I can’t recall the last time I read a book in one sitting, but that’s what happened with Moral Ambition by bestselling author Rutger Bregman. I read the German edition, though it’s also available in Dutch (see James Herbert's Quick Take). An English release is slated for May.
The book opens with the statement: “The greatest waste of our times is the waste of talent.” From there, Bregman builds a compelling case for privileged individuals to leave their “bullshit jobs” and tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. He weaves together narratives spanning historical movements like abolitionism, suffrage, and civil rights through to contemporary initiatives such as Against Malaria Foundation, Charity Entrepreneurship, LEEP, and the Shrimp Welfare Project.
If you’ve been engaged with EA ideas, much of this will sound familiar, but I initially didn’t expect to enjoy the book as much as I did. However, Bregman’s skill as a storyteller and his knack for balancing theory and narrative make Moral Ambition a fascinating read. He reframes EA concepts in a more accessible way, such as replacing “counterfactuals” with the sports acronym “VORP” (Value Over Replacement Player). His use of stories and examples, paired with over 500 footnotes for details, makes the book approachable without sacrificing depth.
I had some initial reservations. The book draws heavily on examples from the EA community but rarely engages directly with the movement, mentioning EA mainly in the context of FTX. The final chapter also promotes Bregman’s own initiative, The School for Moral Ambition. However, the school’s values closely align with core EA principles. The ITN framework and pitches for major EA cause areas are in the book, albeit with varying levels of depth.
Having finished the book, I can appreciate its approach. Moral Ambition feels like a more pragmatic, less theory-heavy version of EA. The School for Moral Ambition has attracted better-known figures in Germany, such as the political economist Maja Göpel and social entrepreneur Waldemar Zeiler, who haven’t previously been associated with EA. I’ve started recommending the book to people I’d like to introduce to career-impact ideas, especially those who might prefer a story-driven, lighter entry point over something like 80,000 Hours.
It will be interesting to see how the book fares in the U.S., where Bregman recently relocated and has already received some press. Perhaps Moral Ambition can help preserve and propagate EA ideals in a post-FTX era or complement existing brands like Charity Entrepreneurship, Giving What We Can, and 80,000 Hours.
That said, there’s a notable difference in approach. While Moral Ambition incorporates many EA principles, it steers readers toward its own School of Moral Ambition rather than EA organizations. For instance, 80,000 Hours—a natural fit for this topic—gets just a single footnote. This contrasts with EA’s collaborative spirit, where mutual recommendation and shared resources are the norm.
The School of Moral Ambition adds value by broadening the reach of EA-inspired ideas. However, if the EA movement were to shift toward a model with more independent entities and less collaboration, it could risk losing some of its unique strengths.
Thanks for sharing, Patrick.
I have not read the book. However, it is unclear to me whether privileged individuals should leave their jobs to increase their social impact via direct work. Earning to give can be pretty powerful, and people's “bullshit jobs” may have significantly higher earnings. I also think the most cost-effective organisations in areas related to effective altruism are way more cost-effective than the median one. I would say the best animal welfare organisations are at least 100 times as cost-effective as the best in global health and development and AI safety. So I believe optimising for donating more to the best animal welfare organisations can very easily be bette than transioning to a career in global health and development and AI safety.
This makes sense to me, though, based on what Bregman is likely trying to accomplish here. [Caveat: I haven't read the book as I only read English.]
In the world of doing good effectively ("DGE"), we can think of EA as something like a planet. It metaphorically has enough mass to create a round shape due to its gravity, and has cleared its orbit of smaller objects. It's big enough, and too dependent on outside forces for its funding or other critical elements. The cynical rough analogy -- which I do not fully endorse -- would be that Open Phil is the planet, and various other orgs are -- in a gravitational sense -- satellites of Open Phil to a considerable extent. By that I mean that they lack practical independence from their predominant funder and are rather suspectable to changes in its thinking.
Assuming Bregman has important philosophical differences from Open Phil and/or the EA ecosystem, he probably doesn't want to create a satellite of the EA / Open Phil planetary system. That could be for philosophical reasons (e.g., a more neartermist approach vs. believing Open Phil is likely to move increasingly longtermist over time) or for practical reasons (e.g., trying to reach people and tap resources not practically available to EA for optics or cultural reasons). When and if SMA gets larger, it may be in a position to interface with EA on a planet-to-planet basis the way GiveWell can now. I doubt it could do so now.
No community can be all things to all people, and besides redundancy limits the risks of single points of failure. SMA may be intended as a somewhat more populist / accessible, somewhat more "vanilla" flavor of DGE than the EA community, and I don't think it could accomplish those ends very well as an EA satellite. Although there are tradeoffs, I think it's probably good on balance to have a few more planetary systems in the DGE star system.
I read the Dutch version earlier last year and really enjoyed it! Interesting stories (e.g. how Ralph Nader established car safety) and fun to read. Reminded me of What We Owe The Future in some ways.
AIM (Charity Entrepreneurship) gets an entire chapter, and is the main EA org he writes about.
Curious that 80k is hardly mentioned at all. I wonder if that's a conscious choice because he did not want to recommend 80k, or it simply did not fit in his story. Maybe Rutger resonates more with neartermist EA and therefore left out longtermist orgs like 80k. The cause areas the School for Moral Ambition (SMA) prioritzed so far in their fellowship were also more neartermist: alternative protein & tobacco control.
If your bent is neartermist EA, it would sadly make some sense to almost completely leave out 80k due to their longtermist bent at the moment.
I've been in touch with some of the School for Moral Ambition (SMA) co-founders and the DACH director, and my sense is that all of them are very collaborative and interested in EA or even members of the community. I think SMA and EA have quite a lot of synergies, if they keep in touch with each other and don't see each other as competition.
I see SMA as a unique chance to reach more people and more senior professionals, and get them excited about doing the most good. They might also be able to unlock additional funding for effective charities. I'm very excited to see them grow.
I gifted the book to a student and got the following feedback:
"Hi Felix! Greetings from the Eifel! I hope you have a wonderful time between the years! I'm already past page 200! Your book is enormously helpful! Thank you for this gift! I'm working through it carefully. Much of it holds enormous potential! [...]" (translated with deepl)
I also gave the book to a colleague who's changing jobs (~50 years old) as a departing gift because of the tips on how to avoid being a 'noble loser' who sacrifices his impact because he cannot compromise.
I listened to the audiobook and liked it for the accurate reminder of the basic principles, but also for the broader perspective. I had never thought about the founder of AMF before. It was really interesting to learn more about the person behind the organisation.
Can recommend.
And here I was thinking hardly a soul read my suggesting this framing ...