Industrial alternative foods for global catastrophic risks | Juan García Martínez Jul 02, 2021

Juan presents the latest research on industrial food solutions for feeding everyone in the case of food-related global catastrophic risks. He focuses on sun-blocking global food catastrophes such as large asteroid impacts, supervolcanic eruptions and nuclear winter. The solutions presented include single-cell protein (SCP) from natural gas or from hydrogen and CO2, sugar from lignocellulosic biomass, and synthetic margarine from petroleum.
Juan García Martínez is a Research Assistant at Alliance to Feed the Earth In Disasters. Juan obtained his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Twente and went on to join ALLFED as a research associate, where he had volunteered prior to finishing his studies. He has done research on carbon dioxide capture and utilization with his MSc thesis and his internship at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, and is eager to apply his energy and knowledge to new research on making humanity’s food system more resilient.
This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

An introduction to global priorities research | Rossa O'Keeffe-O'Donovan Jun 29, 2021

Rossa gives a high-level introduction to global priorities research (GPR). He discusses GPI's research plans, and which other organisations are doing GPR. He also offers some thoughts about what students could do to find out more about GPR.
Rossa O'Keeffe-O'Donovan is a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow in Economics at Nuffield College and the Assistant Director of the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford. He completed my PhD in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2017. Before Penn, Rossa completed the M.Sc. in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford.

His main research interests are in empirical microeconomics:

Development economics
Networks and peer effects
Public goods
Structural estimation

Farm animal welfare and alternative protein opportunities in Asia-Pacific | Lewis Bollard Jun 26, 2021

Asia-Pacific is home to most of the world's farm animals, and some of the best opportunities to help them. Lewis outlines the current state of farm animal welfare and alternative protein opportunities across the region, including what's changed in 2020.
Lewis Bollard leads Open Philanthropy’s strategy for Farm Animal Welfare. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as Policy Advisor & International Liaison to the CEO at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Prior to that, he was a litigation fellow at HSUS, a law student, and an associate consultant at Bain & Company. He has a B.A. from Harvard University in Social Studies and a JD from Yale Law School.

Closing gaps in alternative protein science | Amy Huang Jun 22, 2021

Growing meat directly from plants, microbes, and animal cells will allow us to build a food system that is better for human, animal, and planetary health. However, catalyzing this paradigm shift is a vast, multidisciplinary effort that requires scientists and engineers from disciplines ranging from tissue engineering and synthetic biology to computational science and chemical engineering. This workshop explored the state of plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived meat research with a focus on illuminating the white spaces in alternative protein science that need to be filled if we're to feasibly feed the world with these novel food technologies and power a transition away from industrial animal agriculture.
Amy helps lead GFI’s efforts to transform universities into engines for alternative protein research and education. She supports students and researchers in developing research clusters, addressing key technological bottlenecks, and building the academic ecosystems needed to power the future of food. Amy has a background in global health, education, effective altruism, and design thinking. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and is thrilled to be devoting her career to accelerating alternative proteins in the service of human, animal, and planetary health.

AI alignment, philosophical pluralism, and the relevance of non-Western philosophy | Tan Zhi Xuan Jun 15, 2021

How can we build (super) intelligent machines that are robustly aligned with human values? AI alignment researchers strive to meet this challenge, but currently draw upon a relatively narrow set of philosophical perspectives common in effective altruism and computer science. This could pose risks in a world where human values are complex, plural, and fragile. Xuan discusses how these risks might be mitigated by greater philosophical pluralism, describing several problems in AI alignment where non-Western philosophies might provide insight.
Tan Zhi Xuan is a multi-disciplinary researcher broadly interested in cognitive approaches to building AI, so as to better understand and conform to human preferences, intentions, norms, and values. Current projects include developing probabilistic programming frameworks for Bayesian inverse planning and goal inference.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

International agreements to spend percentage of GDP on global public goods | Hauke Hillebrandt Jun 11, 2021

Hauke reviews international agreements to spend a percentage of GDP on public goods such as aid (0.7%), defence (NATO’s 2% target), R&D, global governance, etc. He shows how these agreements interact with priorities in effective altruism because they are large in scale, solve (global) public good dilemmas, and relate to differential technological development. Finally, he argues that we should advocate for a new international agreement to spend 1% of GDP on global risk reduction.
Hauke did a PhD in Neuroscience and was planning to go into academia. But after reading our research, he applied to all our top recommended careers: jobs in German politics, consulting, tech-startups and our parent organisation, the Centre for Effective Altruism. He’s now Director of Research at Giving What We Can, where he researches which charities most effectively alleviate extreme poverty.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Farm animal welfare and alternative protein opportunities in Asia-Pacific | Lewis Bollard Jun 08, 2021

Asia-Pacific is home to most of the world's farm animals, and some of the best opportunities to help them. Lewis outlines the current state of farm animal welfare and alternative protein opportunities across the region, including what's changed in 2020.
Lewis Bollard leads Open Philanthropy’s strategy for Farm Animal Welfare. Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, he worked as Policy Advisor & International Liaison to the CEO at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Prior to that, he was a litigation fellow at HSUS, a law student, and an associate consultant at Bain & Company. He has a B.A. from Harvard University in Social Studies and a JD from Yale Law School.

Gentle Bayesian updating | David Manley Jun 08, 2021

This talk is a friendly introduction to the formal model of learning from new evidence called "Bayesian updating". The Bayesian rule for updating is the most general account of how evidence works, encompassing and explaining the (limited) usefulness of statistical ideas like p-values and confidence intervals. This talk will show you how to do Bayesian updating in your head, using a simple formulation equivalent to the much more unwieldy equation known as 'Bayes' theorem.'
David Manley is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research has been mainly about semantics, ontology, probability, and evidence. But lately He has been thinking about conditions for rationality and well-being—not just for individual people, but also for groups, animals, and other cognitive systems.
This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Goals for university groups | Joan Gass Jun 01, 2021

Joan explains why university groups are a focus area for CEA and gives some suggested goals for university groups to produce value.

Joan Gass is the Managing Director for Centre for Effective Altruism. Joan works with Max on the executive team. Her roles include overseeing the Groups team, leading CEA’s work on the growth and onboarding of new community members, and providing input on organization-wide strategy. She has an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and an MPA in International Development from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She previously worked at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company, where she was a founding member of their Nigeria office. She also co-founded and directed a nonprofit in Uganda, and launched a fellowship related to catastrophic risks and emerging technology policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

This talk was taken from EA Global Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

What happens if you decide to start a charity? | Karolina Sarek & Nikita Patel May 28, 2021

Karolina introduces Charity Entrepreneurship (CE), an organization dedicated to helping found and mentor new effective charities. Learn about the nonprofits CE has launched through its annual Incubation Program, and about the process of starting up and growing. Hear stories about the challenges and successes that a typical charity entrepreneur could face. Finally, discover how you can start your own career as a charity entrepreneur through the 2021 Program.

Karolina is co-founder and Director of Research at Charity Entrepreneurship. There, she creates a research agenda and processes and leads the research team, aiming to find and compare the most evidence-based, cost-effective and neglected interventions in multiple cause areas. She also serves as a Fund Manager at the EA Animal Welfare Fund, and as a board member and consultant for various nonprofits and think tanks. Before Charity Entrepreneurship, she co-founded an organization to improve the impact of nonprofits and social enterprises; worked on measurement and evaluation; and was a researcher for IBM and the Jagiellonian University (JU). At the age of 22, she became a university teaching fellow, lecturing at JU’s Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Nikita discusses the reasons she and her co-founder decided to start a flour fortification charity in India. She describes an ‘average’ day in a charity start-up and explains some of the highlights and challenges she has faced personally, as well as organisationally, during her time starting a charity.

Nikita is the CEO and co-founder of Fortify Health. She previously worked in global health communications at Malaria Consortium. She’s also worked as Research & Outreach Intern at the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Project Manager at Voenna Rampa Refugee Camp in Bulgaria. She graduated from University of Oxford with a BA in French and German, and is interested in animal welfare, mental health and tackling modern slavery. She enjoys cooking, language-learning, hiking and cycling.

Fireside Chat | Nick Beckstead May 21, 2021

Nick Beckstead oversees a substantial part of Open Philanthropy’s research and grantmaking related to global catastrophic risk reduction. Previously, Nick led the creation of their grantmaking programs in scientific research and effective altruism. Prior to that, he was a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Estimation and forecasting: an overview | Amanda Ngo | EA Student Summit May 18, 2021

Amanda shares reasons to be excited about forecasting, walks through a process to forecast questions you care about, and shows how Ought’s tool, Elicit, can be helpful for this.

From Amanda’s Website: Amanda Ngo works at Ought, a startup building tools to automate complex reasoning. Check out their forecasting product, Elicit! She love co-opting friends into social experiments, understanding how brains work, and figuring out what it means to live a good life.”

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

How to make a difference by pledging to give more, and more effectively | Luke Freeman May 14, 2021

We have an amazing opportunity to significantly improve the world with the resources we have, if we use them effectively. Giving What We Can is a community of people committed to giving more, and giving more effectively.

Luke Freeman manages Giving What We Can. He is also an active volunteer with various social impact focused projects (EAGxAustralia, Effective Altruism Australia, EA Sydney, Global Shapers Community). He has a background in marketing with a focus on growing early-stage technology startups (Positly, Sendle, TuShare, Coviu). He holds degrees and diplomas in media and communications from Macquarie University and Simon Fraser University.

This talk was taken from EA Global Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

How to help group members make effective career plans | Huw Thomas & Alex Holness-Tofts May 11, 2021

Huw and Alex talk about some of the resources and events they’ve found most useful for helping group members with career planning. The workshop aims to be a broad overview, particularly for group leaders without much previous experience of guiding group members through career decisions.

Huw Thomas develops resources for EA university groups, and assists them with strategy and planning. Before joining CEA, he studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He has been funded by a CEA community building grant to work on various projects, including leading the EA Oxford student group and launching the Student Career Mentoring Program.

Alex studied Physics at Oxford University before working in operations at the Global Priorities Institute. He is particularly interested in opportunities for broad longtermism work and patient philanthropy and is planning on doing graduate study in Economics.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Bringing techno-globalism back: a romantically realist reframing of the US-China tech relationship | Jeffrey Ding May 07, 2021

Talk of decoupling, an AI arms race, and a tech Cold War abounds. These prominent narratives are rooted in the core assumption of techno-nationalism – that the nation-state is the key unit of analysis for understanding the global technology landscape. Yet, technology advances in a globalizing world. Jeffrey Ding outlines the case for bringing techno-globalism back – not the “end of geography” version, which is an easy target, but a romantically realist version – into debates about the US-China tech relationship.

As the China lead for the Centre for the Governance of AI, Jeffrey Ding researches China’s development of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford. His work has been cited in the Washington Post, South China Morning Post, MIT Technology Review, Bloomberg News, Quartz, and other outlets. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he has worked at the U.S. Department of State and the Hong Kong Legislative Council. He is also reading for a D.Phil. in International Relations as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Fireside Chat | Jaan Tallinn May 04, 2021

Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa. He is a co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Future of Life Institute, and philanthropically supports other existential risk research organisations. Jaan is on the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (thebulletin.org), and has served on the High-Level Expert Group on AI at the European Commission, as well as on the Estonian President’s Academic Advisory Board. He is also an active angel investor, a partner at Ambient Sound Investments, and a former investor director of the AI company DeepMind.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk one the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

International agreements to spend percentage of GDP on global public goods | Hauke Hillebrandt Apr 30, 2021

Hauke reviews international agreements to spend a percentage of GDP on public goods such as aid (0.7%), defence (NATO’s 2% target), R&D, global governance, etc. He shows how these agreements interact with priorities in effective altruism because they are large in scale, solve (global) public good dilemmas, and relate to differential technological development. Finally, he argues that we should advocate for a new international agreement to spend 1% of GDP on global risk reduction.

Hauke Hillebrandt is a research associate at the Center for Global Development. His focus is on global cooperation and the Commitment to Development Index, which ranks countries by their policies in aid effectiveness, trade, finance, migration, environment, security, and technology transfer. He also works on global catastrophic risks.

Previously, he was Director of Research for the Giving What We Can project and Philanthropic Advisor at the Centre for Effective Altruism in Oxford. There he has advised foundations, a large group of small donors and several ultra high net worth individuals on how to donate more effectively. He also led a team to prepare reports with policy recommendations to Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education.

Hauke holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from University College London, was fellow at Harvard University and has published peer reviewed papers and commentaries that have been cited more than 100 times.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Against Malaria Foundation: the impact of accountability | Rob Mather Apr 27, 2021

The Against Malaria Foundation is one of the most effective global health charities in the world, and the single most common donation target for EA Survey respondents (2018 and 2019). What makes this organization so special? How do they approach their work, and what challenges do they face? Founder and CEO Rob Mather answers these questions.

