Are we wasting our talents on jobs we find meaningless? Rutger Bregman thinks so. In Moral Ambition he argues that instead of chasing salary or status, we should ask: “how can I contribute most?” He urges readers to apply moral ambition—work on problems that are sizable, solvable, and sorely overlooked. “Find yourself some wise old wizard,” Bregman says, echoing a Gandalf-Frodo model of change. Moral ambition draws from effective altruism’s focus on doing the most good, but Bregman softens it: “You should do a lot of good — which is different,” and not strive for perfection. He celebrates the moral seriousness of donors who give kidneys to strangers, but criticizes moral blackmail like Peter Singer’s drowning child thought experiment. His advice? Join a “cult” of committed do-gooders, but stay grounded by surrounding yourself with friends who challenge you. If we’re going to build careers anyway, Bregman concludes, we might as well devote our talents to making the world better.
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