
goals.)
And I probably want kids. If I have a child (or multiple children), I think there are many worlds where it would be better for me to be able to do something like hire a part-time nanny or pay for other services that would allow me to work more. (
See this recent post!)
Not committing to donating a certain amount every year might mean I can make better tradeoffs in situations like these.
3. Some worries about my thinking
My reasoning might be
motivated: I might be fooling myself into thinking that I shouldn't take the pledge because that would be less stressful for me.
Value drift: I'm worried that my future self might not donate for reasons that I don't endorse. But I'm not too worried about that right now.
^
I'm really grateful to (and impressed by) the folks who've taken a donation pledge and who donate a lot.
^
Runway is less specifically related to the question of whether to take a pledge, vs. just the choice of wh...
This is a belated (and rough/
short!) post for
Effective Giving Spotlight week. The post isn't meant to be a criticism of GWWC or of people who have taken the pledge[1] - just me sharing my thoughts in the hope that they're useful to others or that I'll get useful suggestions. Also, since I drafted this, there's been
a related discussion here.
I've sometimes thought about taking a
GWWC pledge, but haven't taken one yet and don't currently think I should. The TL;DR is that I'm worried about (1) runway and (2) my life changing in the future, such that donating more would be unsustainable or would trade off in bad-from-the-POV-of-my-EA-values with direct work.
Longer notes/thoughts
I'm currently prioritizing "direct work". That
doesn't mean that I can't donate (and in fact
I do and enjoy doing it when I do), but I'm worried about committing to donating in a way that would lead me to make poor tradeoffs in the future. Signing the pledge seems like a serious commitment.
In particular, I'm thinking about:
1. Having enough
runway[2]
Runway seems important (and has been discussed a fair bit before, see e.g.
here and
more recently).
… for potentially starting something on my own, or taking a poorly paid (or unpaid) opportunity to upskill
E.g. going into a Master's program, taking a sabbatical to see if I can build up a new idea, etc.
… for epistemics & independence
E.g. if I was worried about EV/CEA/the usefulness of my work, I can imagine leaving without another opportunity lined up, so I'm relatively free to consider what's wrong at EV/CEA (otherwise this would be really stressful to think about). If I had no runway at all, I'd have a much harder time thinking about leaving.
To the extent that donations trade off building runway, I should factor that in.
I.e. if the alternative to donations right now is saving money, and I'm below where I should be for having enough runway, that means donations are in some sense more costly. It doesn't mean I shouldn't donate in any situation until I've hit my runway target, just that the bar is probably higher for me right now.
How much runway someone should have (i.e. the shape of the "usefulness of runway" curve[3]) is confusing to me - I'd be interested in hearing what others think.
2. My life changing in the future, such that donating more would be unsustainable or would trade off in bad-from-the-POV-of-my-EA-values with direct work
I have a family that I may need to support in some circumstances. I've thought about (not-too-unlikely) scenarios in the coming years where I might face a choice between having drastically less time for my work, spending significant amounts of money, or not fulfilling my family obligations in a way that I think is bad. (Being there for my family is one of my core values/
goals.)
And I probably want kids. If I have a child (or multiple children), I think there are many worlds where it would be better for me to be able to do something like hire a part-time nanny or pay for other services that would allow me to work more. (
See this recent post!)
Not committing to donating a certain amount every year might mean I can make better tradeoffs in situations like these.
3. Some worries about my thinking
My reasoning might be
motivated: I might be fooling myself into thinking that I shouldn't take the pledge because that would be less stressful for me.
Value drift: I'm worried that my future self might not donate for reasons that I don't endorse. But I'm not too worried about that right now.
^
I'm really grateful to (and impressed by) the folks who've taken a donation pledge and who donate a lot.
^
Runway is less specifically related to the question of whether to take a pledge, vs. just the choice of wh...