Rob Mather is the founder and CEO of The Against Malaria Foundation. AMF has now raised more than $190 million, funding 86 million anti-mosquito bed nets protecting 155 million people in 35 countries, mainly in Africa.

AMF uses technology, rigorous processes and clear accountability to ensure aid is delivered effectively. For seven of the past eight years, AMF has been a top-ranked charity of the independent charity evaluators GiveWell and The Life You Can Save.

Why malaria?

Malaria kills about 400,000 people every year and more than 200 million fall ill. Before bed nets were made available, it was three or more times that. Nets are a proven intervention – a more effective a way of saving lives than any other. There is still a long way to go and every death from malaria is preventable.

70% of the deaths are children under 5
Malaria is the world’s single largest killer of pregnant women
90% of the deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa

Yet malaria is totally preventable and treatable. Nobody need die. Prevention is better than treatment.

The most effective means of prevention is sleeping under a mosquito net
Specifically a Long-Lasting Insecticide treated Net (LLIN)
Each net costs $2.00/€1,70/£1.50
Every 50-250 nets distributed and installed equals 1 life saved

Given the scale of this problem, malaria is clearly a humanitarian issue.

Malaria is also an economic issue. Malaria is the single greatest drag on the economy of Africa. Every $1m spent fighting malaria efficiently improves the GDP – the wealth – of the continent of Africa by $12m. Fighting malaria is a very good investment.

As well as the approximately 400,000 people that die from malaria each year, more than 200 million fall sick with malaria. And that means a parent has to stay home with a sick child, teachers cannot teach, farmers cannot farm, drivers cannot drive, people cannot function. It fundamentally affects people working and productivity in Africa.

Every $1m we spend fighting malaria efficiently we improve the GDP – the wealth – of the continent of Africa by $12m.

If we want to help Africa out of the situation we all find it in beating malaria is very high up, if not top of, the list.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Why effective altruism is central to rebuilding social capital and egalitarianism | Andrew Leigh MP Apr 23, 2021

Over the past few decades, many advanced nations have become more disconnected. People have fewer friends, join fewer organisations, and are less likely to be members of political parties, churches and unions. At the same time, inequality is on the rise. By focusing on rigorous impact, effective altruism can boost the quality and quantity of philanthropy, helping to replace individualism and isolation with collectivism and cooperation.

Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a past recipient of the ‘Young Economist Award’, a prize given every two years by the Economics Society of Australia to the best economist under 40.

His books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), Choosing Openness: Why Global Engagement is Best for Australia (2017), Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (2018), Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019) and Reconnected: A Community Builder’s Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020). Andrew is a keen marathon runner, and hosts a podcast titled “The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation”, which is available on Apple Podcasts.

Andrew is the father of three sons – Sebastian, Theodore and Zachary, and lives with his wife Gweneth in Canberra. He has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1991.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

Operations Career Stories | Alfredo Parra, Marisa Jurczyk, Anne le Roux Apr 20, 2021

Alfredo supports the Legal Priorities Project in operations. Before joining, he worked as Operations Analyst and then COO at the Center on Long-Term Risk and its parent organization, the Effective Altruism Foundation. He has a BSc in Engineering Physics from Tec de Monterrey, Mexico, and an MSc and a PhD in Computational Science from the Technical University of Munich.

Marisa helps with a variety of day-to-day operations at Rethink Charity, including HR, legal compliance, and website maintenance. Previously, Marisa volunteered as a Student Leader Coordinator for Students for High-Impact Charity. Marisa graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.

Anne is a member of the central operations team at the Future of Humanity Institute and works closely with the Centre for the Governance of AI. She holds a Mathematics degree with a dissertation on Autonomous Drones and Dynamic Game Theory. Her background is in events coordination and community building, and her primary interests are ‘field building‘ for AI governance, creating improved career-pipelines, and increasing absorptive capacity for junior talent.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

Meeting corporate cage-free egg pledges through impact incentives | Jayasimha Nuggehalli Apr 16, 2021

Jayasimha talks about the work of Global Food Partners to build the capacity of producers and provide them with financial incentives to transition to cage-free egg production successfully.

From Jayasimha’s bio: “Currently, I am the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Global Food Partners. Under my leadership, I conceptualize, plan, and implement key initiatives to promote higher welfare production systems in the food sector. I also spearhead the development of innovative traceability and supply chain solutions for animal-sourced protein. In addition, I liaise with senior staff, stakeholders, and donors to ensure that the organisation’s support structure is driving operations forward with minimal expenditures.”

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Seizing opportunities to improve animal welfare in Taiwan | Jonathon Tree Apr 13, 2021

Work to improve the welfare of farmed animals is in its infancy; this is especially the case in the Asia Pacific. Thus, it is likely the most effective solutions lie ahead of us. Jonathon shares reflections on novel strategies based on EAST’s (benevolently) opportunistic approach to achieving change for animals in Taiwan.

This episode relies more on the PowerPoint, so feel free to click below to watch Jonathon’s talk on YouTube.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Australians’ perceptions of global catastrophic risks | Emily Grundy Apr 09, 2021

Emily provides an introduction to the research collaboration READI – an organisation that conducts collaborative research to further the aims of the effective altruism movement. She outlines recent findings from the Survey of COVID-19 Responses to Understand Behaviour (SCRUB), which grew out of READI, regarding what the Australian public thinks about global catastrophic risks.

This talk relies much on the PowerPoint presentation, so feel free to watch the presentation on YouTube via the link below.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Transforming how data drives decision-making in global development | Tony Senanayake Apr 06, 2021

Despite the buzz around data-driven decision-making, it’s much easier to say than to do. Tony shares how IDinsight developed its Learning Partnership model to enable global development decision-makers – from government ministers to NGO leaders – to use real-time data to inform their policies and programs. He shares how IDinsight’s embedded teams are able to be reactive to changing social and political landscapes, transforming how poverty is addressed globally.

Prior to joining IDinsight, Tony worked as a researcher with the International Growth Center in partnership with Yale University on the design of evaluations looking at the impact of rural electrification in Sierra Leone. Tony has worked on the design of monitoring and evaluation systems for non-profits in India, evaluation of ed-tech platforms in Zambia, and the design of a youth homeless shelter in New Haven. Tony worked as a graduate intern with IDinsight where he worked on a team setting up a learning partnership with the Ministry of Education in Himachal Pradesh. Tony also worked as a manager at Deloitte focusing on research and development consulting. Tony recently graduated from Yale School of Management with an MBA and was listed as one of Poets and Quants Top 100 Best and Brightest 2020 MBA Graduates. He also has a Masters of Law from the University of Sydney and Bachelors of Finance and Law from the University of Queensland.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Starting a charity: the power of contextual expertise | Nikita Patel & Corrina Vali Apr 02, 2021

Considering starting your own charity? Nikita and Corrina discuss Fortify Health‘s startup journey, and the room for improvement in one important part of the current charity-startup landscape: contextual expertise. They make the call for more country-based founders to consider starting new, effective organisations and applying to the Charity Entrepreneurship programme.

Nikita Patel previously worked in global health communications at Malaria Consortium. She’s also worked as Research & Outreach Intern at the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Project Manager at Voenna Rampa Refugee Camp in Bulgaria. She graduated from University of Oxford with a BA in French and German, and is interested in animal welfare, mental health and tackling modern slavery. She enjoys cooking, language-learning, hiking and cycling.

Corrina Vali previously founded and ran Saheli, a social enterprise that improves women’s access to affordable and high quality menstrual hygiene products in rural Gujarat. She’s been an OceanPath fellow with the Coady International Institute in Canada and an incubatee of the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. She graduated from McGill University with a BA in International Development and Economics. She’s interested in development economics, public policy and global health. She enjoys dance, travel and food.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Our latest research and recommendations on climate change | Johannes Ackva Mar 30, 2021

In this episode, Johannes shares his thoughts on climate from an EA perspective including the latest recommendations from Founders Pledge on how to have an outsized impact through donations, as well as reflections on opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Johannes joined the research team of Founders Pledge in 2019. He brings five years of experience working in a think tank advising decision-makers on climate policy, and has also researched the intersection between effective and feasible climate policies. Johannes holds an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago and an M.Sc. in Sociology with a focus on research methods from the Interuniversity Centre for Social Science Theory and Methodology at the University of Groningen.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Moral standing and cause prioritization | Jason Schukraft Mar 26, 2021

In this episode, Jason explains why it’s important to determine which creatures have moral standing and how that knowledge might affect the way we prioritize interventions and causes. He showcases one method for grappling with this problem, and outlines what skills are necessary to make progress in this area.

Jason Schukraft is a Senior Research Manager at Rethink Priorities. Before joining the RP team, Jason earned his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. Jason specializes in questions at the intersection of epistemology and applied ethics.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Journalism and accurately communicating EA ideas | Rob Wiblin, Michael Levine, and Kelsey Piper Mar 23, 2021

A journalist, podcaster and communications expert talk about how to best explain EA ideas to the public — maximising understanding and minimising frustration.

Rob Wiblin studied both genetics and economics at the Australian National University (ANU), graduating top of his class and being named Young Alumnus of the Year in 2015. He worked as a research economist in various Australian Government agencies, and then moved to the UK to work at the Centre for Effective Altruism, first as Research Director, then Executive Director, then Research Director for 80,000 Hours. He was founding board Secretary for Animal Charity Evaluators and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. A guide to his work is available on his personal site and he regularly offers unsolicited opinions on Facebook and Twitter.

Michael Levine leads Open Philanthropy’s work on communications, including interactions with the news media. Previously, Mike covered Congress for Honolulu Civil Beat, researched economic issues for Pew’s American Cities Project, helped California government agencies pass ballot measures, and designed and executed communications strategies for charities and foundations large and small. He has been working with Open Philanthropy since 2015 and became Communications Officer in 2017.

Kelsey Piper attended Stanford University, where she majored in computer science. At Stanford she discovered effective altruism, becoming a member of Giving What We Can and pledging to donate 30% of her lifetime income to charity, as well as founding a campus advocacy organization. Since 2018, Piper has written the Vox column Future Perfect, which covers “the most critical issues of the day through the lens of effective altruism”. Piper is concerned about global catastrophic risks, and treats journalism as a way to popularize these risks and advance the cause of addressing them, which is part of effective altruism’s broader concern regarding the relevance of immediate action. Specifically, Piper has discussed the possibility that society is living on a historical precipice, where immediate action needs to be taken to avoid global catastrophic risks, and what implications that has for effective altruism and her own journalism.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

Click here to see Rob’s presentation on Jargon.

Naïve effective altruism and the danger of neglecting psychology | Stefan Schubert Mar 19, 2021

Stefan discusses the importance of considering our own and others’ emotions and psychological limits when practising effective altruism.

Stephan Schubert is a researcher at the Social Behaviour and Ethics Lab, University of Oxford, working in the intersection of moral psychology and philosophy. He focuses on psychological questions of relevance to effective altruism, such as why our altruistic actions are often ineffective, and why we don’t invest more in safe-guarding our common future. He was previously a researcher at the Centre for Effective Altruism, and a postdoc in philosophy at the London School of Economics.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Self-care: balancing sacrifice and renewal | Daniel Kestenholz Mar 16, 2021

Daniel talks about why self-care is challenging yet essential for almost anything you care about, and how you can manage your resources more deliberately.

Quote from Daniel’s bio: “In my coaching practice, I help people in the effective altruism community face difficult challenges and make their biggest contribution to the world while taking care of themselves. I love to enter someone’s world and help them do what they’re capable of. It’s one of the most fulfilling things for me. Besides, coaching also pushes me into my own learning zone very consistently. I’ve grown just as much as my clients did throughout 300+ coaching sessions so far. Click here to access my coaching page. As the COO at the Center for Emerging Risk Research (CERR), I work to improve the quality of life of future generations as comprehensively as possible. CERR is a charitable investment fund and grantmaker that promotes research and the implementation of solutions to avoid technological risks. I’m curious about almost everything and love to learn new things. I’m particularly interested in how to have peak energy and focus, get the most out of my time, and struggle more gracefully. I spend my downtime meditating, hiking, and enjoying dark chocolate.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Artificial Intelligence Career Stories | Evan Hubinger and Caroline Jeanmaire Mar 12, 2021

In this episode, Evan and Caroline share personal stories about their careers surrounding artificial intelligence.

Evan Hubinger was an AI safety research intern at OpenAI before joining MIRI. His current work is aimed at solving inner alignment for iterated amplification. Evan was an author on “Risks from Learned Optimization in Advanced Machine Learning Systems,” was previously a MIRI intern, designed the functional programming language Coconut, and has done software engineering work at Google, Yelp, and Ripple. Evan studied math and computer science at Harvey Mudd College.

