80k After Hours

Latest Episodes:

Kuhan Jeyapragasan on effective altruism university groups Sep 21, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Rob Wiblin interviews Kuhan Jeyapragasan about effective altruism university groups.

From 2015 to 2020, Kuhan did an undergrad and then a master's in maths and computer science at Stanford — and did a lot to organise and improve the EA group on campus.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

Rob and Kuhan cover:

The challenges of making a group appealing and accepting of everyone
The concrete things Kuhan did to grow the successful Stanford EA group
Whether local groups are turning off some people who should be interested in effective altruism, and what they could do differently
Lessons Kuhan learned from Stanford EA
The Stanford Existential Risks Initiative (SERI)

Who this episode is for:

People already involved in EA university groups
People interested in getting involved in EA university groups

Who this episode isn’t for:

People who’ve never heard of ‘effective altruism groups’
People who’ve never heard of ‘effective altruism’
People who’ve never heard of ‘university’

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type ‘80k After Hours’ into your podcasting app. Or read the transcript below.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ryan Kessler
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Career review: Founder of new projects tackling top problems (Article) Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Habiba Islam reads Benjamin Todd's career review on founding new projects tackling top problems.

Here’s the original piece if you’d like to learn more.

You might also want to check out these relevant pieces:

The growth of effective altruism: what does it mean for our priorities and level of ambition? — Benjamin Todd
Notes on good judgement and how to develop it — Benjamin Todd
What we learned from a year incubating longtermist entrepreneurship — Rebecca Kagan, Jade Leung, Ben Clifford

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Beppe Rådvik and Ben Cordell

Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla on the Shrimp Welfare Project Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Rob Wiblin interviews Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla about the Shrimp Welfare Project, which he cofounded in 2021. It's the first project in the world focused on shrimp welfare specifically and now has six full-time staff.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

They cover:

The evidence for shrimp sentience
How farmers and the public feel about shrimp
The scale of the problem
What shrimp farming looks like
The killing process, and other welfare issues
Shrimp Welfare Project’s strategy
History of shrimp welfare work
What it’s like working in India and Vietnam
How to help

Who this episode is for:

People who care about animal welfare
People interested in new and unusual problems
People open to shrimp sentience

Who this episode isn’t for:

People who think shrimp couldn’t possibly be sentient
People who got called ‘shrimp’ a lot in high school and get anxious when they hear the word over and over again

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ben Cordell and Ryan Kessler
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Space governance (Article) Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Fin Moorhouse reads his problem profile on space governance.

Here’s the original piece if you’d like to learn more.

If you want to hear more from Fin, you should check out his podcast Hear This Idea, which showcases new thinking in philosophy, the social sciences, and effective altruism. And you can see a bunch of other things he's up to on his website.

You might also want to check out these relevant pieces:

Space governance is important, tractable and neglected — Tobias Baumann
An Informal Review of Space Exploration
How cost-effective are efforts to detect near-Earth-objects? — Toby Newberry

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Beppe Rådvik and Ben Cordell

Clay Graubard and Robert de Neufville on forecasting the war in Ukraine May 25, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Rob Wiblin interviews Clay Graubard and Robert de Neufville about forecasting the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

They cover:

Their early predictions for the war
The performance of the Russian military
The risk of use of nuclear weapons
The most interesting remaining topics on Russia and Ukraine
General lessons we can take from the war
The evolution of the forecasting space
What Robert and Clay were reading back in February
Forecasters vs. subject matter experts
Ways to get involved with the forecasting community
Impressive past predictions
And more

Who this episode is for:

People interested in forecasting
People interested in the war in Ukraine
People who prefer to know how likely they are to die in a nuclear war

Who this episode isn’t for:

People who’d hate it if a friend said they were 65% likely to come out for drinks
People who’d prefer if their death from nuclear war was a total surprise

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ben Cordell
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Michelle and Habiba on what they’d tell their younger selves, and the impact of the 1-1 team Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours — Rob continues to interview his 80,000 Hours colleagues Michelle Hutchinson and Habiba Islam about the 1-1 team.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

This is the second of a two-part interview. You can find the first part on the original 80,000 Hours Podcast feed.

In this part, they cover:

Whether just encouraging someone young to aspire to more than they currently are is one of the most impactful ways to spend half an hour
How much impact the one-on-one team has, the biggest challenges they face as a group, and different paths they could have gone down
Whether giving general advice is a doomed enterprise
And more

Who this episode is for:

Young people interested in 80,000 Hours
People curious about the inner-workings of the 1-1 team
People who left the first part wanting more

Who this episode isn’t for:

People who left the first part wanting less
People who like up-to-date movie recommendations

Want to get free one-on-one advice from our team? We're here to help.

We’ve helped thousands of people formulate their plans and put them in touch with mentors.

We've expanded our ability to deliver one-on-one meetings so are keen to help more people than ever before. If you're a regular listener to the show we're especially likely to want to speak with you.

Learn about and apply for advising.

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ben Cordell
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Alex Lawsen on his advice for students Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Keiran Harris interviews 80,000 Hours advisor (and former high school teacher) Alex Lawsen about his advice for students.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

They cover:

When half-assing something is a good idea
When you should actually learn things vs. just trying to seem smart
Why you should shift your focus over the academic year
Novel tips for preparing for exams
What to do if you struggle with motivation
What to do when you have bad teachers
How students should think about exploring and experimenting
Bad approaches to learning
How to think about personal goals
When to start thinking about your career seriously
And more.

Who this episode is for:

Students, parents, and teachers
People who know a student, parent, or teacher
People with an interest in improving education

Who this episode isn’t for:

People with no interest in improving education
People who get mad when an 80,000 Hours podcast doesn’t feature Rob Wiblin

Our 1-1 team can talk to you about career options, make introductions in your chosen fields, and help you work out next steps on a free careers call. Apply now.

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ryan Kessler
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Rob and Keiran on the philosophy of The 80,000 Hours Podcast Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Rob Wiblin and Keiran Harris are interviewed by Kearney Capuano and Aaron Bergman of the new podcast ‘All Good’ about what goes on behind-the-scenes at the 80,000 Hours Podcast.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

We cover:

The history and philosophy of The 80,000 Hours Podcast
The nuts and bolts of how we make the show
Rob’s bad habits as an interviewer
Topics we try to avoid
Critiques of the show
The pros and cons of podcasting vs. other mediums
Our position in the effective altruism community
Whether there’s an optimism bias in the EA community
Unifying themes of Rob and Keiran’s careers
Advice for other podcasters
And more

Who this episode is for:

Fans of The 80,000 Hours Podcast
New podcasters
Two 80,000 Hours employees who love the sound of their own voice

Who this episode isn’t for:

People who’ve never heard of The 80,000 Hours Podcast
People who only want to learn about more important topics
People who hate podcasts

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio mastering: Ben Cordell
Transcriptions: Katy Moore