Moral Philosopher Will MacAskill on What We Owe The Future

How can we do the most good with our careers, money and lives? And what are the things that we can do right now, to positively impact future generations to come? This is the mission of the Effective Altruism (EA) movement co-founded by Will McAskill, Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Oxford and co-founder of nonprofits Giving What We Can, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Y Combinator-backed 80,000 Hour. In the conversation, me and Will talk about the fundamentals of EA, his brand new book 'What We Owe The Future', the idea of 'longtermism', the most pressing existential threats humanity is facing and what we can do about them, why giving away your income will make you happier, why your career choice is the biggest choice you’ll make in your life and much more.

00:00 Intro
02:30 Will's Backstory
07:57 What does it mean to be an academic philosopher?
15:28 Why donations improve our wellbeing
20:49 Valuing the lives of people we don't know
26:12 What the world is over-prioritising and under-prioritising
36:25 Let's talk about feelings
41:07 Creating altruistic rules for yourself
47:54 Your career is one of the biggest decisions you'll make
53:05 The balance of selfish desires vs what the world needs
55:30 Why nonprofits sponsor podcasts
59:27 Giving What We Can
01:06:48 What resources would you recommend
01:10:47 Longtermism and Will's new book: What We Owe The Future
01:29:43 How worried should we be about engineered viruses
01:37:39 What are your concerns about nuclear weapons
01:45:31 Value Lock-in
01:51:15 Artificial General Intelligence
02:00:00 What are the starting points for someone learning more
02:06:36 How can you be so cheerful
02:09:37 What your day-to-day look like
02:16:52 Slavery
02:18:12 Climate change and clean energy
02:24:55 Ali's book
02:30:49 Will's goal for his book
02:33:35 Will's productivity advice
02:45:00 Scaling Ali's business
02:52:13 Final ask for the audience

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🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST

Deep Dive is the podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. In each episode, Ali has conversations with guests from wide-ranging areas around the five pillars of a good life: health, wealth, love, happiness and impact - to empower you to live your best life.

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[utopiaisnow]

One of the most important podcasts you've done Ali.

Highly recommend reading Will's first book 'Doing Good Better'.

Thanks for sharing!

[elliotmccluskey]

Super interesting conversation, especially as I begin to explore EA more so a massive thanks for releasing this. I do however believe that the video cuts and constant “yep”s and “okay”s distract the listeners from the conversation. It seems like other top podcasters make a concerted effort to not do this for the same reason. Not sure if your future episodes have the same issue but massively thankful for this episode either way. Cheers Ali!

[parasocialbondsmetaswvoits]

Holy crap! The timing is perfect! Thank you very very much!

[coffeemug]

You have the best interview with Will Macaskill, I watched other interviews of him and it wasn't as indepth & interesting as yours.

[sasha_piter_]

Truly inspiring, and definitely one of the best podcasts!

[salyk.palpan]

Really grateful for this podcast! This conversation helped me a lot 👐

[juliancassidy]

Honestly this is the most impactful talk you've ever given on the podcast. It probably changed someone's career trajectory and approach to living, it damn sure changed mine.

[razabadass]

Thank you Will, Ali and behind the scenes related people, Raza :)

[acleverroos]

Coming to this interview from the end of '23, it's crazy to remember how highly people thought of SBF. Great content, but what a wild change in public perspective of a very high-profile EA dude.

[ChrisInmanDrums]

Oh this will be good I know it. Looking forward to this weeks gym sessions, listening my way through this each time I’m there 😄

[rockannie]

there's no "taking a hit" to one's salary when donating. there is just an additional way of spending the money earned. if one takes a hit in donating, one also takes a hit when buying groceries or going out to see a film, etc. I imagine one could also funnel potential donations into one's own charity so as to spend that money in precisely the way one sees as most impactful and most desirable to you as an individual.

[humbleinthejungle.]

William MacAskill, absolute legend. Thank you for this.

[beckyjanefox]

Great convo, thanks for uploading it all. If you want to find that feeling, don't read or watch stuff, just GO!! Go visit some of these places and meet these people and then see how you feel :)

[Rosherrim]

Absolutely loved it. What a great conversation, very inspiring, I’m off to read his books now!

[supratiksarkar]

Does the editing seem a lot choppier than usual or is it just me

[Karen_in_Alaska]

This is the most feel-bad of all the deep dive interviews.😵‍💫 I had to stop listening by 1:32 and it was getting depressing long before that.

[catherinemccormick]

Hahaha I was with you up till the pram comment! Having a good one will save your wrists alone - more typing = more productivity lol

[mirmedart]

Great interview Ali! Def reading his books now and looking into effective altruism and 80000 hours. Been thinking more and more about how I should spend a career as a physician giving back. Also Will brings up Wellbutrin (Bupropion), probably the best antidepressant I’ve found that works for most people, treatment for MDD, ADHD, BPD, SAD, smoking cessation as well as an adjunct for SSRI induced ED, works as a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (DNRI?). Maybe a good start for the pill from Limitless? 😄

[ChrisInmanDrums]

2nd comment on here I know - was pleasantly surprised to hear Will voice again on this weeks New Scientist podcast this week. Awesome that he’s getting the opportunity to spread his message out there as much as possible; I really hope so many people read this book.

[lexif]

Interesting video, but cuts are terrible for me. No breathing time and it feels really unnatural to watch. I had to stop.