Caroline Jeanmaire leads CHAI’s partnership and external relations strategy, focusing on building a research community around AI safety and relationships with key stakeholders. She also researches models of international coordination to ensure the safety and reliability of AI systems. Before working at CHAI, she was an AI Policy Researcher and Project Manager at The Future Society, a think-tank incubated at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She notably supported the organization of the first and second Global Governance of AI Forums at the World Government Summit in Dubai, with over 200 attendees. In the 2019 edition, she managed the Geopolitics of AI and International Panel on AI research committees. Caroline is experienced in multi-party coordination and negotiation. She was a Youth Delegate to the United Nations for two years with the French delegation. She participated in numerous climate negotiations and technical intersessions (including COP21, COP22, COP23 and COP24). Caroline has a dual master’s degree in International Relations from Peking University and Sciences Po Paris and a bachelor’s degree in political sciences from Sciences Po Paris. She also studied at Tufts University and at the Graduate Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Caroline speaks English, French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube Channel.

How students will lead the alternative protein revolution | Amy Huang Mar 09, 2021

Industrial animal agriculture sits at the intersection of many of the most pressing challenges facing human and non-human animal kind. To alleviate these pressures in the wake of rising global meat demand, we must accelerate the development of alternative proteins that compete with their conventional animal counterparts on the basis of taste, price, and convenience. Students are uniquely positioned to drive this food system transformation by influencing some of the most powerful institutions in our economy—colleges and universities. Join The Good Food Institute’s Amy Huang to learn about how you can turn your university into a powerhouse for alternative protein education, research, and innovation.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

CEA strategy update | Max Dalton & Joan Gass Mar 05, 2021

Max Dalton (Executive Director) and Joan Gass (Managing Director) from the Centre for Effective Altruism provide an update on CEA’s movement building strategy and answer questions from the audience.

Centre for Effective Altruism, or CEA, is an organization whose mission is to build a community of students and professionals acting on EA principles, by creating and sustaining high-quality discussion spaces. CEA believes that by connecting students and young professionals with relevant experts, they can help them consider their values and find an effective way to contribute that is a good fit for their skills and inclinations.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

80,000 Hours: Key Ideas with Ben Todd Mar 02, 2021

80,000 Hours is a non-profit that provides research and support to help people switch into careers that effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems. Ben discusses the most useful things they’ve learned so far.

Ben Todd managed 80,000 Hours while it grew from a lecture, to a student society, to the organisation it is today. Before 80,000 Hours, he was the first undergraduate to intern as an analyst at a top investment fund. He has a 1st from Oxford in Physics and Philosophy, and has published in Climate Physics.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube Channel.

How I think students should orient to AI safety | Buck Shlegeris Feb 26, 2021

Buck argues that students should engage with AI safety by trying to actually assess the arguments and the safety proposals. He claims that this is doable and useful.

Buck Shlegeris is a researcher at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Buck works to make the future good for sentient beings; at the moment he believes that working on existential risk from artificial intelligence is my best bet for doing this.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

SCI Foundation: deworming done differently | Katie Fantaguzzi Feb 23, 2021

SCI Foundation has been selected by GiveWell as one of its most effective charities every year since 2009. How does SCI reach and improve the lives of the poorest of the poor? What is unique about this organisation’s approach and outsized impact? Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research Advisor Katie Fantaguzzi discusses SCI’s progress toward its vision to eliminate preventable disease.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Global Health and Development Career Stories | Nikita Patel Feb 19, 2021

Nikita co-founded Fortify Health, a wheat flour fortification initiative based in India, with Brendan Eappen in 2017. They launched Fortify Health with a seed grant and support from what was to become Charity Entrepreneurship, and have since received two GiveWell incubation grants to scale up wheat flour fortification in Maharashtra and West Bengal, India. Nikita previously worked in communications at Malaria Consortium, and has also been a Research and Outreach Intern at the Centre for Effective Altruism. She graduated from Oxford University with a BA in French and German, and enjoys cooking, language learning, and cycling.

This talk was taken from EA Global Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Centre for Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

Getting a career in global development | Tony Senanayake Feb 16, 2021

Are you thinking about how to practically pursue a career with an effective altruism aligned organization but do not come from a traditional background? Tony has lived many lives including as a management consultant, lawyer and now global development practitioner. Tony discusses the role that active experimentation has had in shaping his current world view as an effective altruist.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Building a strong community through effective altruism groups | Catherine Low Feb 12, 2021

Catherine shares the Centre for Effective Altruism’s latest thinking about the key role that EA groups play in building our community, suggests possible goals for groups, and outlines the support available to groups if you’re currently organising a group or keen to learn more about how to start one.

Catherine Low is a Groups Support Contractor for Center for Effective Altruism. Catherine provides support to effective altruism groups around the world. Before joining CEA, she managed the Students for High-Impact Charity program and taught science, physics, and ethics at the high school level. She is also heavily involved in EA community building across New Zealand and Australia. Catherine holds a PhD in physics from the University of Melbourne.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Doing good as a student: tradeoffs and project ideas | Claire Zabel Feb 09, 2021

Claire discusses different potential high-impact approaches to one’s time as a student, and the tradeoffs between them, such as pursuing opportunities to gain career capital vs. doing directly impactful research. She focuses on the conditions under which she thinks students should and shouldn’t try to do community building and high-impact projects as students, and some particular project options she thinks are potentially promising for some students, largely from a longtermist perspective.

Claire Zabel is a program officer on global catastrophic risks for Open Philanthropy. She leads Open Philanthropy’s grantmaking on effective altruism and does research and makes grants across Open Philanthropy’s efforts to reduce global catastrophic risks. She joined Open Philanthropy in August 2015 as a Research Analyst. Claire has a B.S. and M.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University, where she conducted research related to the science, ethics, and governance of solar geoengineering.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Which cause to work on? | Kit Harris Feb 05, 2021

This is a talk for people who want to figure out which cause to work on and are just getting started in doing so.

Kit Harris leads on grant investigations and researches promising fields at Longview Philanthropy. He also writes about our recommendations and research for our philanthropists. Prior to focusing on high-impact philanthropic work, Kit worked as a credit derivatives trader with J.P. Morgan. During that time, he donated the majority of his income to high-impact charities. Kit holds a first class degree in mathematics from the University of Oxford.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

WANBAM: Our successes, challenges, and opportunities to get involved | Kathryn Mecrow-Flynn Feb 02, 2021

Kathryn Mecrow-Flynn, the Founder and CEO of WANBAM, discusses the lessons learnt during WANBAM’s first year of operation. She talks about the opportunities for getting involved and the possibilities for similar mentorship schemes in the community.

Founded in 2019, WANBAM connects and supports a global network of women, trans people of any gender, and non-binary people interested in effective altruism through mentorship.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Dual moral obligations and international cooperation against global catastrophic risks | Jenny Xiao Jan 29, 2021

The fight against global catastrophic risks (GCRs) requires international cooperation, yet it is often challenging to foster genuine collaboration among different countries. Jenny Xiao, a PhD student at Columbia University, reconceptualizes international cooperation decisions as a tradeoff between “dual moral obligations” towards the nation and humanity as a whole. How countries think about this tradeoff shapes their willingness to contribute to collective efforts against GCRs.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Fireside chat | Peter Singer Jan 26, 2021

In this episode, Peter and Wanyi have a brief conversation about the direction of EA, movement building strategies, and how to feel about people who do not donate money.

Peter Singer has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 40 books, including Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Life You Can Save, and The Most Good You Can Do. His writings have inspired both the animal rights movement and effective altruism, and he is the founder of the charity The Life You Can Save.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Effective Altruism YouTube channel.

Using “Back of the Envelope Calculations” (BOTECs) to prioritize interventions | Zachary Robinson Jan 22, 2021

Zach talks about why, when, and how to use “Back Of The Envelope Calculations” (BOTECs) to inform altruistic decision-making and walks through an example to demonstrate key concepts.

Zachary Robinson is a research fellow at open philanthropy. Open Philanthropy is an organization whose mission is to give as effectively as they can and share their findings openly so that anyone can build on their work. Through research and grantmaking, Open Philanthropy hopes to learn how to make philanthropy go especially far in terms of improving lives. They are passionate about maximizing the impact of our giving, and are excited to connect with other donors who share their passion.

This talk was taken from EA Global Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Expansion of animal advocacy and concern for wild animal suffering in India | Aditya SK Jan 19, 2021

Aditya examines ways to expand animal advocacy in India; especially concern and research about wild animal suffering which has great potential for reducing aggregate suffering. Given the historically positive attitude of the Indian cultural and legal systems towards non-human animals, strategic outreach to advocates, academics and policy-makers by organizations like Animal Ethics could potentially influence structural changes to reduce the suffering of sentient beings in the wild.

Aditya is a coordinator at Animal Ethics. Animal Ethics is an organization that was formed to provide information and promote discussion and debate about issues in animal ethics, and to provide resources for animal advocates and the general public. Their work deals with the way nonhuman animals are considered in everyday life, as well as how they are considered in fields that affect human attitudes and activities that are relevant to animals. These include academia, scientific fields, and the law. Animal Ethics looks at the way nonhuman animals are impacted by current human activities, and how they might be impacted by future planned or unplanned human activities. This involves not only the ways we might harm them, but also how we might help them even when the cause of their plight is not human action.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Decoupling: a technique for reducing bias | David Manley Jan 15, 2021

Overcoming confirmation bias in our thinking requires decoupling: evaluating the strength of new evidence independently from our prior views. David explains how to implement some easy cognitive techniques that have been shown to help us successfully decouple; and how even informal decoupling approximates Bayesian reasoning.

David Manley is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research has been mainly about semantics, ontology, probability, and evidence. But lately He has been thinking about conditions for rationality and well-being—not just for individual people, but also for groups, animals, and other cognitive systems.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Outlook on the emerging field of wild animal welfare research | Michelle Graham and Oscar Horta Jan 12, 2021

Michelle and Oscar discuss the wide variety of research areas relevant to wild animal welfare, the career and educational pathways to conducting such research, and how you can support the movement along the way.

Michelle Graham is the Executive Director of Wild Animal Initiative. Her projects have included work on prioritizing and categorizing different interventions. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Engineering Mechanics at Virginia Tech; her dissertation concerns the movement behaviors of jumping and gliding snakes. Michelle previously studied physics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, and has worked with animals in shelter, veterinary, farm, and zoo environments.

Oscar Horta has been involved in animal advocacy since the mid-’90s, and is a founding member of Animal Ethics. He is also a professor of philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela, and previously worked as a researcher at the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology. He works mainly on speciesism and wild animal suffering.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentations.

Mitigating catastrophic biorisks | Kevin Esvelt Jan 08, 2021

In a world now painfully aware of pandemics, with ever-increasing access to autonomous biological agents, how can we help channel society’s response to COVID-19 to minimize the risk of deliberate misuse? Using the challenge of securing DNA synthesis as an example, Kevin outlines the key norms and incentives governing biotechnology, lays out potential strategies for reform, and suggests ways in which thoughtful individuals might help safely and credibly discuss and mitigate biorisks without spreading information hazards.

Kevin Michael Esvelt is an American biologist. He is currently an assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab and leads the Sculpting Evolution group. After receiving a B.A. in chemistry and biology from Harvey Mudd College, he completed his PhD work at Harvard University as a Hertz Fellow. Esvelt developed phage assisted continuous evolution (PACE) during his PhD as a graduate student in David R. Liu’s laboratory. As a Wyss Technology Fellow, Esvelt was involved with the development of gene drive technology. He focuses on the bioethics and biosafety of gene drives. In 2016, Esvelt was named an Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Cellular agriculture: futureproofing our food systems for humans, animals and our planet | Bianca Le Jan 05, 2021

Bianca Le is the founder and director of Cellular Agriculture Australia. CAA is a nonprofit organization with the mission of improving human health and building resilient food systems in Australia. They do this by promoting and accelerating the development of healthy and sustainable animal proteins through research and development in cellular agriculture.

Cellular agriculture is an emerging research field dedicated to developing food for our growing population without sacrificing our planet. Modern biomedical technology can be applied to food science to farm meat, eggs and dairy directly from cells, not animals. Cellular agriculture has the potential to reduce the impact of food production on our environment, health, and animal welfare. As a nascent industry, the foundations of the ecosystem laid today will determine the potential impact of the field on our world.

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

GiveWell’s current progress and priorities | Olivia Larsen Jan 01, 2021

Olivia discusses GiveWell’s current work and forward priorities, including new areas of GiveWell’s research, as well as sharing some updates on some of GiveWell’s projects in Asia.

GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of their analysis to help donors decide where to give.

Unlike charity evaluators that focus solely on financials, assessing administrative or fundraising costs, GiveWell conducts in-depth research aiming to determine how much good a given program accomplishes (in terms of lives saved, lives improved, etc.) per dollar spent. Rather than try to rate as many charities as possible, GiveWell focuses on the few charities that stand out most (by their criteria) in order to find and confidently recommend high-impact giving opportunities (our list of top charities).

