site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   5159 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 26, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

What charitable organizations, activist groups, political entities etc. do you donate to? I'm finding that I have enough slack in the budget each month that I'd like to support some good causes. Starting off with some local orgs but keen for more ideas.

Givewell, Focus Ireland, the Future of Humanity Institute, the Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation and my local rape crisis centre get recurring donations every month. I've donated to the Uyghur Human Rights Project once and will likely do so again.

Institute for Justice, which is on a crusade against stupid occupational licensing requirements.

Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller International, Clean Air Task Force, GiveDirectly, WaterAid America.

More here if you want to look through further areas.

After many years of donating to a worldwide charity (Mercy Corps), a few years back I redirected that money to local causes. I split equally between the local food bank and a private school for homeless children (California so this is a large population). However I am considering switching it all to the food bank as I am more confident that money is being used wisely.

Donate local. You'll be more likely to know where it is going, you can become more of a local fixture, you're going to get more credit at lower amounts, etc. None of that might be important to you in and of itself, but why get X when for the same money you can get X+Y? Unless you're convinced that for the same money you're getting that much more value from a national org, give only locally.

Depends on what you value. Standard utilitarian calculus demands donating to the third world for highest impact.

Utilitarianism is fundamentally incompatible with human flourishing.

While you’re still yelling at clouds I’ll be riding my spaceship around new solar systems pumping out utilons by the quadrillion, old man. ;)

Local animal shelter. I also started subscribing more to independent content creators - we need some alternatives to the mainstream press that has abandoned its mission completely, and the only way to do this that I see is to enable grassroots financing of the alternatives.

Givewell's maximum impact fund

I'm in this boat too. Would be particularly interested in organizations where no one draws a salary. Most non-profits are a grift. A non-profit with no salaries sends a strong signal about commitment level to the cause.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats