Doing Good Better and Effective Altruism

Keerthana will be hosting this meetup. Her description:

I recently read Doing Good Better by William McAskill, and was struck by how many of its conclusions felt counterintuitive—especially as someone who hadn’t explored Effective Altruism in much depth before.

I thought it would be interesting to unpack some of these ideas together: which ones hold up under scrutiny, which ones feel misleading or incomplete, and what kind of evidence would actually change our minds about how to do the most good—especially when it comes to donations and career choices.

If you want, you can read the book beforehand—it’s very accessible, and there’s also an audiobook version available on Spotify. If not, a short summary, review, or video overview should be enough context to participate.

Here's the famous TED Talk by Peter Singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diuv3XZQXyc

TED Talk by McAskill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyprXhvGVYk