“Better Games or Bednets?” by Davidmanheim

I want to make the argument that, first, there is a plausible moral case that digital systems addiction and the consequent suboptimality is an enormous and ongoing tragedy for humanity, second, that the tragedy is important, neglected, and tractable, and finally, that this is all crazy, but plausible under many key assumptions underlying other effective altruist causes, and about what the implications of rejecting the claim might be. Draft Amnesty: This is a piece I mostly drafted three years ago, and never got around to finishing or posting - so I had claude help with parts of the second half, in order to finish it quickly. It is intended to provocatively spark discussion, not to strongly argue for the conclusion that making video games is better than buying bednets - though I think it's not a crazy claim. (I debated posting this for April Fools, but draft amnesty [...] ---Outline:(01:08) Digital systems addiction and suboptimality(02:00) Digital systems usage and damage.(03:06) Tractability and Cost-Benefit(04:19) Image / Perception(04:33) ConclusionsThe original text contained 1 image which was described by AI. --- First published: February 26th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jgrxZF9pZgEgFypNz/better-games-or-bednets --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.