Were we incapable of empathy – of putting ourselves in the position of others and seeing that their suffering is like our own – then ethical reasoning would lead nowhere. If emotion without reason is blind, then reason without emotion is impotent.

The idea that we can actually have an impact on places more or less instantly, too, by responding in some way or not responding, I think, also makes it true.

I know of a number of people who are successfully earning to give. That isn't for everyone but for those with the ability to earn a lot of money and the character to resist the temptation to spend it on themselves, it can be a great way to do good.

I don't think there's anything in the compromise that means that there's a clash of ethics.

Surely there will be some nonhuman animals whose lives, by any standards, are more valuable than the lives of some humans.

There is a growing movement called effective altruism. It's important because it combines both the heart and the head.

Scholars have long dreamed of a universal library containing everything that has ever been written.