What are you doing to make the world a better place? Co-founder of the Effective Altruism movement, Will MacAskill, joins Roberts to talk about Doing Good Better, “tooling up” to change the world, and earning to give.

We’d like to hear what you took away from this week’s episode, and how it might affect the way you try to make a difference. Use the prompts below, or suggest alternative ones, to continue the conversation offline.

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1. What is the “Hundred Times Multiplier,” according to MacAskill? Roberts is skeptical. Which side are you on?

 

2. At approximately 37 minutes in, Roberts says that MacAskill has cleverly played to his biases. What does he mean by this? Just how closely do MacAskill and Roberts approach charity?

 

3. What are your thoughts on MacAskill’s concept of “Earning to Give?” How does this compare to the advice Dan Pallota has for the non-profit sector? Would you be comfortable telling someone who was planning to be a doctor that he or she might make a bigger contribution to others as a hedge fund manager who gives a lot to charity?

 

4. In MacAskill’s book, he argues that it might be better to be a politician than an academic because a politician can have a huge impact. Do you agree with this advice? How might Roberts’s skepticism about the potential for science to guide our altruism come into play in this example?