[Poll] Would you donate money to address world hunger?

(I actually wrote this scenario yesterday, but I'm posting it now!):

It was a fairly cloudy and rainy Friday afternoon, and the Magical Girl of Love and Justice was feeling somewhat icky and under the weather. Why couldn't it be sunny and warm all the time? Even for the personification of optimism and positivity, Love and Justice was still prone to occasional moodiness.

Grasping for straws (and partially just wanting to get out of the rain), the Magical Girl of Love and Justice decided to climb in through the bedroom window of the first house she passed by.

Incidentally speaking, that was your house.

Love 'n Justice: "Yo~ Long time no see."

You: "Um... We've met before?"

Love 'n Justice: "No, not really. At least, not in this timeline. In a different parallel universe, we last spoke like a few days ago."

You: "Okayyyy.........?"

Love 'n Justice: "Hear me out, will ya? I'm in a sucky mood today. It'd do me a huge favor if you could just fix World Hunger for me. Here's the idea I came up with today:"

The Magical Girl of Love and Justice goes on the explain some very complicated metaphysical theory of how Fate, Deterministic Causality, the Spacetime Continuum, the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem, Cliodynamic Oscillators, and the Law of Conservation and various other rules of the Universe that would otherwise ordinarily prevent her from making Galactic World Peace happen instantly through a snap of her fingers. Most of the explanation flies right over your head, and the main thing that crosses your mind is that you had no idea that the Magical Girl of Love and Justice was actually such a nerdy pseudoscience geek. Somehow, it didn't quite match the image that you previously had.

Love 'n Justice: "...and I found a loophole!"

You: "Huh?"

Love 'n Justice: "Give me your money and I'll be able to amplify the value exponentially to the second power! I'll use it to magically save a starving person somewhere in the world."

The Magical Girl goes on to explain that as usual, the transaction occurs on the level of Fate. The money will be deducted from your Bank Account of Fate, and equivalent value will be added to the fated bank accounts of unnamed recipients.

For example, choosing to donate $10 today would cause you to gain $10 less at some point in the future. However, $100 (10^2) will make its way into the fate of some starving people on Earth.​

Note: If you are unemployed, assume that you have a minimum wage job in your country.

1. Would you donate money to address world hunger?

2. What's your limit on how much you would be willing to donate?

3. What are your concerns?

4. If you were told that donating your entire lifetime's worth of fated money could fix World Hunger all over Earth entirely for 1000 years, would you do it? Would you sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity?

 

I'd change the problem one step at a time, by ordering pizza.

 

I live paycheck to paycheck, but for a guarantee hunger solution. I believe 4 hours is justifiable, maybe a day. Otherwise I still need to live. I’m just an average Joe, but I do care.

 

1. Would you donate money to address world hunger?
Yes and no. I'd tell her that in exchange for seeing a universe where I don't donate, I'd donate a vast amount.

2. What's your limit on how much you would be willing to donate?
Very hard question, I'd have to crunch numbers for a few days.

3. What are your concerns?
What is the value of the money considering inflation? Today's amount? Does the amount on fated money also increase at a rate of %2 per year?

4. If you were told that donating your entire lifetime's worth of fated money could fix World Hunger all over Earth entirely for 1000 years, would you do it? Would you sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity?
Yes? Technically I would be able to survive off of handouts as I'd be the only person without access to food for the next 1000 years and I would feel morally okay with stealing showers and stuff from people in exchange for being the saviour of humanity.

Not really thinking this one through too much, since I most likely wouldn't donate a cent if someone actually asked me about this.

 

Why am I finding it hard to take this thread seriously?

 

1. No.

2. 0000.00

3. Im not a goody two shoes person. If they arent my parents nor my sibling then let them die of hunger.

4. Fuck humanity. I need my money.

 

1.Yes i donate money to an organization that gave out food for charity.
2.I donate enough that it wouldn't affect my living budget. If i have extra income and i feel like it, i might donate more. I am not selfless enough restrict myself for others.
3.I don't donate to famous overseas charity or any of the charity made famous by celebrities. I usually donate to local ones, where i can see with my own eyes the product of my donation being given out. If i can't even help those souls in my city, donating to those famous organization overseas seems a bit pretentious to me.
4.No i will not give all my money. Because it would not end world hunger, you know why? Sure those around the world will get to eat, but there are still starving people, my family, my future wife, future kids, myself. I gave out all my money, how can i feed them and myself. After we die from starvation, then the world hunger problem is no more.

