People often underestimate how brittle attempts to improve the world are.
Altruism, at a large scale, often hinges on a chain of assumptions/requirements, such as:
A & B & C & D & E
One broken link in the chain means it looks like you’re doing good but you’re not really doing it.
For example, to help the world by delivering medicine, the chain might look like this:
The medicine reliably cures the disease
& the side effects are not worse than being ill
& many people are ill with the disease in that area
& you can deliver the medication to them cheaply
& they take the medicine
& they don’t already have access to an effective medication
A deep causal understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, and a frequent refocusing on the value you’re trying to produce (not getting lost in intermediate goals), is really important when it comes to actually producing a broad positive impact.
This piece was first written on September 11, 2020, and first appeared on my website on June 24, 2026.
Comments