A preliminary estimate, and a request for better ones.
Summary
I believe the standard literature estimates for the number of DALYs attributable to a case of stunting are too low, largely because they don’t account for the long term effects. This means that childhood nutritional interventions that reduce the prevalence of stunting may be substantially more cost-effective than previously believed.
Epistemic status
Exploratory and back-o...
I’ve been feeling pretty shaken since the METR report about the Hugging Face incident came out last week. Over the weekend, I wrote up some thoughts on how lonely the AI situation sometimes feels to me. It’s more personal than what I’d usually share publicly, but I thought I’d post it here in case it resonates with anyone else.
I’m very grateful to the man...
TL;DR: Kairos has raised $50 million from Coefficient Giving for two years of funding, one of the largest commitments they’ve made towards AI safety fieldbuilding to date. We’re using this to make an ambitious push for growing Kairos, broadening our portfolio of talent infrastructure projects and incubating new organizations. We’ve doubled in size in the last six mon...
Hi, Pepijn here, co-founder of the Tien Procent Club (Dutch org that promotes effective giving) and a highly irregular reader of this forum.
Here's my quick take:
I think there's an opportunity to make much better EA videos simply by interviewing founders of the most effective non-profits. The medium is the message, and video lends itself perfectly for conveying emotions. It feels like there's a lot of room left to produce entertaining, exciting and high information density videos on effective non-profits.
Explanation:
I know there are some explainers about EA concepts out there but their main problem is that they're cerebral and often quite abstract.
Compare this to how moving, concrete and personal s3 movies are. Check this EA-adjacent episode about Make Sunsets, who are trialling ultra cheap atmospheric sulphur dioxide insertion and you'll see what I mean.
All s3 videos are about deeptech startups and their passionate, quirky, high energy founders. These movies are made (at least the first episodes) by a single person, Jason Carman.
They excel in:
1) bringing across the infectious energy of startup founders
2) showcasing ideas and pathways that make the future something to be excited about
3) being entertaining because of high information and novel concepts density -- check this one with Casey Handmer.
No need to reinvent the wheel here. A single talented individual could start doing this, simply copying and slightly modifying the s3 style.
Hey! I lead the GCRCB team at Open Philanthropy, which as part of our portfolio funds "meta EA" stuff (e.g. CEA).
I like the high-level idea here (haven't thought through the details).
We're happy to receive proposals like this for media communicating EA ideas and practices. Feel free to apply here, or if you have a more early-stage idea, feel free to DM me on here with a short description — no need for polish — and I'll get back to you with a quick take about whether it's something we might be interested in. : )
Related Q: is there a list of EA media project that you would like to see more of but ones that currently do not exist?