Latest news with #altruism
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How Powerball winner could best spend $100 million
One lucky winner has snapped up the entire $100 million Powerball jackpot, more money than anyone could ever need in a lifetime. The world's best-known philosopher, Australia's own Professor Peter Singer, spoke to Yahoo News and shared a frank admission overnight about what he'd hypothetically do if he won a large lottery prize. 'I'm pretty comfortable at the moment, I'd probably give all of it, or at least 99 per cent of it away,' he said last night. 'But if somebody has less, I'd understand wanting to keep $10 million. I can't understand why anyone would need more than that.' The Princeton University ethicist is a pioneer of altruism — selfless acts that benefit others. He famously doesn't just preach on the subject, he follows through with action. By 2020, he was already donating 40 per cent of his income to charity, and when he won the Berggruen Prize for philosophy a year later, he gave the entire sum away. Related: 🤖 Peter Singer: Can we morally kill AI if it becomes self-aware? When it comes to who the $100 million Powerball winner should help, he has some basic guiding ideas. 'They should give it to the most effective causes they can — fighting global poverty, maybe something to do with reducing the suffering of animals in factory farms, climate change, are possibly things to do with it,' he said. Advocacy group A Life You Can Save lists charities to support where your donations will make the biggest difference. It was founded by Singer and former business executive Charlie Bresler, and has so far raised over US$120 million ($183 million) to help charities achieve specific goals like spending US$300,000 to distribute antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in Zambia, and US$100,000 to provide life-saving treatment for 800 children with malnutrition. 🚨 ATO, Centrelink warning over $100 million Powerball lottery win 🌏 Secret hidden beneath Australia's 'most important' parcel of land 🏝️ One thing a $100 million Powerball win could buy you that's better than holidays, homes, and cars Singer's ideas are thought to have influenced billionaire philanthropists, including Warren Buffett, who is giving away 99 per cent of his wealth through his charity The Giving Pledge, and Bill Gates who is aiming to do the same. The best option would be to take a well-considered approach, rather than just giving everything immediately away. This could mean setting up a trust or bank account that allows it to have a continued impact over the years. Singer argues it's a 'misconception' that smaller donations can't make a difference. 'The more you have the bigger the difference you can make, but together with others, everybody can make a difference,' he said. When it comes to those of us who don't have millions of dollars, Singer believes we should be reconsidering our spend on non-essential items. 'If they're in Australia, they're very fortunate to be growing up in a country that has good social security, free education and health care,' he said. 'So I think when they spend money on things that they don't need, luxuries, frivolities, items that are more fashionable, things of that sort, they should think about what else they could do with the money. And think about how much of a difference it could make to people in extreme poverty, or how it could restore sight against somebody who's blind and can't afford to get their cataracts removed… or help people who get malaria because they don't have mosquito nets, and children may die from that when they get ill. 'There are just so many things in low-income countries that people are deprived of. Educating children, particularly girls in poor countries, is another thing that often doesn't happen. But I think we can all play a part.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
America Cast Itself as the World's Moral Leader. Not Anymore
Over the past century, US foreign policy has been guided by the notion that as a country we'd do well by doing good—that there are dividends, both moral and material, from helping our friends and neighbors. Now the administration of President Donald Trump is unraveling that philosophy with startling speed. How other branches of the American government, countries and multinational companies respond in the months and years ahead will be the defining question of at least the rest of our lives. America's practitioners of altruistic statecraft were famous for their high-minded ideals and soaring rhetoric. 'I need not tell you gentlemen that the world situation is very serious,' said Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947 to students at Harvard University, in a speech still replete with historical resonance. He was introducing the Marshall Plan, the program to rebuild the war-torn countries of Western Europe. 'It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace.'