This talk was taken from EA Global Asia and Pacific 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Biosecurity Career Story | Dr Tara Kirk Sell Dec 29, 2020

In this episode, Dr Sell talks about her history with Olympic swimming, how she came to work on biosecurity, and what she is working on now during the pandemic.

Dr. Sell is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At the Center, she conducts, manages, and leads research projects to develop a greater understanding of potentially large-scale health events. She also serves as an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security (formerly Biosecurity and Bioterrorism). Dr. Sell co-directs the Health Security PhD track within the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk on the Center for Effective Altruism YouTube channel

Reducing global catastrophic biological risks | Jaime Yassif Dec 22, 2020

Jaime discusses NTI’s new report, “Preventing Global Catastrophic Biological Risks”. In February 2020, during the Munich Security Conference, NTI convened senior leaders from around the world for a scenario-based tabletop exercise designed to identify gaps in global capabilities to prevent and respond to high-consequence biological events. The report summarizes the exercise and provides recommendations from the organizers.

Jaime Yassif is a senior fellow for global biological policy and programs at NTI. She is currently leading several major biosecurity projects, with a particular focus on reducing global catastrophic biological risks.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to protect our lives, livelihoods, environment and quality of life now and for future generations from the growing risk of catastrophic attacks from weapons of mass destruction and disruption (WMDD)—nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical and cyber. Founded in 2001 by Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner, NTI is guided by a prestigious, international board of directors. Joan Rohlfing serves as president.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Doing empirical global priorities research: the question of civilizational collapse and recovery| Luisa Rodriguez Dec 18, 2020

Luisa Rodriguez discusses approaches to global priorities research, focusing on answering important empirical questions. She uses her recent work on civilizational collapse and recovery as a case study.

Luisa Rodriguez is research fellow at the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research. Previously, she researched nuclear war at Rethink Priorities and as a visiting researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute. Before that, she conducted cost-effectiveness evaluations of nonprofit and government programs at ImpactMatters, Innovations for Poverty Action, and GiveWell (as a summer intern).

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

Evidence, cluelessness and the long term | Hilary Greaves Dec 15, 2020

Principles of effective altruism counsel paying close attention to the evidence, to find the most cost-effective opportunities to do good. But evidence covers only the more immediate effects of any intervention, and it’s highly likely the vast majority of the value is thereby omitted from the calculation. Hilary discusses the range of possible responses to this fact, and in particular whether it supports or instead undermines “longtermism”.

This talk was taken from EA Student Summit 2020. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.

A new tool for evaluating opportunities to help farm animals globally | Lucas Alvarenga Dec 11, 2020

How does an EA-minded multinational farmed animal organization evaluate its priorities to have the greatest impact in such a complex global context? Lucas talks about a new tool that Mercy For Animals is developing to help international organizations and globally-minded and impact-driven funders to help make more strategic decisions for animals.

Lucas Alvarenga is the Vice President of Mercy For Animals (MFA) Brasil. Mercy For Animals is an organization that exists to end one of the greatest causes of suffering on the planet: the exploitation of animals for food, in particular, industrial animal agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing. These forms of food production cause egregious animal suffering and have detrimental effects on the planet and people. Mercy For Animals is dedicated to eradicating this cruel food system and replacing it with one that is not just kind to animals but essential for the future of our planet and all who share it.

Suvita’s first year: Vaccines in the spotlight | Fiona Conlon Dec 08, 2020

In this episode, Fiona Conlon discusses Suvita’s first year as a new nonprofit, highlighting how their work has been shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and considering its implications for vaccination more broadly.

Fiona Conlon is the co-founder of Suvita. Suvita is a nonprofit organization that implements two rigorously tested solutions which have been found to increase uptake of vaccinations in India:

• Building a network of carefully selected volunteer immunization ambassadors, who share information with new parents in their community about local vaccine clinics.
• Sending personalized SMS reminders to caregivers informing them when their child is due for a vaccination.

Emerging evidence suggests that a combination of both these methods is more effective and more cost-effective than either in isolation.

EAGxVirtual 2020: Q&A with Toby Ord Jul 22, 2020

Note from EARadio: I originally used the wrong audio for this episode. Instead of this Q&A, it was a talk by Toby that summarized The Precipice. Sorry!

Toby Ord is a philosopher at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute. His work focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity. What are the most important issues of our time? How can we best address them?

Toby’s earlier work explored the ethics of global health and global poverty. This led him to create an international society called Giving What We Can, whose members have pledged over $1.4 billion to the most effective charities helping to improve the world. He also co-founded the wider effective altruism movement, encouraging thousands of people to use reason and evidence to help others as much as possible.

His current research is on avoiding the threat of human extinction and thus safeguarding a positive future for humanity, which he considers to be among the most pressing and neglected issues we face. He addresses this in his new book, The Precipice.

https://theprecipice.com

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EAGxVirtual 2020: COVID-19: GiveDirectly’s emergency cash response (Rachel Waddell) Jul 17, 2020

In this talk, Rachel Waddell provides an overview of GiveDirectly’s rapid response to COVID-19 across countries of operation. In particular explaining remote responses launched in Uganda and Kenya, in partnership with local CBOs and telecommunications partners.

Home

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EAGxVirtual 2020: The latest advice from 80,000 Hours (Michelle Hutchinson and Arden Koehler) Jul 16, 2020

Michelle Hutchinson (Head of Advising) and Arden Koehler (Research Analyst) answer questions about 80,000 Hours’ career advice, the career advising programme, and what’s new at the organization.

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Q&A with Will MacAskill Jul 15, 2020

William MacAskill is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Oxford University. He was educated at Cambridge, Princeton, and Oxford and is one of the progenitors of the effective altruism movement. His book on the topic, Doing Good Better, was published by Penguin Random House in 2015. He is the co-founder of three non-profits based on effective altruist principles: Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours and the Centre for Effective Altruism, and is also a research fellow at the Global Priorities Institute.

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Q&A with Marcus Davis (Co-Executive Director of Rethink Priorities) Jul 14, 2020

Marcus is a co-founder and Co-Executive Director at Rethink Priorities, where he leads research and strategy. He’s also a co-founder of Charity Entrepreneurship and Charity Science Health, where he previously systematically analyzed global poverty interventions, helped manage partnerships, and implemented the technical aspects of the project. Marcus is especially well placed to advise people who: – are considering working for EA organizations – are considering starting EA organizations – are considering becoming researchers at EA organizations – are current or prospective animal welfare researchers

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Doing the most good for animals post COVID-19 (Lewis Bollard) Jul 13, 2020

How has COVID-19 changed the best way to help animals? Lewis explores the new challenges and opportunities in corporate campaigns, political advocacy, and meat alternatives.

https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Ensuring safety and consistency in the age of machine learning (Chongli Qin) Jul 12, 2020

Machine learning algorithms have become an essential part of technology and this part will only grow in the future. In this talk, Chongli addresses why it is important for us to develop safe machine learning algorithms. The talk covers some of the current work on this topic and highlights what we can do to ensure that the machine learning algorithms being bought into the real world are safe and consistent with desirable specifications.

https://deepmind.com

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Identifying the most cost effective programs to improve mental health (Jasper Synowski) Jul 11, 2020

Even though mental disorders account for a considerable burden of disease globally and appear to strongly impact an individuals’ subjective well-being, the EA community has spent relatively little effort on identifying the best mental health giving opportunities. This talk provides an introduction to the Happier Lives Institute’s Mental Health Programme Evaluation Project (MHPEP), which aims to fill this gap. In this talk, Jasper introduces the research process to date and shares preliminary insights, along with limitations of the approach.

For in-depth preparation, we recommend reading our latest post about the project on the EA Forum:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uzLRw7cjpKnsuM7c3/hli-s-mental-health-programme-evaluation-project-update-on

To find out more about the Happier Lives Institute more generally, see this recent update:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/e6u3cTSNsYGHtTth6/update-from-the-happier-lives-institute

Or visit our website:
https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Project Management 101 Jul 10, 2020

In this workshop, Habiba gives a run-down of the essentials of project management. The workshop covers the responsibilities of project managers as well as the standard tools and methodologies that can be used for large projects or scaled down for smaller projects. This video will be particularly useful for people interested in operations roles.

Link to slides

Link to handout

Clarification:
The definition of the critical path of a project is the longest sequence of activities in a project plan which must be completed to complete a project. Calculating this gives you an understanding of a the minimum amount of time a project has to take.

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Mitigating catastrophic biorisks (Kevin Esvelt) Jul 09, 2020

In a world now painfully aware of pandemics, with ever-increasing access to autonomous biological agents, how can we help channel society’s response to COVID-19 to minimize the risk of deliberate misuse? Using the challenge of securing DNA synthesis as an example, Kevin outlines the key norms and incentives governing biotechnology, lays out potential strategies for reform, and suggests ways in which thoughtful individuals might help safely and credibly discuss and mitigate biorisks without spreading information hazards.

http://www.sculptingevolution.org

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Why you (yes, you) should post on the EA Forum (Aaron Gertler) Jul 08, 2020

The EA Forum is the best place to share a message where the EA community will see it. And there’s a very good chance that you have a message worth sharing! Aaron discusses common features of excellent Forum posts and runs a brainstorming session where participants submit post ideas to get live feedback.

A companion document for the presentation, which contains additional resources, is available here.

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EAGxVirtual 2020: How social science research can inform AI governance (Baobao Zhang) Jul 07, 2020

Baobao Zhang explains how social science research can help those in governments, tech companies, and advocacy organizations make decisions regarding AI governance. After explaining her research on public attitudes toward AI and automation, she explores other important topics of research. She also reflects on how researchers could make broad impacts outside of academia.

Recommended reading:

Sequence thinking vs. cluster thinking

https://www.charityentrepreneurship.com/blog/using-a-spreadsheet-to-make-good-decisions-five-examples

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EAGxVirtual 2020: Animal advocacy in a global context (Marianne van der Werf) Jun 25, 2020

Animal suffering is a global problem that requires action on a global level. How can we think about effectiveness across geographical and cultural contexts? How can North American and European advocates support advocacy in other parts of the world, such as India and China, in responsible and impactful ways? This talk explores the pros and cons of different approaches to international advocacy.

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Q & A with Peter Singer (University of Melbourne Effective Altruism) May 31, 2020

This is a recording of a video-chat Q&A session with Peter Singer, hosted by the Effective Altruism University of Melbourne club. Topics covered include animal welfare, extreme poverty, and Effective Altruism and its critics, mostly at an introductory to intermediate level.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Closing remarks (Will MacAskill) May 22, 2020

William MacAskill is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Oxford University. He was educated at Cambridge, Princeton, and Oxford and is one of the progenitors of the effective altruism movement. His book on the topic, Doing Good Better, was published by Penguin Random House in 2015.

He is the cofounder of three non-profits based on effective altruist principles: Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and the Centre for Effective Altruism. He is also a research fellow at the Global Priorities Institute.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Q&A with Leah Edgerton, executive director at Animal Charity Evaluators May 21, 2020

Animal suffering is a global problem that requires action on a global level. How can we think about effectiveness across geographical and cultural contexts? How can North American and European advocates support advocacy in other parts of the world in responsible and impactful ways? In this talk, Leah explores the pros and cons of different approaches to international advocacy.

Leah has been involved in the effective altruism community since 2011 and has been an animal advocate her whole life. From 2015 to 2017, she was an integral part of ACE’s communications team, building up their social media channels, growing the reach of their email list, and helping to plan and launch their website redesign.

From 2017 to 2019, she worked at ProVeg International, one of ACE’s Standout Charities. In her role as ProVeg’s Strategy and Internationalization Manager, she conceptualized and grew the China Programme from scratch and coordinated with external academics to conduct experimental research on meat reduction interventions.

Leah returned to ACE’s team as Executive Director in February 2019.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Q&A with Elie Hassenfeld, co-founder and CEO at GiveWell May 20, 2020

Elie, the CEO and co-founder of GiveWell, discusses his organization’s latest research, his views on economic growth, and what he’s changed his mind on lately (among other topics).

Elie co-founded GiveWell in 2007 alongside Holden Karnofsky. He also helps to set the strategy and oversee the work of Open Philanthropy, and chairs EA Funds’ Global Health and Development Fund.

Before launching GiveWell, Elie graduated from Columbia University with a degree in religion and spent several years in the hedge fund industry.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Fireside chat—AI governance (Markus Anderljung and Ben Garfinkel) May 19, 2020

Markus Anderljung and Ben Garfinkel discuss how they got into the field of AI governance and how the field has developed over the past few years. They discuss the question, “How sure are we about this AI stuff?”, and finish with an update on GovAI’s latest research and how to pursue a career in AI governance.

Markus is a Project Manager at the Centre for the Governance of AI (“GovAI”). He is focused on growing GovAI and making their research relevant to important stakeholders. He has a background in history and philosophy of science, with a focus on evidence-based policy and philosophy of economics. Before joining GovAI, Markus was the Executive Director of Effective Altruism Sweden.

