Peter Singer Reflection

Singer TED Talk Reflection

The TED talk about effective altruism was quite an eye opener for me to watch. When he started his talk about the little Chinese girl that got run over by the truck and nobody helped until it was too late was heartbreaking. When he asked the question, who would have helped that little girl? I would have definitely raised my hand. The fact that no one came to her help and just left her there to die was astonishing and I felt like I wanted to give them a piece of my mind. I wonder if they even gave it a second thought whether to help her or not. He also touched upon the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in which they donate most of their money to the poor and with their donations they save millions of lives. He says that Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet were some of the best altruists in the world because they donate so much money to the poor in order for them to have better lives and in turn. He says that altruism is when you figure out the most effective ways to benefit the world such as giving up most of your income towards a cause such as donating towards the poor so that they can have better lives. When singer talks about what affective altruism is thoughts pop into my head such as why should we donate the hard earned money we made. People who agree with Singer’s idea do so because they understand where he is coming from. They often point out that people buy things they do not need to survive. Singer does not think that is a burden to give up so many things. He says that being an effective altruist gives you a meaning of fulfillment. I believe giving up so much in order to help people is a great thing and it needs to be done but a problem occurs in which people don’t want to give up all that money because they worked hard for it, and they don’t just want to give their money away like that. I believe they earned that money in order to buy things that would make them happy such as luxury items. Singer talks about people...