Science for the People: Effective Altruism

sftp412bnfgp2agl-_sl250_This week, we’re learning how science can boost the effectiveness of philanthropy. We’ll talk to philosophy professor William MacAskill about his book Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference. And we’ll speak to education researcher Brendan Rigby about the ethics and impact of “voluntourism.”

Don’t forget to support the Science for the People Patreon Campaign to keep the sciencey goodness flowing toward your ear holes.

*Josh provides research help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.

WWJD?

Treat everyone like they are your friend – even if they are not.

That is from my five year old child summing up the philosophy of Jesus*. We were talking about how to deal with classmates who are not being friendly. It struck me that this might, just might, be relevant to the current rhetoric surrounding the humanitarian crisis of Syrian refugees.

*We live in the pervasively Christian middle of South Carolina.

Lizard’s Eye View #finchstagram

Photo by Josh Witten (CC BY-NC-SA) via Instagram http://ift.tt/1SWbsa3

Allez les Bleus

Flag_of_FranceFor fans of rugby union (or association football), watching France’s national teams is often accompanied by supporters chanting “Allez les Bleus!” as they encourage their national representative.  We are all France supporters this week.

What Autumn Colors? #finchstagram

Photo by Josh Witten (CC BY-NC-SA) via Instagram http://ift.tt/1X1mrQ0