Going beyond the charitable donations and food drives of pre-existing societies such as VeganSoc, the Trinity branch of Effective Altruism Ireland wants to expand our understanding of what it means to do good. Trinity students Matthew McRedmond and Cian Mullarkey seek to establish a new student society.
Drawing inspiration from the work of Peter Singer and Daniel Ellsberg, Effective Altruism Ireland’s philosophy is “about rethinking how we do good and refocusing the impact you have on people’s lives”. The group organises multiple events each week, such as handing out books, offering free lunches and arranging speaker events. Free copies of Singer’s Animal Liberation, a novel about extending empathy to animals, were recently shared with members.
The idea behind the Effective Altruism philosophy is that doing good in the world should be done strategically. By thinking critically about our approach to altruism, using reason and evidence, advocates of this philosophy believe we can ensure that our charitable acts help as many people as possible. GiveWell, a non-profit charity in the US, is another organisation that seeks to put this philosophy into practise. Data is collected on the cost-effectiveness of various charities, and GiveWell then recommends charities where donations will have the maximum impact. Three metrics are generally used the school of thought to choose the most impactful causes: the importance of the problem, the difficulty of making progress, and the neglectedness of the area by other organisations.
Effective Altruism Ireland organises eight-week-long Arete Fellowships for those interested in learning about the theory of this philosophy. Participants in the Fellowships meet one another every week for eight weeks to discuss different ideas around altruism and consider how charitable endeavours can strategically help as many people as possible.
Speaking to The University Times, co-founder Matthew McRedmond, a third-year mathematics and economics student, explains how his experience with the Arete Fellowship began his journey with Effective Altruism Ireland. Cian Mullarkey, a friend from his course, ran the Fellowship group on Zoom during the 2021 lockdown. “Cian was involved with the Effective Altruism movement online for a long time”, said McRedmond, “and after finishing the eight weeks I realised ‘wow no one else is doing good like this’.”
However, without Trinity society status, ambiguity surrounds the group’s purpose, and abilities, on campus. “We can’t use the Trinity name or branding, we can’t have events on campus, so for hosting speakers in Trinity we have to collaborate with societies,” McRedmond explained. “Society status would give us the recognition that we’re a Trinity society rather than just a bunch of people.”
The current Effective Altruism Ireland group comprises more than just Trinity students, but the ambiguity of who their target audience is can disincentivise people from getting involved. Full-time workers view it as a student group so don’t want to get involved. College students see it as a non-student group and similarly steer clear. With Trinity society status, the group could divide into a student-oriented branch in Trinity, and a non-student branch elsewhere, thus overcoming this ambiguity.
Today, McRedmond and Mullarkey will make their pitch to the CSC, who will decide whether or not to award the group society status. “There’s 15 minutes where we get to do the pitch and then we find out a few hours later. But we’ve been planning this for months – on one level it’s exciting, on another we’re scared that we’re going to screw it up!” said McRedmond. If rejected, the group will have to wait until February 2023 to reapply.
There were some concerns about the longevity of the society when McRedmond and Mullarkey decided to apply: Mullarkey worried that if they received society status, no one would be involved to take over when they graduate in 2023. Fortunately, the group received renewed interest from first-year students at the beginning of 2022.
Should the CSC provide society status, Effective Altruism Ireland intends to run significantly more events on campus. Students interested in the movement will find more information at their website here and can sign up to the weekly newspaper to hear about speaker events, Arete Fellowship openings, and free lunches.
