Demanding gambles

Abstract

Call a moral theory “demanding” to the extent that conforming to its requirements makes its adherents worse off. Many people have complained that EA-style consequentialism is too demanding. For example, it may require many rich Westerners to devote significant amounts of time and money to helping people in extreme poverty. In reply, EAs like to emphasize that this requirement is not as demanding as it may appear. One reason is that an altruist’s sacrifices of time and money are compensated by tremendous feelings of “self-actualization and excitement” (as Holden Karnofsky puts it) from having made the world a better place.