{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Against The Concept Of Telescopic Altruism","description":"I. \u201cTelescopic altruism\u201d is a supposed tendency for some people to ignore those close to them in favor of those further away. Like its cousin \u201cvirtue signaling\u201d, it usually gets used to own the libs. Some lib cares about people in Gaza - why? Shouldn\u2019t she be thinking about her friends and neighbors instead? The only possible explanation is that she\u2019s an evil person who hates everyone around her, but manages to feel superior to decent people by pretending to \u201ccare\u201d about foreigners who she\u2019ll never meet. This collapses upon five seconds\u2019 thought. Okay, so the lib is angry about the Israeli military killing 50,000 people in Gaza. Do you think she would be angry if the Israeli military killed 50,000 of her neighbors? Probably yes? Then what\u2019s the problem? \u201cBut vegetarians care about animals more than humans!\u201d Okay, yeah, they sure do get mad about a billion pigs kept for their entire lives in cages too small to turn around in, then murdered and eaten. Do you think they\u2019d care if a billion of their closest friends were kept for their entire lives in cages too small to turn around in, then murdered and eaten? I dunno, seems bad. Maybe there is some possible comparison where some altruist cares about some set of foreigners more than a comparable set of countrymen? The war in Gaza killed 50,000 people, but the opioid crisis kills a bit over 50,000 Americans per year - is everyone who cares about Gaza exactly equally concerned about the opioid crisis? No, but there\u2019s a better explanation - people care about dramatic deaths in big explosions more than boring health crises, regardless of where they happen. Everyone, lib and con alike, cared more about 9-11 than about a hundred opioid crises, even though the former only killed 4% as many people as the latter. And even the people who care about the opioid crisis usually can\u2019t bring themselves to care about anything on the List Of Top US Causes Of Death, which are all extra-boring things like diabetes. Once you match like to like, nope, it\u2019s pretty hard to find a \u201ctelescopic altruism\u201d example that stands out from the general background of people having weird priorities. Nearly everyone cares about people close to them more than people far away. If there\u2019s a lib who would attend a Gaza protest instead of getting their deathly-ill kid emergency medical care, I haven\u2019t met them - and the \u201ctelescopic altruism\u201d crowd certainly hasn\u2019t provided evidence of their existence. Instead, the people who care about their neighbors 1,000,000x times more than Gazans point to the people who \u2018only\u2019 care about their neighbors 1,000x times more than Gazans and say \u201cLook! Those guys care about Gazans more than their neighbors! Get \u2018em!\u201d in order to avoid any debate about whether a million or a thousand or whatever is the right multiplier. https:\/\/www.astralcodexten.com\/p\/against-the-concept-of-telescopic ","author_name":"Astral Codex Ten Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/sscpodcast.libsyn.com\/website","html":"