 

While I wouldn't say all that wouldn't addressing world hungry just make more hungry people? The only real way to solve hunger is to have them locally producing the food they need to eat. Otherwise with their population growing based on donations it's not that sustainable imo.

 

1) I would! I generally don't donate money due to a variety of reasons and concerns I have with donations and beggars and stuff, but this kind of thing that revolves on fate would be a much more guaranteed way of making things work out, so I'd gladly donate.

2) 1/10th of what I earn in a month would be my limit. But I'd be willing to make a deal with the Magical Girl of Love and Justice to have her take 1/10th of my monthly income every month, this way I'd be able to reliably help out on this without being overburdened by it.

3) Not many, honestly... I mean, if money will reach someone's hand that is starving, it probably won't be because they found money on the ground, but because they found some way of getting a reliable income to pay for their meal, so I believe it will be quite nice overall~

4) Nah, I treasure my own life more than the life of every single starving person in the world. Might be kinda mean to say it, but I prioritize my own life first and foremost, I'm not a selfless person.

 

1. Would you donate money to address world hunger?
Maybe, depends on cause and recipient
2. What's your limit on how much you would be willing to donate?
Also depends on cause and recipient
3. What are your concerns?
I read this like rap

don't ask me what? or why?
It seemed like good rap lyrics to me
4. If you were told that donating your entire lifetime's worth of fated money could fix World Hunger all over Earth entirely for 1000 years, would you do it? Would you sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity?
Maybe, if I get hailed as a historical hero

 

Well, if I had a job and depending on my bank account size, I might donate a paycheck's worth of money here and there!

 

Nope

... if spending all my money could motivate the Magical Girl of Love and Justice to erase humanity and all traces (from the past as well) of humanity: Yup!

 

Yup!

I think I can live on an extreme budget for years (decades even? lol), but I do worry about not having any savings in case of emergencies or not having a retirement fund. I suppose I'll be willing to donate the most amount I can that won't have too much of a negative impact on me making and donating more money!

Hmm...the impact on the world/economy once world hunger completely disappears? Would people start focusing on other problems or would they start fighting each other? Will this cause a world war or something?

I'm not sure tbh... I mean, I'd probably consider it if I was told that I could donate my life in exchange (as in I could just go to sleep and never wake up) but to basically be a starving, suffering, bankrupt worker for who-knows-how-long years until I die? Would I have to depend on my family forever? Would that strain our relationship? Would I be able to keep my job or would I have to resort to selling myself in the end? Sorry but I don't think I can do it... I'd probably have a mental breakdown after a year or two.

 

where art thou?

 

in my country . few people asking for donation , and it ended on the hand of war maniac and terrorist

 

Change the title, its a false title for something else.

 

1) This is quite a moral dilemma imo.

Usually if things don't affect me then I don't think about them that much. (This includes things that affect me indirectly, so if it affects someone I know then it would also likely affect me).

I've never thought about donating large amounts to charities that affect places far away and I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, despite liking animals.

There are two differences in this scenario to donating money normally:
Firstly, the amount donated is increased exponentially. This means that with larger amounts given, there will be a massive effect. In such a case, wouldn't I be morally obligated to donate?

Secondly, the money is taken away from your fate. I actually think that this is a bad thing, though. Because it doesn't just mean I get less money, it means I earn less money. As in, my job would be worse, and my daily life would probably not be enjoyable.

If it just subtracted from my bank account every year or so, then I might do it, since I don't place a massive value on material wealth anyway. But since it's this fate thing, I don't think I would. Especially since it's also for a cause fit which I wouldn't be able to see the effects.

2) Let's say that I was really moved by this cause and wanted to donate. If I live another 60 years, according to the average lifespan in England, then 3 years of would take off 5% of my remaining lifetime income. That would probably be my upper limit.

3) I accidentally kinda answered this one in the first question

4) If it were an instant death sacrifice, then probably, yeah. But since this is fate taking away all my money then that is just asking me to suffer for an extended period of time.

