Comment by keizee on Scope Insensitivity · 2022-06-12T14:08:31.861Z · LW · GW

When donating, people think of their capacity. A person's capacity is obviously limited. There is only a finite amount of money a person can have.

When people answer that they would pay $78, they only expect to save like 10 birds, but not all birds. It is already the limit of their capacity for those birds. However many birds in danger, they can only expect to save 10 birds and the rest, if they are not personally witnessing it, they can only leave them to die.

Now, say if your organisation saving these birds is in possession of a time machine and they could fly back to the time of disaster to save the birds, you could ask people for how long they can contribute $78 each month. Then perhaps the answers and total amount would be different.