Philanthropy Friday: Will Bill Gates, and the Effective Altruists destroy the arts?
THE WASHINGTON POST
By Gary P. Steuer
In an interview in the Financial Times, Bill Gates equated donating to a museum with blinding people. Seriously. He was referencing the ethicist Peter Singer, whose work has fostered the “effective altruism” movement:... The effective altruists’ completely dispassionate assessment of “value” — lives saved per dollar — does not allow for a holistic approach to what makes a healthy society. n addition, many of the things that are important to our souls — beauty, hope, joy, tolerance, inspiration — are fostered through the arts. They may be very hard to sufficiently measure in a world of purely data-driven philanthropy. This does not mean they are not important. [link]
By Gary P. Steuer
In an interview in the Financial Times, Bill Gates equated donating to a museum with blinding people. Seriously. He was referencing the ethicist Peter Singer, whose work has fostered the “effective altruism” movement:... The effective altruists’ completely dispassionate assessment of “value” — lives saved per dollar — does not allow for a holistic approach to what makes a healthy society. n addition, many of the things that are important to our souls — beauty, hope, joy, tolerance, inspiration — are fostered through the arts. They may be very hard to sufficiently measure in a world of purely data-driven philanthropy. This does not mean they are not important. [link]
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