Ben is a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute and a DPhil student at Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations. Ben’s research interests include the security and privacy implications of artificial intelligence, the causes of interstate war, and the methodological challenge of forecasting and reducing technological risks. He previously earned degrees in Physics and in Mathematics and Philosophy from Yale University.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Identifying opportunities for farmed animals (Garcés, Leah) May 18, 2020

What if a single tool could utilize animal numbers as well as economic, political, and cultural data from a multitude of countries to help effective altruists identify where and how they can make the greatest impact for animals? Learn about the new Farmed Animal Opportunities Index, an open-source tool that offers a research-backed formula for evaluating high-impact opportunities to help animals.

Leah is an animal advocate who has partnered with some of the largest food companies in the world with a mission to end factory farming. She is the President of Mercy for Animals and established, and was the first executive director of, Compassion in World Farming USA. She also serves on the advisory boards of Encompass and Seattle Food Tech.

Leah’s work has been featured in many national and international media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. She is a contributing author to the Huffington Post and Food Safety News. She is also the author of “Grilled: Turning Adversaries Into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry’.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Facing the risk of nuclear war in the 21st Century (Carl Robichaud) May 17, 2020

Nuclear weapons pose a grave threat to civilization. Public awareness of this threat has faded, but the weapons have not gone away. In fact, recent technological and geopolitical trends make nuclear war more likely than it has been in decades. Carl Robichaud discusses these developments and assesses the options for effective altruists seeking to contribute to nuclear risk reduction.

As program officer in International Peace and Security at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carl manages a portfolio of grants to strengthen nuclear security. In this capacity, he heads the Corporation’s work on strengthening nuclear governance and investing in the next generation of nuclear experts.

View Carl’s slides here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ExWYVAb40WMkXH4SDWd41sEc4gAL1ZGk

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Virtual EAG 2020: Taking good food global (Richard Parr) May 16, 2020

Richard discusses the international expansion of The Good Food Institute, and some of the special considerations that alternative proteins face in non-US regions.

Richard leads GFI’s work in Europe. He worked as Special Adviser to the UK Prime Minister between 2012 and 2016, and as Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for International Development from 2010-12 and 2016-18. In government, his main focus was on international development policy, and he worked closely on the formation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Richard holds an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.

View Richard’s slides here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13Ghl0tKntVoWIIOVrfb7QUhl-_hfvui_raa7qOaqKOg

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Virtual EAG 2020: Finding equilibrium in a difficult time (Julia Wise) May 15, 2020

Thoughts on handling anxiety and loneliness during the coronavirus quarantine.
Read Julia’s full post on the EA Forum.
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Virtual EAG 2020: What’s been happening in AI alignment? (Rohin Shah) May 14, 2020

While we haven’t yet built aligned AI, the field of alignment has been chugging along for a few years now, producing many useful outputs. In this talk, Rohin will survey conceptual progress in AI alignment over the last two years. While the talk will assume basic knowledge of the arguments for AI risk, technical knowledge is not necessary.

Rohin is a 6th year PhD student in Computer Science working at the Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI) at UC Berkeley. While he started his PhD working on program synthesis, he became convinced that it was important for us to build safe, aligned AI, and so moved to CHAI at the start of his fourth year. He now thinks about how to provide specifications of good behavior in ways other than reward functions, especially ones that do not require much human effort. He is best known for the Alignment Newsletter, a weekly publication with recent content relevant to AI alignment that has over 1700 subscribers.

View Rohin’s slides here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cXUvfvv1G0E6V3Ps4GF400wn3vMjQYde

Subscribe to the Alignment Newsletter:
https://rohinshah.com/alignment-newsletter/

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Virtual EAG 2020: Growing meat—A market-based approach to building an ethical food system (Zak Weston) May 13, 2020

Plant-based, fermented, and cultivated protein technologies hold the potential to shift our food supply away from its dependence on conventional animal agriculture and its consequences on climate change, global food insecurity, public health, and animal welfare. But transforming the food system is a vast, multidisciplinary effort that requires disciplines ranging from synthetic biology and chemical engineering to economics and data science. Zak makes the case for rethinking meat, eggs, and dairy, discusses the levers we can push on to ensure the success of the alternative protein field, and explains how you can make a positive impact.

Zak works at the Good Food Institute (GFI), an international nonprofit focused on creating a healthy, just, and sustainable food system through plant-based protein innovation, fermentation-derived proteins, and cellular agriculture. He consults with leading foodservice operators, food manufacturers, and alternative protein supply chain companies to help increase the quality and quantity of their plant-based meat, egg, and dairy offerings and meet the growing consumer demand for alternative protein foods. An active member of the Effective Altruism community, Zak holds a B.A. in Business Management from Cedarville University, and joined GFI after several years of experience in sales and working with startups.

View Zak’s slides here.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Representing future generations (Tyler John) May 12, 2020

Politics is a notoriously short-termist enterprise. Political institutions generally operate on 2-to-4-year timescales (as the issue of climate change has shown). But this is not necessary or inevitable. In principle, the immense wealth, influence, and coercive authority of national governments could be used to vastly improve the long-term future. In this talk, Tyler analyzes major sources of political short-termism and describes high-priority institutional reforms that could improve alignment between the incentives of present governments and the interests of future generations.

Tyler John is a PhD Student in Philosophy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and a Global Priorities Fellow at the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research.

Tyler’s research focuses on longtermist political philosophy and animal moral, legal, and political philosophy. His current constellation of projects is focused on normative arguments for the State to consider the very long-term future, and empirical research into how it could do so effectively.

Before coming to Rutgers, Tyler was a fellow at the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. He is also the Education Advisor on the Board of Directors of Faunacción, and he has co-authored a book on chimpanzee legal rights.

View Tyler’s slides here.

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Virtual EAG 2020: Q&A with Toby Ord, senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute May 11, 2020

If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Humanity could survive for billions of years, reaching heights of flourishing unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. For we have gained the power to destroy ourselves, and our entire potential, forever, without the wisdom to ensure we don’t.

Toby explains what this entails, with emphasis on the perspective of humanity — a major theme of his new book, The Precipice (https://theprecipice.com).

Toby Ord is a philosopher at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute. His work focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity: What are the most important issues of our time? How can we best address them?

Toby’s earlier work explored the ethics of global health and global poverty. This led him to create an international society called Giving What We Can, whose members have pledged over $1.4 billion to highly effective charities. He also co-founded the wider effective altruism movement, encouraging thousands of people to use reason and evidence to help others as much as possible.

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Virtual EAG 2020: The Precipice—Existential risk and the future of humanity (Toby Ord) May 10, 2020

If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Humanity could survive for billions of years, reaching heights of flourishing unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. For we have gained the power to destroy ourselves, and our entire potential, forever, without the wisdom to ensure we don’t. Toby will explain what this entails, with emphasis on the perspective of humanity — a major theme of his new book, The Precipice (https://theprecipice.com).

Toby Ord is a philosopher at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute. His work focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity: What are the most important issues of our time? How can we best address them?

Toby’s earlier work explored the ethics of global health and global poverty. This led him to create an international society called Giving What We Can, whose members have pledged over $1.4 billion to highly effective charities. He also co-founded the wider effective altruism movement, encouraging thousands of people to use reason and evidence to help others as much as possible.

His current research is on avoiding the threat of human extinction and thus safeguarding a positive future for humanity, which he considers to be among the most pressing and neglected issues we face. He addresses this in his new book, The Precipice.

To read a free chapter of The Precipice, sign up for Toby’s newsletter at the bottom of this page: https://theprecipice.com/

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Virtual EAG 2020: Opening Talk (Joan Gass) May 09, 2020

Joan Gass, Managing Director at the Centre for Effective Altruism, gives the opening talk for the EA Global Virtual Conference.

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EAG London 2019: Is impact investing impactful? (John Halstead) Jan 31, 2020

Impact investing is an increasingly popular approach to doing good. In this talk, John Halstead, head of applied research at Founders Pledge, discusses whether, and in what conditions, impact investing might be thought to succeed. John argues that impact investing is likely to have limited impact in large, highly efficient markets such as public stock markets. However, impact investing stands a better chance of impact if it involves VC or angel investing, includes companies that serve poor consumers or produce positive externalities, and/or exploits an investor’s informational advantage.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/

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EAG London 2019: DMI—How to put your own charity to the test Jan 29, 2020

Mass media can reach millions of people, but can it improve health and save lives as effectively as other top interventions? Past studies of mass-media campaigns for public health failed to find evidence of strong impact, belying the potential of the medium. In this talk, Roy Head, CEO of Development Media International (DMI), will discuss the randomized controlled trial DMI ran on its own health campaign — and the surprising results.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Fireside chat (Bonnie Jenkins) Jan 28, 2020

Bonnie Jenkins, founder and executive director of Women of Color Advancing Peace, shares her thoughts on starting her career at the Department of Defense, current risks and improvements in nuclear security and biosecurity, and her work to advance diversity and inclusion in her field.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Biological aging—A new approach to measuring animal welfare (Will Bradshaw) Jan 27, 2020

In order to improve animal welfare, we need to know how different factors affect it. But measuring the cumulative experience of non-human animals is a difficult task. Recent research has suggested that measures of biological aging could provide a promising new way to assess animal welfare. Will Bradshaw, a research fellow at Wild Animal Initiative, outlines the evidence supporting the surprising link between aging and welfare, as well as some potential limitations. He then discusses how this approach could help resolve key questions in the study of animal well-being.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Fireside chat (Will MacAskill) Jan 26, 2020

Will MacAskill, a key figure in the effective altruism movement, discusses the book he’s currently writing about longtermism, his assessment of challenges and successes in his work at the Global Priorities Institute, how his views have changed over the last year, different approaches to growing the effective altruism community, and more.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Open-source learning—A bargaining approach (Jesse Clifton) Jan 25, 2020

AI systems are much more transparent to one another than humans are to other humans; they can share information about the reward functions that drive their actions. Jesse Clifton, a PhD candidate in statistics at North Carolina State University, presents a framework for using “open-source learning algorithms” — which, thanks to this transparency, can make bargains to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Moral weights in the developing world (Alice Redfern) Jan 24, 2020

Even armed with the best intentions and evidence, EA donors must make a moral choice about what “doing the most good” actually means — for example, whether it’s better to save one life or lift many people out of poverty. Alice Redfern, a manager at IDinsight, discusses the organization’s “Beneficiary Preferences Project,” which involved gathering data on the moral preferences of individuals who receive aid funding. The project could influence how governments and NGOs allocate hundreds of billions of dollars.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Can we predictably improve the far future? (Christian Tarsney) Jan 23, 2020

Christian Tarsney, a research fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, summarizes some of the key strengths and weaknesses of a common argument against doing EA work focused on the long term: that the far future is too unpredictable to justify spending time on it. Rather than taking a “for” or “against” position, he makes the case that the questions around this argument are underexplored and present many opportunities for high-value research.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Understanding the gaps between academia and policymaking (Dan Brown) Jan 22, 2020

Academic studies don’t always estimate the parameters that will be most useful to us as we try to understand the cost-effectiveness of charities’ interventions. Even when they do, it may be difficult to figure out how those estimates apply to a specific charity’s program. Dan Brown, a senior fellow at GiveWell, uses examples from his own projects to demonstrate the depth of this challenge — and suggests ways to get practical value from academic insights.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Taking care of our people—Cultivating a supportive organizational culture (David Coman-Hidy) Jan 21, 2020

A successful culture for effective altruism is one in which many members of the community stay involved for a long time, learning and growing as they go. David Coman-Hidy, president of the Humane League, discusses ways in which organizations in the effective altruism space can nurture such a culture by helping their members feel valued, empowered, and connected.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Estimating long-term effects without long-term data (David Rhys Bernard) Jan 20, 2020

It’s important to estimate the long-term impacts of our actions, but we often can’t observe long-term outcomes within a decision-relevant time frame. David Rhys Bernard, a PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics, recently tested an alternative approach — measuring the short-term impacts of different interventions on a variety of “surrogate” outcomes, then using those outcomes to reach a long-term impact estimate. In this talk, he explains his findings and their implications.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Scaling industrial food production in nuclear winter (Jacob Cates and Aron Mill) Jan 18, 2020

Jacob Cates and Aron Mill, research associates at the Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED), explore the scope for industrial production of food should the sun become blocked from soot in a nuclear war. ALLFED considered two methods for constructing facilities producing suitable alternative foods, such as cellulosic sugar: new construction and retrofitting existing plants. Jacob and Aron share how ALLFED compared the costs of these options, estimated the build time and production rates, and concluded that a significant fraction of the global diet could come from these food sources within one year.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Deciphering China’s AI dream (Jeffrey Ding) Jan 17, 2020

