Should You Act… Even If It Won’t Change Anything? | Tristram McPherson
🔍 Key insights
You’re Not Powerless, You’re Part of a System – Even if your individual choices feel small, they participate in collective behaviors that either sustain or disrupt global-scale harms.
Expected Value Matters – A single action might have a low chance of changing the world — but when the possible impact is massive, even that sliver of probability can be morally significant.
There Are Limits to Consequentialism – Some harms might be unjustifiable, even if they lead to great outcomes. The real ethical question is: should you dirty your hands for the greater good?
📚 Go deeper
🎥 Related videos:
3 ethical catastrophes you can help stop, right now | Peter Singer | Big Think – Peter’s Singer views on a few moral challenges we are facing as a society.
The Horror of Utopia | The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas – A deep dive into Le Guin’s powerful ethical allegory.
📖 Further reading:
The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer – The cornerstone of effective altruism and small-action ethics.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin – A haunting short story that challenges utilitarian comfort zones.
💡 Think for Yourself
If your small action has only a 0.01% chance of preventing catastrophic harm — are you still responsible for not taking it?
Are there moral lines that should never be crossed, even if doing so would result in an enormous good?
☁️ Thought Experiment
Imagine you’re offered a deal: harm one conscious being in secret, and in return, ten million people will be cured of cancer. No one will ever know. No one will suffer except that one being. Would you say yes? And if not, why not?
Cheers,
Kevin