If we compare McTaggart with the other commentators on Hegel we must admit that he has at least produced an extremely lively and fascinating rabbit from the Hegelian hat, whilst they have produced nothing but consumptive and gibbering chimeras. And we shall admire his resource and dexterity all the more when we reflect that the rabbit was, in all probability, never inside the hat, whilst the chimeras perhaps were.
To encourage others to give and to keep myself accountable, I’ve decided to start a log of my charitable donations. This report covers donations made during the period 2013-2016, and will be updated at the end of each new year. I may also start tracking money moved in addition to direct donations, as Peter does, and might provide information about donations made prior to 2013, if I find the relevant records.
Note that the amounts I donate are very modest relative to those donated by some of the effective altruists I most admire, such as Brian, Peter, Jeff, and Michael. At some point in the past, I considered earning to give, but ultimately decided that I could have a much bigger impact through direct work, in particular by multiplying the impact of other, highly impactful EAs. I estimate that my current impact through direct work, counterfactually adjusted, is maybe 100 times my impact through donations (the EA I work for, who moves hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to cost-effective charities and has considerable direct impact through public advocacy and outreach, believes that I make him ~⅓ more impactful and that I’m largely irreplaceable).