In the realm of AI governance, China is an indispensable nation. In this talk, Jeffrey Ding, a D.Phil researcher for the Governance of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute, distills his opinions on the landscape of AI development in China. He draws mainly from 70+ issues of his ChinAI newsletter, which features weekly translations of Chinese writings on AI-related issues.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: A utilitarian case for animal rights (Jess Sebo) Jan 16, 2020

Utilitarianism, which holds that we ought to maximize well-being, is thought to conflict with animal rights because it does not regard activities such as the exploitation of domesticated animals and extermination of wild animals as, in principle, morally wrong. Jeff Sebo, a clinical assistant professor at New York University, argues that this conflict is overstated. When we account for indirect effects, such as the role that policies play in shaping moral attitudes and behaviour, we can see that utilitarianism may converge with animal rights significantly, even if not entirely.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: How to do research that matters (Karolina Sarek) Jan 15, 2020

Why is it that some high-quality research fails to affect where we choose to direct our time and money? What makes other research more persuasive or actionable? In this talk, Karolina Sarek, co-founder and director of research at Charity Entrepreneurship, discusses techniques for producing impactful, decision-relevant research.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Growing a sustainable future through cellular agriculture (Kate Krueger) Jan 14, 2020

Cellular agriculture is the use of cell cultures to create new foods. This field of inquiry provides a unique opportunity for scientists from many backgrounds to contribute their skills to a common cause: reducing the impacts of climate change and lowering the number of animals involved in the food system. Kate Krueger, the research director at New Harvest, describes modern cellular agriculture, its benefits, and how we can best promote its progress through research.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: How to start an effective charity (Katherine Savoie) Jan 13, 2020

Starting your own charity is an exciting career path with very high expected value for the right sort of person. But are you the right fit? Do you have the skills necessary for the path? What else do you need to succeed? In this talk, Charity Science Health and Charity Entrepreneurship co-founder Katherine Savoie discusses what makes a good founder candidate, and how CE’s incubation program can give you the skills and resources you need to make the leap.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Future Perfect—A year of coverage (Kelsey Piper) Jan 12, 2020

In 2018, Vox launched Future Perfect, with the goal of covering the most critical issues of the day through the lens of effective altruism. In this talk, Kelsey Piper discusses how the project worked out, her experience as a Vox staff writer, and her thoughts on the key challenges of EA-focused journalism.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: The likelihood and severity of a US-Russia nuclear exchange (Luisa Rodriguez) Jan 11, 2020

Climate scientists have predicted that a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia would lead to a nuclear winter that could cause most people on Earth to starve to death. In her talk, Luisa Rodriguez, a research analyst at Rethink Priorities, describes her model of the severity of the nuclear winter we would actually expect to result from a U.S.-Russia nuclear exchange. She also explores how we should think about the likelihood that such an exchange would lead to human extinction.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Rational group decision-making (Mahendra Prasad) Jan 10, 2020

Effective altruism aims to help individuals improve their decision-making, but the topic of decision-making in groups often falls by the wayside. In this talk, Mahendra Prasad, a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, focuses on two aspects of group decision-making: ways to aggregate information from individuals within a group and conditions under which groups tend to make better decisions.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Rethink Priorities—Empirical research on neglected causes (Marcus Davis) Jan 09, 2020

Rethink Priorities is a research organization dedicated to conducting research on neglected causes. Over the past year, they’ve developed a track record of high-quality research in the areas of farmed animal welfare, wild animal welfare, and risks from nuclear weapons. Co-founder Marcus Davis discusses the organization’s approach to producing valuable research, with specific reference to their work on animal welfare.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Could climate change make Earth uninhabitable for humans? (Niel Bowerman) Jan 08, 2020

How likely is human extinction due to climate change? Neil Bowerman, a former climate physicist who is now at 80,000 Hours, addresses one component of this question — the future physical habitability of Earth — by surveying possible routes to extreme levels of warming and ways in which extreme warming could lead to uninhabitability.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Defining and unpacking transformative AI (Ross Gruetzemacher, Jess Whittlestone) Jan 07, 2020

The term “transformative AI” (TAI) describes AI that precipitates a major societal transition. Ross Gruetzemacher, a PhD candidate at Auburn University and a data scientist, unpacks the notion of TAI, proposing a distinction between TAI and radically transformative AI (RTAI). He also discusses the relationship between TAI and RTAI, and whether we should expect a period of TAI to precede RTAI. This analysis could help guide EA discussions about how to allocate resources toward mitigating the most extreme impacts of AI.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Are cash transfers the best policy option? (Sam Carter) Jan 06, 2020

Cash transfers are a popular strategy for poverty reduction. But how do their results compare to those of more traditional programs? In this talk, Sam Carter, a senior policy associate at J-PAL, shares evidence from impact evaluations spanning a set of countries that have directly compared cash transfers to other interventions. She also discusses how their impacts differ, as well as the most appropriate contexts in which to implement transfer programs.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: Charity Entrepreneurship–graduate lightning talks Jan 05, 2020

The graduates of Charity Entrepreneurship’s Incubation Program introduce their new organizations in a series of lightning talks.

The speakers, organizations, and topics are:

Haven King-Nobles of the Fish Welfare Initiative, on reducing the suffering of billions of fish through researching and executing targeted, highly-scalable welfare interventions
Lauren Mee of Animal Advocacy Careers, on finding the most effective ways to encourage skilled individuals into high-impact animal organizations
Caleb Parikh of Good Policies, on improving public health policy in low- and middle-income countries to bring impact at scale
Michael Plant and Clare Donaldson of the Happier Lives Institute, on researching the most cost-effective interventions to increase happiness and subjective well-being
Joel Burke of Policy Entrepreneurship Network, on figuring out which policies can do the most good and ensuring that they’re implemented, starting with tobacco taxes
Fiona Conlon and Varsha Venugopal of Suvita, on increasing healthcare utilization by focusing on vaccination rates in India

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG 2019 London: Ingredients for building disruptive research teams (Stefan Torges) Jan 04, 2020

Research has always been an important part of the effective altruism community. What can we learn from successful research teams outside of EA about setting up organizations capable of making important breakthroughs and profoundly shaping society? Stefan Torges, a co-executive director of the Effective Altruism Foundation, summarizes the academic literature on this question and presents case studies of specific teams.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: The Precipice—Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity (Toby Ord) Jan 03, 2020

If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years, reaching heights of flourishing unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. We have gained the power to destroy ourselves, and all our potential, forever, and we haven’t yet gained the wisdom to ensure that we don’t. Toby Ord, an Oxford moral philosopher and research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, expands on these ideas and discusses adopting the perspective of humanity — one of the major themes of his forthcoming book.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG London 2019: How the Open Wing Alliance is driving progress worldwide (Alexandria Beck) Jan 02, 2020

The Open Wing Alliance (OWA) is a global coalition of 70+ organizations that are working to change the way the world’s biggest companies treat animals. Alexandria Beck, director of the OWA, explains how the coalition is spreading its ideas across cultures in its quest to set a new standard for corporate animal welfare policies in every major market.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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EAG 2019 SF: Doing good in an infinite chaotic world (Hayden Wilkinson) Oct 25, 2019

Many people in the EA community hope to make the world better by influencing events in the far future. But if the future can potentially contain an infinite number of lives, and infinite total moral value, we face major challenges in understanding the impact of our actions and justifying any particular strategy. In this academic session, Hayden Wilkinson discusses how we might be able to face these challenges — even if it means abandoning some of our moral principles in the process.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org

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EAG 2019 SF: Climate change deaths increase the social cost of carbon (R. Daniel Bressler) Oct 24, 2019

Popular models for the effects of climate change human welfare usually focus on its long-term economic impacts — but often leave out its impact on human mortality.

R. Daniel Bressler, a PhD candidate in Columbia University’s Sustainable Development program, extended one such model to include mortality costs, and found that this significantly increased the model’s estimate for the welfare consequences of climate change. In this academic session, he discusses this work, and explains how a similar approach could help us model welfare costs for global catastrophic risks like nuclear war and pandemics.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Cooperating with future generations: An experimental investigation (Ben Grodeck) Oct 23, 2019

If you take actions that affect the future, you don’t just change the eventual welfare of people who have yet to exist — you actually influence which people exist in the first place. Typical moral principles, when applied to such actions, yield paradoxical results.

In this academic session, Ben Grodeck, a PhD candidate in economics at Monash University, discusses the results of an experiment where individuals came face-to-face with this moral puzzle — and how an “identity-affecting” task led them to be less generous.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Fireside Chat with Philip Tetlock Oct 21, 2019

Philip Tetlock is an expert on forecasting; he’s spent decades studying how people make predictions — from political pundits to CIA analysts. In this conversation, he discusses a wide range of topics, including prediction algorithms, the long-term future, and his Good Judgment Project (which identified common traits of the most skilled forecasters). To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Current Work in AI Alignment (Paul Christiano) Oct 20, 2019

Paul Christiano, a researcher at OpenAI, discusses the current state of research on aligning AI with human values: what’s happening now, what needs to happen, and how people can help. This talk covers a broad set of subgoals within alignment research, from inferring human preferences to verifying the properties of advanced systems. To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Forecasting research results (Eva Vivalt) Oct 19, 2019

People know a lot of things about the world. Collectively, they can often make good predictions about the results of social science research before it even happens. Eva Vivalt, a researcher at the Australian National University, is building a platform to collect these predictions. In this talk, she discusses what social science stands to gain through the use of forecasting, from better research design to improvements in public policy.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Policy change in low and middle-income countries (Norma Altshuler) Oct 18, 2019

A single law or social program in a single country can affect the well-being of tens or hundreds of millions of people. Policy change represents a massive opportunity for impact — but may require different tactics and types of organizations than the EA community usually supports. In this talk, the Hewlett Foundation’s Norma Altshuler describes promising strategies for policy work in low and middle-income countries, as well as practical and moral considerations for people who want to pursue this kind of work.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: What animal advocates can learn from medicine and global development (Neil Buddy Shah) Oct 17, 2019

Despite recent advancements, research on animal welfare is still underdeveloped compared to that in fields like medicine or development economics. In this talk, Neil Buddy Shah, the co-founder and CEO of IDinsight, draws on lessons from those fields to argue that a coordinated, multi-year research agenda can accelerate improvements in animal welfare.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

Original Video

EAG 2019 SF: How can we see the impact of AI strategy research? (Jade Leung) Oct 16, 2019

For now, the field of AI strategy is mostly focused on asking good questions and trying to answer them. But what comes next? In this talk, Jade Leung, Head of Research at the Center for the Governance of AI, discusses how we should think about practical elements of AI strategy, including policy work, advocacy, and branding.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Risks from great-power competition (Dani Nedal) Oct 15, 2019

When competition intensifies between powerful countries, peace and security are threatened in many ways — proxy wars break out, and global cooperation breaks down (including agreements on nuclear weapons). In this talk, Dani Nedal, who teaches “Global Nuclear Politics” at Carnegie Mellon University, offers thoughts on these risks, and how countries and individuals can work to reduce them.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Improving coordination with China to reduce AI risk (Brian Tse) Oct 14, 2019

International cooperation is essential if we want to capture the benefits of advanced AI while minimizing risk. Brian Tse, a policy affiliate at the Future of Humanity Institute, discusses concrete opportunities for coordination between China and the West, as well as how China’s government and technology industry think about different forms of AI risk.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Does suffering dominate enjoyment in the animal kingdom? (Zach Groff) Oct 13, 2019

In this academic session, Zach Groff, a PhD student at Stanford University whose research areas include welfare economics, discusses a 1995 paper which argued that nature contains more suffering than enjoyment. After analyzing the model used in that paper, Groff found that an error negated its original conclusion, and that evolutionary dynamics imply that enjoyment may predominate for some species. In addition to this result, Groff also discusses suggestions for empirical study of wild animal welfare.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Manufacturing medical countermeasures against catastrophic biothreats (Daniel Gastfriend) Oct 12, 2019

The United States is underprepared for a catastrophic pandemic. A recent simulation conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security found that an engineered pathogen could overwhelm U.S. and global response capacity, killing more than 150 million people within 20 months. One important reason: The U.S. lacks the capacity to manufacture medical countermeasures (MCMs) fast enough to contain a global outbreak.

