Many serious problems affecting nations, regions, and the planet are the result of bad government or the lack of any relevant government: populism leads to unsustainable budgets; nationalism and other sorts of out-group devaluation lead to destructive conflicts and neglect of the benefits of cooperation; Quasi-religious, essentialist, and moralistic doctrines reinforce laws and practices that result in persecution of minorities; world environmental and health problems that demand cooperation are neglected. These harmful policies depend on the support of large numbers of citizens. Many citizens do not think well about political issues or how they use the little power they have individually. They accept parochial and moralistic principles without serious examination. They accept fallacious arguments and exhibit other biases. These problems can be reduced by actively open-minded thinking (AOT), which also helps in evaluating policies and information sources. AOT involves testing possible conclusions by looking for arguments against them, and avoiding unjustified high confidence. On the other side, effective citizens (who actually exist) have the virtues of cosmopolitanism (universal beneficence), anti-moralism, and acceptance of actively open-minded thinking (AOT) as a standard. Effective citizenship is consistent with a version of utilitarianism that takes our motivation as a fact that limits what we could do.
Keywords: voting, parochialism, actively open-minded thinking, moralism, utilitarianism, politics
Chapter 1: Introduction
Governments matter. National governments vary widely, and the fate of the people they govern, and outsiders, depends on their quality. Bad government leads to war, the anarchy of gangs, poverty, environmental degradation, and unsustainable use of resources. Nationalism prevents governments from joining together to solve world-wide problems of health and the natural environment. Indivitual efforts to live sustainably or responsibly cannot solve these problems. Nor can indiviaul charity. Rather, these problems ultimately arise from the psychology of citizens as political agents. Recent research has examined effective altruism, but that is insufficient. Government is needed even for altruism to be effective. Effective citizenship can be justified by a form of utilitarian theory, based on decision theory, which takes motives as constraints on options. It can be supported by social norms. Pessimism about democracy is unwarranted. Better thinking can matter. Chapter 1 ends with an overview of the rest of the book.
Keywords: effective altruism, utilitarianism, democracy, government, anarchy, social norms
Chapter 2: Social norms for citizenship
Although critics of democracy argue that it doesn't work, it still beats the alternatives. And some arguments against it are based on questionable assumptions, e.g., that statistical effects apply to most members of a group. Democracy could, though, be better still if elections were designed differently and if certain social norms were understood to apply to citizenship. Social norms are principles that are endorsed by some group, on condition that others in the group also endorse them. Three such norms are cosmopolitanism (impartial beneficence), anti-moralism (opposition to the imposition of unsupportable quasi-religious principles on others), and actively open-minded thinking (AOT). AOT, summarized most thoroughly in this chapter, involves looking for reasons why a tentative conclusion might be wrong, and avoiding overconfidence. These norms can be seen as virtues, each paired with corresponding vices, such as parochialism, moralism, myside bias, and overconfidence. Other utilitarian virtues are relevant, such as mode Many serious problems affecting nations, regions, and the planet are the result of bad government or the lack of any relevant government: populism leads to unsustainable budgets; nationalism and other sorts of out-group devaluation lead to destructive conflicts and neglect of the benefits of cooperation; Quasi-religious, essentialist, and moralistic doctrines reinforce laws and practices that result in persecution of minorities; world environmental and health problems that demand cooperation are neglected. These harmful policies depend on the support of large numbers of citizens. Many citizens do not think well about political issues or how they use the little power they have individually. They accept parochial and moralistic principles without serious examination. They accept fallacious arguments and exhibit other biases. These problems can be reduced by actively open-minded thinking (AOT), which also helps in evaluating policies and information sources. AOT involves testing possible conclusions by looking for arguments against them, and avoiding unjustified high confidence. On the other side, effective citizens (who actually exist) have the virtues of cosmopolitanism (universal beneficence), anti-moralism, and acceptance of actively open-minded thinking (AOT) as a standard. Effective citizenship is consistent with a version of utilitarianism that takes our motivation as a fact that limits what we could do.
parochialism, actively open-minded thinking, moralism, utilitarianism, politics
Keywords: social norms, democracy, culture, virtues, vices, cosmopolitanism, actively open-minded thinking, parochialism, myside bias, overconfidence
Chapter 3 General psychological biases as counter-norms
This chapter reviews research on departures from the three virtues, with an emphasis on individual differences. Parochialism, the vice opposing cosmopolitanism, can be dramatic: some people are willing to tolerate large numbers of losses to foreigners for the sake of equivalent gains to a small number of compatriots. Yet others are cosmpolitan, and still others think that they vote for their self-interest. Moralistic principles are like parochialism in that they attempt to impose undefensible moral opinions on an out-group that does not accept them, without considering the outgroup. Several biases oppose AOT. Myside bias is a general category for several different biases, many of which are found to correlate with misbeliefs and questionable beliefs, such as conspiracy theories. Intolerance of uncertainty can cause overconfidence and acceptance of overconfident claims by sources. Single mindedness is another vice. The chapter ends with a discussion of what to do about biases.
