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

Show notes

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.

Original Video

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

Show notes

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

Original Video

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

Show notes

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

Original Video

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

Show notes

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

Original Video

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

Show notes

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

Original Video

EAGxVirtual 2020: Project Management 101 Jul 10, 2020

Show notes

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.

Original Video

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

Show notes

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

Original Video

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

Show notes

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.

Original Video

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

Show notes

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.

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