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[This is the third post in my thirty-day writing challenge where I publish one blog post daily. Tune in for more if you enjoy the post!]
There is a funny word that is almost exclusive to the vernacular of the EA community, and this word bestows downright magical powers on its users.
The word I’m talking about is neglected.
I view this word as a sort of “Get Out of Jail Free” card for doing the most useless things you’ve ever heard of. Something that will happen to you if you go to parties in SF is that people will tell you what they do, and their statements will almost always be very interesting. And sometimes, you will hear something like this:
“I run a startup making fur-lined boots for honey bees. As it turns out, honey bees get really cold feet in the winter, and this diminishes their well-being by around 20%. Since there are so many honey bees, and because there are tons of butterfly effects from honey bees being happier, this would produce a sizable—but not enormous—positive good for the world. And it’s a really neglected problem, so I think it’s a pretty good use of my time.” [1]
You will then smile, nod, and then excuse yourself to eat some Oreos or one of the other vegan snacks they have at the party. That is, unless you’re really pushy, in which case you will ask them tons of questions about why they are doing what they’re doing. Because, like, come on. Really? That’s what you’re doing? Out of all of the things on the planet that you could spend your time on, you chose to make fur-lined boots for honey bees?
Normally I’d try to steelman this point of view. But I’ve pushed a lot of people who say things like this, and I’ve literally never heard a single good argument from any of them. It always just bottoms out in “it seems like a good idea”, or “it’s pretty neglected...”. Even if you take this person’s speculative numbers at face value, they are doing—at best—a pretty modest good. And this just pales in comparison to other things they could be doing, regar