Thank you for another insightful and interesting comment as well, Vasco! It was really nice to discuss with you and want to say that I have great respect for you and your texts. You gave me a lot to think about. I am very curios about how you would like the world to look like, what would your utopia be? I understand that it might be much to write (if you haven't written about it already), so it is no rush, and you don't need to reply if you feel that you want to use your time in other ways instead. But thanks again for giving me new perspectives and knowledge, I hope that I was able to return the favor. :)

Thank you very much, Vasco! I am glad that you liked my comment. I will try to answer all your questions as good as I can. I haven't replied to long post before so I don't know how to do the cool paragraphs that you do, so sorry if it gets a little confusing.

I updated the link, so it should work now. Thank you for mentioning this!

I didn't find any good data for how much the top quintile funded governement transfers in other countries, but it would have been very interesting to look at. Thank you for the interesting information.

I think one reason for Singapore being closer to Sweden when it comes to social outcomes might be annual working hours per employed person, where Singapore has 2 255 and Sweden has 1 609. I don't know much about the welfare system in Singapore, but I guess it might be less expenses in some areas. Their healthcare system is 5,5 % of GDP for example. The United States has a very ineffective healthcare system that costs much for both individuals and the state. 

There are studies that shows the correlation between income equality and life satisfaction as well.

Growth isn't always good, since growth also increases from bad things. According to the IPBES Nexus Assesment, there are 7 trillion in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and damages to nature for 10-25 trillion in unaccounted costs. There are 35 times more resources going to causes that destroy our planet than supports our nature. Instead of growth, it would be possible to use national income, by Thomas Piketty, would be a good global measurement instead of GDP. For example: “If you take 100 billion euros of oil from oil reserves underground or you take 100 billion euros in fish from the ocean, you have 100 billion euros of GDP, but you have zero euros of national income. And if in addition when you burn oil or gas you create global warming and you reduce the durability of life on earth, then if you put a price on the negative impact of these emissions you should have negative national income instead of positive GDP.”
When it comes to growth, the World Bank Group has some projections about growth, inequality and poverty:

I think it is wonderful that you care for the animals as well. I only have numbers (from 2023, I think) for Sweden and United States when it comes to meat consumption and different types of meat consumption. So I think you might be right about less chicken= more seafood instead:

I think one reason for these numbers are that vegetables and vegetarian food are easily accessible in Sweden, and harder to find in the US.

Thank you for your good example about the dinner! I will try to come up with an example myself based on an Oxfam report: There is a dinner party with 100 people (where one person represents 1 % in the income ladder). One person has as much food as 95 of the other people. Nine of these people are going hungry (extreme poverty) and risk starving to death. Since these people already are in a bad situation, they will not be able to get food for themselves (an article about the mechanisms behind poverty). The people who have most of the food, can share their food so these people won't starve. 99 people at the table gets 16 new plates of food (trillion dollars of all new wealth), while the richest person gets 26 new plates of food. If the richest person is a billionaire, it gets 1.7 million plates of food for each plate of food that the 90 poorest people at the table gets.

Another example is that the 2 781 billionaires in the world owns $14.2 trillion. One million seconds is 11.57 days, one billion seconds is 31.71 years, one trillion seconds is 31,710 years, 14.2 trillion seconds is 450 282 years.

I think your thoughts about cause prioritisation are very interesting, and they have made me talk about animal suffering and effectiveness when I hold a lecture for my students in public health. I have considered donating to animal welfare. I donate money to Happier Lives Institute, since I am volunteering there and they have given me much joy. I donate money to Cool Earth because they address biodiversity, climate change and poverty. I am more of a "systems change" person and I think they address most areas so far, which was our input to the UN. 

Thank you again for your interesting reply! I hope that I replied to everything! :)

Kind regards,
Ulf

I would say that we need to address the root causes in areas that are too complex to solve with simple solutions, e.g. biodiversity loss, since it is interconnected with many other systemic challenges. According to the assessment report about Nexus, which is the interconnections between the following crises: Climate change, biodiversity, water, food and health. According to the report, there are 7 trillion USD in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and damages to nature for 10-25 trillion USD in unaccounted costs. Also, there are 35 times more resources going to causes that destroy our planet than supports our nature. In this case it is hard to find a solution that doesn't address the root causes. But for individual diseases or more simple challenges, there may not be any need to address the root causes.

I think that it is a high risk that AI or something else will be a great threat for humanity within a short future. But I can't say how high the risk is or when in the future. But no matter how long or short time I have left, I would carry on like I always do. I spend time with my family and I love my job as a teacher at an university. I couldn't ask for more. I feel that there is nothing more I must do before I die. So I am grateful and happy every day. But... My parents have four houses in a forest in the middle of Sweden. So if the apocalypse comes, I have a place where it is a quite good chance for surviving.

I skimmed in your article and must say that I am impressed. I think it is important for the EA community to think about what planet and what society we want. I looked at the summary of the IPBES Nexus Assesment and it seems clear to me that our economic system doesn't work in its current state. That 7 trillion in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and damages on nature for 10-25 trillion in unaccounted costs is problematic. Also, the fact that there is 35 times more resources going to causes that destroys our planet than supports our nature shows that we need to do something. I think a realistic way might be national income, by Thomas Piketty. It is a global measurement instead of GDP. For example: “If you take 100 billion euros of oil from oil reserves underground or you take 100 billion euros in fish from the ocean, you have 100 billion euros of GDP, but you have zero euros of national income. And if in addition when you burn oil or gas you create global warming and you reduce the durability of life on earth, then if you put a price on the negative impact of these emissions you should have negative national income instead of positive GDP.” Buckton et al. (2024) give examples of other economic systems that might work and that are more or less capitalistic.

Hi Alexis! I think it is a wonderful idea and I would like to help you! I am kind of time constrained (having a one year old at home and working) but I will be able to give you advise. I am teaching public health at a Swedish university and I hold lectures about these topics. So I have some knowledge in this topic and would love to share it with you!

Gapminder has a list of 100 positive news during 2023: https://www.gapminder.org/news/100-positive-news-from-2023/

Thank you for a wonderful initiative! I think that many people will be happy about this!