It's impossible for me to never earn money, so this would mean I'd go into large amounts of debt at some point in my life and never be able to pay them off.

Not worth all my suffering when they'll probably end up just dying of thirst instead

 

Donation is the worst thing you could do. You should help them reinstate their own agricultural industry if you really cared and wanted to help. that would be a much better long term solution.

 

"I hope the parallel universe of me is a selfish jerk, because I want him to live a long and happy life. Yes, I'll do it, Magical Girl of Love and Justice. I may regret it, but I want to try."

1. Would you donate money to address world hunger?
I would donate all my money to address world hunger, but I do not know if donating would solve world hunger forever.
2. What's your limit on how much you would be willing to donate?
If I'm donating all my life's money, then based on the minimum wage in the U.S., I would be donating a total of over 1.3 trillion dollars to feed hungry people around the world in my lifetime.
3. What are your concerns?
I'm concerned that if my wages increase that I would also have to donate that as well. I don't know the average increase of wages starting from minimum wage, and also a bunch of other things like inflation and buying power.
4. If you were told that donating your entire lifetime's worth of fated money could fix World Hunger all over Earth entirely for 1000 years, would you do it? Would you sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity?
I don't think that donating a lifetime's worth of fated money could fix world hunger for 1000 years, so I won't do that. I looked up highest average salaries and got $77,180 in the U.S. That would mean I would donate over 35 trillion dollars, which is 13 trillion dollars more than the U.S. debt. That amount does not look like it would feed the world for 1000 years. I would sacrifice myself, but I would hope that another version of me would not sacrifice himself and live a happy life.

 

I both agree and disagree on this view in multiple different ways!

Whether it is the “worst thing” you can do depends partially on whether you believe poverty or food insecurity is a solely product of a person’s work ethic. For instance, a popular conservative argument is that poor people are poor because they don’t work hard; consequently giving them free things will make their laziness worse.

Personally, I don’t think this is the case; and in fact in my university, a number of my classmates in the PhD program experience food insecurity and visit the local community food bank (free food donated by community members) for groceries. They work very hard, and maybe in 5-15 years they could be the top earners in the US. However, education is extremely expensive here, almost all young people take out loans, and you never know when a random accidents like a fire or car crash happen. Emergencies happen to even the most “deserving” people, and not everyone has parents who can bail them out from a sudden hole.

Consequently, I believe that both short-term and long-term relief are necessary for food insecurity and other social issues.

For instance, by arguing that short term relief is bad or unnecessary, that’s basically the equivalent of saying it’s okay for people to die — sometimes with the rationale that it “teaches a lesson”. However, for me personally, I’m not satisfied with that kind of outcome, particularly since I’m involved with healthcare — and in many cases the presence of doctors is necessary immediately and can’t wait for a new local medical school to be built in 50 years.

That said, there are both right and wrong ways to engage in short-term philanthropy. Bad examples include flooding a domestic market with free foreign clothes (or food), thus crashing local economies (very bad!). Gangs can form over controlling free medications or bottled water in disaster zones.

IRL, choosing the right organization with extensive experience and reputation working in these settings is critically important. There are many NGOs that are scams or so inexperienced that their outcomes are horrible. On the other hand, the famous reputable NGOs like UNICEF, WHO, Red Cross, have very elaborate and extensive strategies for addressing pressing international social issues.

For instance, they may offer investment grants to farmers to buy better machinery, small business startup loans, or they finance building sewers and bridges and water pumps. It is rarely the case that the reputable big NGOs engage in “giving away free clothes” because there are substantial concerns about how this impacts the local economy.

That said — in order for these organizations to function, they survive off of donations. Consequently, if you believe in addressing food security, the general idea is that you donate to support these organizations, and leave it to them to figure out how that money is best spent.

If the argument is that NGOs aren’t spending money right, then imagine if you had $1.2 billion dollars and had to figure what is the best approach — but often you will find that even your best ideas are being approached or implemented already by a lot of very talented people — so why attempt a parallel independent venture when you can collaborate and pool resources?

See above.

I think this is a great thing!

And I agree with you personally that focusing on international affairs is premature when there are local and community ones that you can see the effect better for!

I think this is the response that I agree with the closest!

@AMissingLinguist ’s math was really cool though!