The Effectiveness Mindset

The single most important idea in effective altruism may be that we are capable of helping others to an incredible extent.

“One of the memories that I remember when I was young was going to the big city with my father,” Jessica said to the assembled crowd, “It was gorgeous, with big buildings that stretched up into the sky.”

The junior disciples, all the section heads and the aunties had joined her for a talk.

“My father had found us the most amazing food cart and he gave us- me and my brother ice cream and it was so sweet.”

Even the aunties' children sat in rapt attention. Whether it was the threat of possible violence or they just wanted to hear about another world, Jessica didn’t know. And right now she didn’t care.

“Then I saw something that became very familiar to me in my long life. A tired old woman was begging for food on the next block, and I was just licking my ice cream. I could see from her gaunt arms and legs that she didn’t eat much. I didn’t have any money to give her, and being a child who mostly didn’t speak, I handed her my ice cream cone. My brother looked at me and said, ‘Why the heck did you do that?’ and I…”

Jessica got all choked up for a second.

“I didn’t know what I didn’t know. So we just didn’t talk about it for a while. But later on, I got really mad because of how unfair the world was and I did these hunger strikes for a while.”

The silence in the chamber was enough for her. She dreaded it and wanted to fill the room with her story.

“I’ll be honest, I got a bit apathetic there for a while and the only thing that could get me out of the funk was my mothers cooking. After a while I got used to the beggars, and I got angry at the people that wouldn’t help out. I felt ashamed that society would allow for this, and for years I was in denial. But later on I learned a bit about the world and how I could help.”

Elaine and Mary leaned in, eager to hear more. They loved to hear about her mothers cooking and Jessica was sure that they were going to figure out a way to cook bulgogi or the perfect rice soon. She knew that they had skills.

“So I went down a rabbit hole about how to actually give the right way, and in the end I dedicated ten percent of everything I made to charity. I wanted to figure out how to do the most good, so I found an organization that did the thing I wanted done, and it prioritized doing things effectively. I don’t think that there is such an organization here?”

She was met with many confused faces.

“Perhaps, what the elder means is tithes to the monks and the religious orders?”

“Perhaps.”

Jessica pressed her palms together at her chest level as if in prayer

“In other words, when I am presented with a gift, like one that the Heaven’s Mountain elder gave us, his core, gold and his talking funny spear, I am thinking about how to effectively use those things.”

Smiles drew across the faces of the two scouts that Jessica knew used the spear as their primary martial weapon.

“So I think that I can safely say that I want to advance more of you now. I’m learning how, and looking over the ledger, it seems like the elders kept a lot of secrets. I have no secrets from all of you. I only have ideas as to how to get you to advance. My current plan is to use the demon spear to advance these two to the fourth realm and to use the cores that they claim to advance others, and perhaps make another demon weapon.”

Jung stood up. Jessica paused to allow him to speak.

“This junior disciple believes that a sword would be an excellent follow on weapon.”

Grace stood up, and Jessica recognized her.

“But are we the frozen sword school? If we want to be more effective let us see how many cultivators use which weapon and then use that!”

Jung glared back at her, but it was a soft brotherly glare. They had known about the demon spear already, and Jessica had heard them through her nascent soul earlier arguing.

“In that case,” Mary said standing as she cleared her throat, “This initiate believes that a demon sandal would be in order. Artisan An Di, with the help of some of the Sects greatest minds would you be able to construct such a device?”

An Di almost fainted as every eye turned to him. Jung brought the demon spear over to him.

He examined it, feeling the heft and shape of it as the shadows danced around it.

“I’ll need to get some help from a master artisan, one who is also a cultivator, this is far beyond what I am currently capable of,” An Di said, sighing.

“Now, I think that we have learned a bit about being effective in combat. When all of the aunties channeled their qi through the group and into me, I was able to match and overwhelm the other elders' defenses, but he may still try to challenge me.”

“He did agree to be bound, and his soul bond will prevent him from doing anything stupid,” Mary said.

A chorus of nodding heads showed that the group was a little wary of this, but seemed hopeful.

“Now, let’s talk about using a group of cultivators as a support team to take down some of these spiritual beasts… effectively.”

Jessica was happy to see that her sect was ready for this conversation.

He woke up naked in a strange bed, which immediately concerned him. Was he still dreaming? He touched his chest. No, it was real.

He sat up quickly and found himself in a small room. There was only enough space for a single mattress and a chair. The walls were bare but for a large painting of a mountain peak covered in snow.

A man came in carrying a tray with food. His clothes were much nicer than the rest of the place, and he was clearly a leader of the group. He set the plate down and smiled.