Keywords: cognitive biases, parochailism, myside bias, overconfidence, single mindedness
Chapter 4: Deontology and the role of fallacious reasoning
Keywords: voting, parochialism, actively open-minded thinking, moralism, utilitarianism, politics
This chapter introduces a method for evaluating deontolotigal principles, which is to ask why we should follow them if they make things worse, relative to the utiliraian optimum. Many common deontological arguments can then be seen as logical fallacies. In experiments, subjects are presented with arguments for deontological choices that make things worse. (If the choices do not do that, they do not conflict with utilitarianism.) Subjects vary in their ability to recognize fallacies in these arguments, such as missing or unjustifiable premises. Deontological rules tend to be simple, hence not universal and likely to have exceptions. Subjects with high AOT scores do better on this task; they may be more aware of the need to look for counter-arguments. The chapter includes a discussion of Hare's argument for utilitarianism, and possible alternatives to it. The chapter ends with a discussion of the origin of deontological rules, and implications for education.
Keywords: deontology, utilitarianism, Richard Hare, fallacies, metacognition, actively open-minded thinking, ideal observer
Chapter 5: Self-interest vs. altruistic motivation
From the perspective of an ideal observer, rational moral judgments combine the preferences of everyone affected as if they were conflicts within one person. The option set for decisions may be limited by motivational constraints. Such limitation avoids the criticism that utilitarianism creates infinite or impossible obligations; they are just not part of the option set. This limitation also affects utilitarian conclusions about social dilemmas - in which several people face a choice pitting self-interest against the common good - other public-goods problems, and voting. Voting may be irrational if voters care only about themselves, or even if they care about their nation, but rational if voters are cosmopolitan, with equal altruism toward all (or even with some insensitivity to numbers). The motivational limitation also affects the use of the generalization test ("What if everybody did that?") and the veil of ignorance as reasoning devices.
Keywords: motivation, self-interest, altruism, generalization test, veil of ignorance, ideal observer, voting, social dilemmas, public goods problems
Chapter 6: Voting and charity
The effective altruism movement has focused on charity, so it is worth asking whether voting can also serve the purpose of promoting good outcomes. MacAskill suggested that swing-state voting in the U.S. can be as effective as a large contribution. Brennan and Freiman dispute this claim. But voting can be effective. Voting to impose a rule that forces cooperation in social dilemmas can be especially powerful when the cost of spontaneous cooperation is high but the cost of voting to impose a rule is low. The threat of punishment alone may suffice, without much actual punishment. Improved voting rules can make effective citizenship more powerful, and campaign contributions (a form of costly voting, which is also charity) can empower to citizens in non-disputed districts. Many people already accept one or more of the social norms that I take to define effective citizenship, and education can increase such acceptance
Keywords: Brennan, Freiman, cooperation, punishment, voting, socially responsible consumption, campaign contributions
Chapter 7: Heuristics and biases in charity and voting
Both voting and charity are subject to various decision biases, some of which are common to both activities. Charity suffers from diversification bias, evaluability of consequences, and identifiability of victims. Both activities are subject to parochialism, and to prominence of the most salient attribute. Parochialism in voting is exacerbated by a feeling of disloyalty when voting considers effects on outsiders. Some people think that it is best to vote on the basis of their self-interest: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" A few people engage in "expressive voting" without considering consequences, e.g., when the better candidate loses because a few have voted for a third-party candidate who could not win. Some people consider redistribution to be "forced charity" and are opposed to it. Individuals differ in all these effects, and effective citizens should be able to resist these distortions.
Keywords: voting, charity, expressive voting, forced charity, evaluability, prominence effect, diversification bias
Chapter 8: Beyond voting
Direct democracy is not useful for many issues, when voters lack the time and ability to make good judgments. Voters are also biased in ways discussed in previous chapters. Representative democracy helps, but that is one way among others of getting public input on decision making. Others include modification of election rules, such as proportional representation, ranked choice, approval voting, "deliberative democracy", and formal decision analysis done with a group of "stakeholders". Different decisions should be made in different ways. For example, decisions that need to be made quickly should be made by a single person or a small group (as in the military). Some decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, others by application of a rule. Decisions made by those affected (the usual view of democracy) are subject to bias by self-interest and myopia. Some decisions are best made by dispassionate third parties, such as (supposedly) judges.
