I recently read a selection form Rhys Southan’s Is Art a Waste of Time? Two excerpts from the text stood out to me. The first reads “I find that most of us seem to ultimately care about something close to the concept of well being- we want everyone to be happy and fulfilled, and we promote anything that leads to humans and animals feeling happy and fulfilled. I rarely meet effective altruists who care about, say, beauty, knowledge, life, or the environment for their own sake-rather, they tend to find that they care about these things insofar as the contribute to well being.”
To me, this passage explains how humans have a strong desire to be “fulfilled”, both emotionally and physically. It also explains how many altruists take this to an extreme and care about the world only for their own sake.
The second excerpt that stood out to me discusses who you create art for. Yourself, or for the world. It explains how you can check for yourself bu asking the question “If someone came up with a project idea that you had, but they produced and distributed their work first, would you be upset?” That question is interesting to me, since I believe that if you work hard to create something that benefits the world, you should also receive some credit for your work. I would definitely be upset if that exact scenario happened to me, and I am sure that most people would too.
-JMR
Max,
You gravitated to some important moments in the text. Nice work! It doesn’t look like you were able to upload an IMAGE of your annotations. Please let me know if you have any trouble doing so. I know that you accidentally worked with Klinkinborg, so I’m guessing in your hurry to write about Southan, you may have forgotten? 3/3
Your website looks great! I enjoyed reading your About Me page. Do you have any reading to recommend on the Industrial Revolution? Keep up the good work! 5/5