"Welcome to our humble Sect. Please, eat."

Fa Za took a seat.

"Oh, and this is my son, Kai. He has been working with us since he was five. He's a bit shy though."

Kai walked in and bowed. He was very short, probably younger than Fa Za by several years. Unlike his father, he wore pants and a shirt under his robe. The child must have been cold.

"Hello, Elder Fa Za." The child said, "We hope that this is to your liking since you slept through breakfast."

Fa Za smiled at the boy and nodded.

"This will suffice," he said.

"Great! We're going to go take care of some orders, so we'll see you soon!" The older man said as he headed downstairs.

Kai followed him with a smile.

Fa Za finished eating and got dressed. He put on the robes they had given him and found some shoes. He left the room, opening the outer door to the cool northern air.

Below him, a welcome sight of thirty cultivators cycling together warmed his heart. In the center two spear specialists exchanged blows with blunted weapons. Kai stood watching as the spear specialists moved faster, each exchanged blow becoming a blur.

"Aren't they amazing?" The child's wonder was infectious

"The cultivators?" Fa Za asked. No child has spoken to him so plainly in years.

"Yes! When I grow up I want to be just like them! You know they killed a demon chicken recently!"

Kai plainly wanted to say more on the manner. It was even more plain that he'd been told once or twice to not tell the story.

"A demon chicken, eh? Tell me all about it?"

Kai beamed.

Perhaps in learning how they fought, Fa Za could figure out a way to improve his position.

"Tell me everything."

A little boy was furiously recounting something from above the artisans shop with Fa Za. That much was clear from his wild gesticulations. There was something blocking Jessica's spiritual senses.

His nascent soul was in the way. She knew it. It was the first time that hers had interacted with any other.

Thankfully, it appeared that he was keeping both his power and nascent soul under control. Jessica had heard horror stories about strong cultivators bringing people to their knees. Just through the pressure of their qi.

That was the thing. He had better control of his cultivation, but she had better control of her temper. In an even match it would be advantageous to use a classic lesson from sun tzu. One that her father always repeated when she would bring a boyfriend to meet him and he would break out traditional Korean food.

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

Her father always chuckled when he saw their faces, even with the warnings. She missed him.

Now she was faced with another arrogant man, in this elder that would probably keep challenging her until he got something out of her.

Well he was arrogant enough for both of them. Probably arrogant enough for the whole continent.

She could use that.

But she needed his help at the same time. No one else had his control when he was guarding his temper.

In that way, it reminded her of her father and how she had always had to fight against that toxic masculinity. In between paternalism and mansplaining, she’d sought to find a better way, and now here she was in a world where the only thing that people respected was martial strength.

When she’d told the aunties about how it was your brain that got you far in her old world, they hadn’t understood it. It wasn’t until she’d told them repeatedly that there was no such thing as cultivation on Earth that they were all stunned to silence. Then she still had to thread the line about how a merchant could be of a higher status than a warrior. They hadn’t accepted her telling that there wasn’t some caste system either, but Jessica knew that she had work to do on that front.

That wasn’t the point though because all of a sudden tears welled up unbidden. She really wasn’t going to see her terrible overbearing father again. She even missed the snide comments from her mother about how she was eating too much.

What she wouldn’t give now to listen one more time to her mother trying to set her up with a nice church boy. Just once, right? A single date to appease her mother?

She didn’t even have that option anymore.

The arrogant young master wasn’t allowed to make her think about all the things she lost.

She had a new family here, and responsibilities. She had to keep it together for them.

From above the training grounds a cheer went out.

Jessica stretched her spiritual senses out and saw that not one, but two of the aunties were close to reaching the top of the first realm.

She had a new family and she could see herself spending a week mourning all of the people that she had lost. Her parents weren't dead, just … not reachable.

These women had lost everything and now they were learning to defend themselves against demonic beasts. Jessica wanted their kind of resilience, but more than that, she wanted to be with them all of a sudden.

Patting her pouch, she pulled out two of the pills that she had won from Fa Za. Really, he had outdone himself in outdoing himself.

She was going to have to talk to him about prudent risk.

The initiates all broke their drill, evidently the two could feel that they were almost ready to advance, and in advancing…

They would reforge their dantian, giving them new bodies. New strength, new speed and a better understanding of cultivation.

Jumping into the cheering crowd, Jessica landed like a feather in front of the two.

A gasp arose as she offered the pills one at a time to the two aunties in front of her.

“Cycle through these, and when you’ve reforged yourselves be ready, for then we shall hunt demons.”