In this academic session, Daniel Gastfriend, a recent visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, discusses three categories of emerging technologies that could improve our MCM production capabilities: flexible manufacturing, platform technologies, and localized distributed manufacturing.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Lessons learned in farm animal welfare (Lewis Bollard) Oct 11, 2019

The Open Philanthropy Project has recommended over $90 million in grants for farm animal welfare work around the world. What have they learned? In this talk, Lewis Bollard, who heads Open Phil’s work on animal welfare, shares lessons that could be useful to anyone working in that area, or on grantmaking and policy work more generally.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Strategic considerations for effective animal advocacy (Leah Edgerton) Oct 10, 2019

Over the last five years, the EA movement has grown to influence a substantial fraction of all funding within animal advocacy. However, we still struggle with a lack of strong evidence behind many of the field’s most common interventions. In this talk, Leah Edgerton, the executive director of Animal Charity Evaluators, discusses strategies we can use to gather more evidence in the long term and avoid overconfidence in the short term.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Training ML systems to answer open-ended questions (Andreas Stuhmueller) Oct 09, 2019

In the long run, we want machine learning to help us answer open-ended questions like “Should I get this medical procedure?” or “What are the risks of deploying this AI system?“ Currently, we only know how to train ML systems if we have clear metrics or can easily provide feedback on the outputs. Andreas Stuhmueller, president and founder of Ought, wants to solve this problem. In this talk, he explains the design challenges behind ML’s current limitations, and how we can make progress by studying the way humans tackle open-ended questions.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: How to replace our broken voting system (Aaron Hamlin) Oct 08, 2019

Our elected officials control billions of dollars in spending and make policies that affect millions of people. But we choose them through plurality voting, a system that encourages extremism and forces many voters to choose between their favorite candidates and those who actually stand a chance.

In this talk, Aaron Hamlin of the Center for Election Science discusses approval voting, a method which works much better without adding complexity, and how the Center plans to implement it across the country (they’ve already won a landslide victory in Fargo, North Dakota).

Aaron also recommends this podcast: https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/aaron-hamlin-voting-reform/

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: U.S. ballot initiatives as a pathway for EA policy (Peter Hurford) Oct 07, 2019

Ballot initiatives have allowed many groups in the United States to achieve policy outcomes outside the traditional legislative process. In this talk, Peter Hurford, a co-founder and researcher at Rethink Priorities, describes how the EA movement can generate change through the initiative process by matching effective policies to promising states and cities.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Effective behavior change (Spencer Greenberg) Oct 06, 2019

If we want to improve the world (and ourselves), we need to start by changing the way we live — our habits and behaviors. In this talk, Spencer Greenberg, founder and CEO of ClearerThinking.org, discusses ways that behavior change matters and techniques we can use to get better at it.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: The Windfall Clause: Sharing the benefits of advanced AI (Cullen O’Keefe) Oct 05, 2019

The potential upsides of advanced AI are enormous, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be distributed optimally. In this talk, Cullen O’Keefe, a researcher at the Center for the Governance of AI, discusses one way we could work toward equitable distribution of AI’s benefits — the Windfall Clause, a commitment by AI firms to share a significant portion of their future profits — as well as the legal validity of such a policy and some of the challenges to implementing it.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Rejuvenation biotechnology—Will “age” soon cease to mean “aging”? (Aubrey de Grey) Oct 04, 2019

Around the world, people are living longer — not just because child mortality is dropping, but also because we’re staying healthy for more years as we age. In the future, regenerative medicine and other new developments may help most people remain youthful much longer than they do today. In this talk, Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer at the SENS Research Foundation, discusses the biology and sociology of what could be a massive shift in the way we live.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Sustainable motivation (Helen Toner) Oct 03, 2019

Being involved in the EA community can be stressful — there are too many problems in the world, and each of us can only do so much. Feeling the need to work harder and do more can easily overwhelm us. So what’s the alternative? In this talk, Helen Toner describes a different way to frame this problem, and suggests how the community can aim for a better way to handle work.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: How to build a high-impact career in international development (Joan Gass) Oct 02, 2019

In this academic session, Joan Gass, who holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, argues that effective altruists who want to work in global development should adopt a “venture capital” approach, looking for opportunities to make bets on the cause areas with the highest expected value. In particular, she contends that fostering economic growth in emerging markets and building state capability are high-value areas, while discussing other areas in RCT research and social entrepreneurship that are relatively low in value and should be avoided.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: How evolution can help us understand wild animal welfare (Michelle Graham) Oct 01, 2019

We must take evolution into account when we consider animal welfare — whether we’re thinking about which animals are sentient or how animals might respond to a given intervention. In this talk, Wild Animal Initiative’s Michelle Graham will present a brief introduction to the theory of evolution, explain how understanding evolution can help us conduct better research, and discuss the ways misconceptions about evolution lead us astray.

Michelle also recommends this video.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Philanthropy timing and the Hinge of History (Phil Trammell) Sep 30, 2019

If we want to donate money, should we give it away now, or invest it to give away later? The answer depends on many considerations, including our expected rate of return, the chance of our personal values changing, and the question of whether we live at the “Hinge of History” — a time with high-impact opportunities which will soon vanish.

In this talk, Phil Trammell of the Global Priorities Institute discusses how we can evaluate these considerations and change our giving strategy in response to what we learn.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: The benefits of starting your own charity (Katriel Friedman) Sep 28, 2019

When you start a charity, you clearly want to do good directly — but you also have an opportunity for other forms of impact, from building the EA movement to generating knowledge that can be shared with many other people. In this talk, Katriel Friedman, CEO of Charity Science Health, will discuss his organization’s experiences with the indirect benefits of charity entrepreneurship.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit effectivealtruism.org

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Creating a new agricultural revolution (Bruce Friedrich) Sep 27, 2019

Demand for meat is projected to double by 2050. Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of the Good Food Institute, believes we can meet that demand without massively scaling conventional animal agriculture (and the many adverse impacts of that industry). In this talk, he explains how our ability to produce meat directly from plants, or from animal cells, could lead to a new agricultural revolution.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Lessons from an EA-aligned charity startup (Brendan Eappen) Sep 26, 2019

When GiveWell wrote that they were looking for charities to work on micronutrient fortification, Fortify Health rose to the challenge. With help from a $300,000 GiveWell grant, they began to work on wheat flour fortification, hoping to reduce India’s rate of iron deficiency. In this talk, co-founder Brendan Eappen discusses the charity’s story, and crucial decisions they faced along the way.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2019 SF: Clean and plant-based meat in the developing world (Varun Deshpande) Sep 25, 2019

Plant-based, cell-based, and cultured proteins are taking off around the world. This presents us with a massive opportunity in the developing world — where demand for meat may grow explosively in the next few decades, but also where differences in culinary tradition and available ingredients could inspire major advancements to meat alternatives.

In this talk, Varun Deshpande of the Good Food Institute discusses how these advancements could play out (using India as an example), and how individuals might contribute to building new food systems in low and middle-income countries.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: San Francisco. You can learn more about these conferences at eaglobal.org.

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EAG 2018 London: Paretotopian Goal Alignment Aug 06, 2019

What if humanity suddenly had a thousand times as many resources at our disposal? It might make fighting over them seem like a silly idea, since cooperating would be a safer way to be reliably better off. In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Eric Drexler argues that when emerging technologies make our productive capacity skyrocket, we should be able to make the world much better for everyone.

You can read a transcript of this talk here: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-paretotopian-goal-alignment/

EAG 2018 London: Reframing Superintelligence Jul 24, 2019

In the early days of debate on advanced artificial intelligence, we didn’t yet have very good AI systems at all, so we had to rely on ideas about human thinking and extrapolate. Now, however, there are plenty of advanced AI systems, many of which are better than humans at narrow tasks. In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Eric Drexler argues that using this new data, we should rethink our models for how superintelligent AI is likely to emerge and function.

You can read a transcript of this talk here: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-reframing-superintelligence/

EAG 2018 London: AI Safety Needs Social Scientists Jul 23, 2019

When an AI wins a game against a human, that AI has usually trained by playing that game against itself millions of times. When an AI recognizes that an image contains a cat, it’s probably been trained on thousands of cat photos. So if we want to teach an AI about human preferences, we’ll probably need lots of data to train it. And who is most qualified to provide data about human preferences? Social scientists! In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Amanda Askell explores ways that social science might help us steer advanced AI in the right direction.

You can read a transcript of Amanda’s talk here: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-ai-safety-needs-social-scientists/

EAG 2018 London: The plurality pandemic Apr 05, 2019

The Plurality Pandemic by Aaron Hamlin from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Why companies should be leading on AI governance Apr 04, 2019

Why Companies Should be Leading on AI Governance by Jade Leung from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Fireside chat with Toby Ord Apr 03, 2019

Fireside Chat with Toby Ord, moderated by William MacAskill at EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Promoting welfare biology as the study of wild-animal suffering Apr 02, 2019

Promoting Welfare Biology as the Study of Wild Animal Suffering by Oscar Horta from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Against Malaria Foundation—What we do Apr 01, 2019

The Against Malaria Foundation is one of the most effective global health charities in the world, and the single most common donation target for EA Survey respondents (as of 2018). What makes this organization so special? How do they approach their work, and what challenges do they face? CEO Rob Mather answers these questions in this talk from EA Global 2018: London.

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https://effectivealtruism.org/article…

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EAG 2018 London: How sure are we about this AI stuff? Mar 31, 2019

It is increasingly clear that artificial intelligence is poised to have a huge impact on the world, potentially of comparable magnitude to the agricultural or industrial revolutions. But what does that actually mean for us today? Should it influence our behavior? In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Ben Garfinkel makes the case for measured skepticism.

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EAG 2018 London: Using evidence for smart impact investing Mar 30, 2019

Using Evidence for Smart Impact Investing by Alix Peterson Zwane from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Fireside chat with Rachel Glennerster Mar 29, 2019

A fireside chat with Rachel Glennerster, moderated by Nathan Labenz, from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Psychology of existential risk and long termism Mar 28, 2019

Psychology of Existential Risk and Long Termism by Stefan Schubert from EA Global 2018: London

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EAG 2018 London: Givewell incubation grants—Learning through grantmaking Mar 27, 2019

GiveWell Incubation Grants: Learning Through Grantmaking by Catherine Hollander at EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Global Priorities Institute: Our goals and research Mar 26, 2019

Global Priorities Institute: Our Goals and Research by Will MacAskill, Rossa O’Keeffe-O’Donovan, & Andreas from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: How corporate reform is changing the landscape for animals Mar 25, 2019

How Corporate Reform is Changing the Landscape for Animals by Vicky Bond from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: How to avoid accidentally having a negative impact with your project Mar 24, 2019

How to Avoid Accidentally Having a Negative Impact with Your Project by Max Dalton and Jonas Vollmer from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Risks from great power conflicts Mar 23, 2019

Risks from Great Power Conflicts by Brian Tse from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: The friendship bench Mar 22, 2019

When people experience profoundly damaging events, like war, invasion, or massacre, the psychological toll is vast. Which interventions work best to help repair the damage? Dixon Chibanda pioneered the Friendship Bench, where local grandmothers sit with people and help them talk through their problems. In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Chibanda explains his program, which has shown impressive results in reducing depression among participants.

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EAG 2018 London: A/B testing foreign aid Mar 21, 2019

AB Testing Foreign Aid by Mitch Riley from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Effective giving Mar 20, 2019

Effective Giving by Liv Boeree & Natalie Cargill from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: From the Neolithic revolution to the far future Mar 19, 2019

From the Neolithic Revolution to the Far Future by Rose Hadshar from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Charity entrepreneurship Mar 18, 2019

Want to start a high-impact charity? It’s not an easy job, but it can be an incredible way to have an impact. In this talk from EA Global 2018: London, Joey Savoie discusses the pros and cons of founding a charity. He also describes what his organization, Charity Entrepreneurship, can do to help would-be founders get started.

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https://effectivealtruism.org/article…

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EAG 2018 London: Policy makers love their children too Mar 17, 2019

Policy Makers Love Their Children Too by Hiski Haukkala from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: Loss of industrial civilization and recovery Mar 16, 2019

A powerful electromagnetic pulse could leave large portions of the globe without electricity. A major volcanic eruption — or nuclear winter — could place major strains on modern agriculture. As a civilization, are we prepared to handle challenges of this magnitude? And if not, can we become prepared? This workshop from EA Global 2018: London, led by David Denkenberger of ALLFED, deals with these questions.

You can read a transcript of this workshop here:
https://effectivealtruism.org/article…

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EAG 2018 London: When will farm animals experience more utility than suffering? Mar 15, 2019

When will Farm Animals Experience more Utility than Suffering? by Scott Weathers from EA Global 2018: London.

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EAG 2018 London: What role might insects play as part of the future of food? Mar 14, 2019

What Role Might Insects Play as Part of the Future of Food? by Nicole Rawling, Nick Rousseau, and Kyle Fish at EA Global 2018: London.

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EAGx 2018 Netherlands: An introduction to normative uncertainty Mar 12, 2019

If you want to have the highest possible impact, then picking the right cause area is a vital step. But among promising candidates, there are many reasons to be uncertain about which areas are best. A particularly difficult kind of uncertainty to grapple with is normative uncertainty, or uncertainty about the fundamental moral principles that underpin every decision you make. In this talk from EAGx Netherlands 2018, Christian Tarsney explores this sort of uncertainty.

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EAGx 2018 Netherlands: Thinking critically about wild-animal suffering Mar 11, 2019

In this talk from EAGx Netherlands 2018, Stijn Bruers makes the case for caring about the suffering of wild animals, and researching ways to reduce it. This talk is aimed at people who haven’t yet considered the issue of wild-animal suffering, though it also contains insights that may be new to those who are familiar with the topic.

