I actually did include a pretty meaty paragraph about the effectiveness of charities (linking this article), and a brief explanation of GiveWell and its mission. Unfortunately we were over the word limit and my editor and I decided to cut it.

Though you're making me wish I'd chopped something else.

Yes, I absolutely agree.

I mention in another comment that I don't actually think "selling out" is the best career option for every single person, especially folks at Harvard.

I do think it's a persuasive one though — because it's a path of less resistance. It feels harder to say "Hey, you should go explore under-researched areas in search for the most effective way to do good," and actually persuade people.

The target audience was those who were generally uninformed about doing good, or people on the fence about it.

Wow that's awesome. Great to connect with a Crimson alum!!

Your article is great — it covers a lot of bases, ones that I wish I had gotten the chance to talk about in my op-ed.

The original version was a lot heavier on the EA-lingo. Discussed 80,000 hours explicitly, didn't make such a strong claim that "selling out" was the best strategy, etc., but I decided that a straightforward & focused approach to the problem would be most useful.

I don't think I'd truly say selling out is the "best" thing to do for everyone (which is the language my article uses), and that's for reasons others have laid out in this comment section.

But I do think it's a useful nudge. I've gotten a lot of reactions like "Wow, these stats are really eye-opening," and "That's a cool way to think about selling out," which was, honestly, the intention, so I'm glad it's played out that way.

It seems hard to EA-pill everyone from the outset. We all got here in small steps, not with everything thrust at us from once. I'm hopeful that it's at the very least a good start for a few people :)