Keywords: direct democracy, proportional representation, deliberative democracy, decision analysis, ranked choice, approval voting
Chapter 9: Parochialism and nationalism
Parochialism is the neglect of effects on out-groups. Parochialism, and its manifestation as nationalism, could be reduced by AOT, since much of it is unjustifiable. A variety of experiments and other studies have demonstrated parochialism, and it has several mutually compatible explanations, including the illusion that helping your group helps you. It is often seen as a moral duty. It can be reduced by approval voting, or by individual role-taking. Harm to outsiders from action is seen as worse than failing to prevent the same harm. Thus, reframing harm as an action rather than an omission might reduce parochialism. Presenting insiders and outsider as equally entitled to our concern also has a certain appeal. Parochialism is at the root of major problems, including religious wars and the failures of nations to cooperate in solving world-wide problems. It demands the same moral outrage as slavery and the suppression of women.
Keywords: nationalism, duty, self-interest illusion, omission bias, approval voting, role-taking
Chapter 10: Moralism, paternalism, manipulation, freedom
Moralism, as defined here, is a vice, but we need to distinguish moralistic imposition from justified paternalism and other forms of manipulation, and more generally violations of freedom. Nudges are an example of attempts to influence choices. Sunstein argued that they are manipulative if they lead to impulsive decisions, but this is not necessary. An alternative view is that nudges are not manipulative when they increase overall expected utility. Manipulation would thus be deception leading to harm. From a utilitarian perspective, freedom is beneficial for some decisions but not others, and paternalism can be good, or it could turn into moralistic intrusion. These questions arise in the design of laws as well individual choices. Laws that define sharp lines for what counts as illegal reduce the cost of decision making, compared to decisions made case-by-case. Examples considered include free movement across borders, abortion, and euthanasia of infants.
Keywords: moralism, paternalism, manipulation, freedom, nudges, deception
Chapter 11: Functions of government
Utilitarianism, which justifies effective citizenship, can also be applied to types of policy questions that most governments face. For one thing, governments can efficiently solve social dilemmas by rules that force cooperation with the threat of punishment, and cooperation in the second-order social dilemma of supporting such rules is less costly than cooperation in the first-order dilemma. Governments can also provide public goods, such as police protection, education, and infrastructure. They can increase total utility by redistributing goods, helping those with less at the expense of those with more. Taxation, insurance, provision of necessary goods, and social insurance are all tools for redistribution, with different advantages and disadvantages.. Inequality deserves special attention because it is international as well as national, raising the possibility of world government. Redistribution over time, between present and future, is relevant too, if we knew which way it should go.
Keywords: redistribution, second-order social dilemmas, public goods, taxation, insurance, inequality, world government, discounting
Chapter 12: Education
In the early 1980s, Luis Alberto Machado introduced a program to raise the intelligence of the Venezuelan people. Richard Herrnstein, who had argued that IQ was largely genetic, agreed to help set up the program and its evaluation. It worked, but we don't know why. Machado himself seemed to agree that simply im Many serious problems affecting nations, regions, and the planet are the result of bad government or the lack of any relevant government: populism leads to unsustainable budgets; nationalism and other sorts of out-group devaluation lead to destructive conflicts and neglect of the benefits of cooperation; Quasi-religious, essentialist, and moralistic doctrines reinforce laws and practices that result in persecution of minorities; world environmental and health problems that demand cooperation are neglected. These harmful policies depend on the support of large numbers of citizens. Many citizens do not think well about political issues or how they use the little power they have individually. They accept parochial and moralistic principles without serious examination. They accept fallacious arguments and exhibit other biases. These problems can be reduced by actively open-minded thinking (AOT), which also helps in evaluating policies and information sources. AOT involves testing possible conclusions by looking for arguments against them, and avoiding unjustified high confidence. On the other side, effective citizens (who actually exist) have the virtues of cosmopolitanism (universal beneficence), anti-moralism, and acceptance of actively open-minded thinking (AOT) as a standard. Effective citizenship is consistent with a version of utilitarianism that takes our motivation as a fact that limits what we could do.
Keywords: education, intelligence, Luis Alberto Machado, Richard Herrnstein, IQ, actively open-minded thinking, decision analysis, probability
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