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EAGx 2018 Netherlands: Considerations for fundraising in effective altruism Mar 10, 2019

How should we think about fundraising for effective charities? Are there particular sorts of donors we should focus on more? What does the distribution of opportunities tend to look like? In this talk from EAGX Netherlands 2018, Stefan Torges sketches out these and other considerations.

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EAGx 2018 Netherlands: Complexity science and computational modelling Mar 09, 2019

The world is very complicated, and so is improving it. Some things are possible to research directly, but there isn’t sufficient data to answer many important questions. In these cases, we may want to use computational modelling, to learn more about complex systems through abstract analysis. In this talk from EAGx Netherlands 2018, Max Stauffer describes what complexity science and computational modelling have to offer EA.

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EAG 2018 SF: Why should effective altruists embrace uncertainty? Mar 08, 2019

Probabilistic thinking is only a few centuries old, we have very little understanding on how most of our actions affect the long-term future, and prominent members of the effective altruism community have changed their minds on crucial considerations before. These are just three of the reasons that Will MacAskill urges effective altruists to embrace uncertainty, and not become too attached to present views. This talk was the closing talk for Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco.

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EAG 2018 SF: Lightning talks Mar 07, 2019

Lightning talks are a chance to be introduced to a topic, and these four lightning talks provide primers into interesting and valuable areas. Recorded at Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, this video contains lightning talks on Goodhart’s Law, global food security, normative uncertainty, and forecasting future events.

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EAG 2018 SF: How biology has changed Mar 06, 2019

When biological research was mostly done through academia, regulation of NIH funding was enough to keep things secure. But as biohacking becomes more prevalent, regulatory law hasn’t kept pace. As biological tinkering becomes feasible for mere interested hobbyists or small corporations, we’ll need policy work to prevent catastrophe and protect the promise of a biology innovation renaissance. This lightning talk, given by Tessa Alexanian, was recorded at Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco.

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http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Center for Applied Rationality Workshop Mar 05, 2019

“Do you know what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it?” According to Duncan Sabien of the Center for Applied Rationality, this is a key question to ask yourself throughout life. In this workshop from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, he describes a few different techniques, including managing your personal autopilot and mimicking useful skills, that all rely on this core reflection.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Productivity hacks Mar 04, 2019

A.J. Jacobs has conducted numerous lifestyle experiments, so he has a lot of experience in intentionally building challenging habits. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, he shares some of his favorite techniques for enhancing productivity.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Planning productivity Mar 03, 2019

Improving the world can be challenging work, and there’s a lot of it to get done. So how can we make sure that we’re happily productive, rather than burned out or inefficient? In this workshop from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Lynette Bye outlines useful processes and offers general advice.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Force multiplication Mar 02, 2019

What if you could increase the output of a highly impactful individual, by freeing up their time and mental bandwidth? Alternatively, what if you could make an entire organization much more efficient in the same way? Highly skilled operations work can achieve these ends, and in fact it’s necessary for building a robust movement. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Tanya Singh makes the case for being a force multiplier in EA.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Animal advocacy strategies—Technology vs. social change Mar 01, 2019

If we want to help farmed animals, there are at least two clear avenues to pursue. One, we can promote technologies to replace farming, like plant-based or clean (cultured) meat. Or two, we can try to change social attitudes towards the moral standing of animals. Does either of this options seem much better than the other? In this talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Kelly Witwicki and Kieran Greig discuss the relevant considerations.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Trusting experts Feb 28, 2019

If you have one opinion, and the prevailing experts have a different opinion, should you assume that you’re incorrect? And if so, how can you determine who’s an expert, and whether or not you count as one yourself? In this whiteboard discussion from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Gregory Lewis and Oliver Habryka offer their contrasting perspectives.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Building support for ending wild-animal suffering Feb 27, 2019

There are a tremendous number of animals in the wild, and many of them suffer horribly. But it’s not easy to figure out how to make things better for wild animals, or when we should. To figure out how best to help wild animals, we’ll need a lot more people involved. So how do we reach those people? In this panel discussion from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Ozy Brennan, Kieran Greig, and Abraham Rowe offer their answers to this question, and Persis Eskander moderates.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Open Philanthropy Project biosecurity update Feb 26, 2019

The Open Philanthropy Project pursues charitable interventions across many categories, of which a major one is global catastrophic risk mitigation. Claire Zabel, a program officer for the Open Philanthropy Project, gives an update on their recent work and thinking about biosecurity. This talk was recorded at Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: The role of existing institutions in AI strategy Feb 25, 2019

AI is very likely to make a huge impact on our world, especially as it grows more powerful than it is today. It’s hard for us to know exactly how that impact will look, but we do know many of the actors most likely to be involved. As AI gets stronger, what can we expect the world’s most powerful national governments to do? What about nongovernmental organizations, like the UN?

This advanced workshop from Effective Altruism Global: 2018, presented by Jade Leung and Seth Baum, addresses these questions from multiple perspectives.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: The future of surveillance Feb 24, 2019

Too much surveillance can lead to privacy violations and creeping authoritarianism, but too little can lead to catastrophe. In general, debates about surveillance involve taking a position on the tradeoff between privacy and security. But what if we could have it both ways? In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Ben Garfinkel explores ways we may be able to increase the benefits of surveillance in the future, without also increasing the drawbacks.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Ending factory farming Feb 23, 2019

While there are causes for optimism, factory farming is still on the rise globally, and we have to understand it to eliminate its harms. In this broad-ranging talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Lewis Bollard talks about the situations for various sorts of animal, the efforts to help them, and how different strategies may be helpful in different national contexts.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Personhood initiatives Feb 22, 2019

Should certain highly intelligent animals, like chimpanzees, orangutans or elephants have legally recognized rights? And if they did, would it improve human morality? Tyler John thinks so, and in this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, he explains why.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: From agitator to innovator Feb 21, 2019

By following his ethical principles and paying attention to what worked, Bruce Friedrich went from volunteering at a soup kitchen to being the Executive Director of the Good Food Institute. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Bruce describes his own personal and professional journey, explains why he’s optimistic about plant-based meat and “clean meat” and offers advice for people hoping to embark on careers in his field.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Analyzing AI actors Feb 20, 2019

Who would you rather have access to human-level artificial intelligence: the US government, Google, the Chinese government or Baidu? The biggest governments and tech firms are the most likely to develop advanced AI, so understanding their goals, abilities and constraints is a vital part of predicting AI’s trajectory. In this talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Jade Leung explores how we can think about major players in AI, including an informative case study.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: The AI governance landscape Feb 19, 2019

The development of artificial intelligence is well-poised to massively change the world. It’s possible that AI could make life better for all of us, but many experts think there’s a non-negligible chance that the overall impact of AI could be extremely bad. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Carrick Flynn lays out what we know from history about controlling powerful technologies, and what the tiny field of AI governance is doing to help AI go well.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Reconciling international security Feb 18, 2019

Many effective altruists prioritize reducing existential risks. The international security community also works to lower the odds of certain sorts of existential risks, such as nuclear war. But if we want to work together with them, we’ll need to understand their perspective, which may be quite different from that of outsiders. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Seth Baum describes the international security perspective on nuclear weapons, and touches on how some of this may apply to risks from artificial intelligence, too.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: GiveWell incubation grants Feb 17, 2019

GiveWell’s top charities have to meet a very high standard in several ways, including ways that promising charities may not always prioritize. So in recent years, GiveWell has been providing grants to promising charities to help them, if all goes well, achieve top charity status. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Catherine Hollander explains how GiveWell’s Incubation Grants function, and why they’re an exciting addition to GiveWell’s charity evaluation work.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: The far future of intelligent life across the universe Feb 16, 2019

The idea of space colonization has captured the human imagination for centuries, but only recently has anyone tried figuring out how it might look in practice. In this talk from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, Stuart Armstrong explores how a technologically mature humanity might explore the cosmos.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Pandemic pathogens Feb 15, 2019

A sufficiently bad disease could have disastrous effects for humanity, like the 1918 flu, black plague, or even worse. But to protect ourselves as a species from global catastrophic biological risks (GCBRs), we need to know which features make a pathogen more or less likely to pose an existential threat. In this advanced talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Dr. Amesh Adalja covers what types of pathogens are most likely, which transmission methods to worry about the most, and many more considerations for anticipating and preventing GCBRs.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Clean meat Feb 14, 2019

What if we could eat meat without farming animals? Meat grown in a bioreactor would forgo vast amounts of animal suffering, would probably be healthier for us and would be better for the environment, too. In this talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Marie Gibbons explains the current scientific challenges in developing “clean meat”, and Natalie Cargill forecasts public opinion for this exciting new technology.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Jaan Tallinn fireside chat Feb 13, 2019

Jaan Tallinn has been an effective altruist for many years, and has used his reputation and personal funds to support the study of existential risk. In this fireside chat from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, moderated by Nathan Labenz, he discusses how his views on AI have become more complex, which sorts of organizations he prefers to support, and how being a programmer helped him develop epistemic humility.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Value traps, and how to avoid them (Spencer Greenberg) Feb 12, 2019

What do we really value? Are our values reducible to just one or two things, or are they more complex? What does it mean to value something? In this talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Spencer Greenberg argues that we each have a set of multiple intrinsic values, and that it’s worth reflecting on them carefully.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Biosecurity as an EA cause area Feb 11, 2019

In this 2017 talk, the Open Philanthropy Project’s Claire Zabel talks about their work to mitigate Global Catastrophic Biological Risks. She also discusses what effective altruists can do to help, as well as differences between biological risks and risks from advanced AI.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Beyond top charities (Neil Buddy Shah) Feb 10, 2019

In this talk from EA Global 2018: San Francisco, Dr. Neil Buddy Shah makes three arguments about effective altruism: that effective altruists should continue to be rigorous, that we should consider riskier interventions than we do, and that we should tailor our interventions at least somewhat to the moral preferences of their beneficiaries.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Fireside chat with Nick Beckstead Feb 09, 2019

Did effective altruists take too long to start prioritizing the long-term future? When we disagree with others or the mainstream, how much should that affect our confidence? What is the “shape” of thinking in machine learning? In this lively fireside chat from Effective Altruism Global 2018: San Francisco, hosted by Rob Wiblin, Nick Beckstead discusses these and other questions.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Psychology of effective altruism (Stefan Schubert) Feb 09, 2019

Charitable giving is popular and substantial, but many donors do not choose to donate to highly effective causes. In this talk, Dr. Stefan Schubert explores some possible reasons why, as well as an overview of recent scientific studies on the subject. He also explores what we can do, as effective altruists, to promote effective giving in the world.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Understanding universal basic income (Sam Carter and Joe Huston) Feb 08, 2019

In this talk, Sam Carter of J-PAL and Joe Huston of GiveDirectly talk about the state of the evidence on universal basic income: what we know, what we’d like to know, and what we’re currently in the process of learning.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this video, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Fireside chat with Holden Karnofsky Feb 07, 2019

Since co-founding GiveWell in 2007, Holden Karnofsky has been rigorously evaluating opportunities to do good. In this fireside chat with Will MacAskill, he discusses cause prioritization at the Open Philanthropy Project, his adherence to people-based giving, which work he’s found particularly exciting during the past year, and many other topics of interest.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this talk, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Assessing global catastrophic biological risks (Crystal Watson) Feb 06, 2019

In the last century, humanity’s successful eradication of smallpox shows that major victories against deadly pandemics are possible. And it’s a good thing too, because global catastrophic biological risks, or GCBRs, have the potential to be even worse. In this talk, Dr. Crystal Watson of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins discusses GCBRs, the new field of study around them, and what effective altruists can do to aid in the fight.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this video, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: Crucial considerations in wild-animal suffering (Persis Eskander) Feb 05, 2019

Billions of wild animals suffer daily from causes such as hunger, injury, and parasitism. But what, if anything, should we do about it? This advanced talk by Persis Eskander explores which questions we would need to answer to be confident about wild animal suffering as a moral cause area.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this video, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

EAG 2018 SF: How can effective altruism stay curious? (Will MacAskill) Feb 05, 2019

In the opening talk of EA Global: San Francisco 2018, Will MacAskill encourages effective altruists to stay curious. He explores the tension between more goal-focused and more exploratory forms of community, and how to get the best of both worlds.

To learn more about effective altruism, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org

To read a transcript of this video, visit
http://www.effectivealtruism.org/arti…

This talk was filmed at EA Global. Find out how to attend here:
http://www.eaglobal.org

Update on the Open Philanthropy Project (Holden Karnofsky) Dec 23, 2018

Source: GiveWell.

GiveWell’s 2018 top charities (Catherine Hollander and Elie Hassenfeld) Dec 23, 2018

Source: GiveWell.

EAG 2017 London: Closing talk (William MacAskill) Apr 23, 2018