Note: This post was crossposted from the Coefficient Giving Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post.
Subtitle: On vegan advocacy, effective altruism, and FIFA
I turn 40 today. Here are some hot takes.
On factory farming
1. Our biggest challenge is salience. If factory farming led the evening news, it wouldn’t last lo...
This month effective altruism has gotten lots of attention, including a cover story in The Economist. It feels pretty surreal to be on the receiving end of it. But I feel grateful these ideas have caught on, and even more grateful for the drive, earnestness, and compassion of so many people who took strange but well-argued ideas seriously and then actually acted on them....
Previously: GiveWell raised less than its 10th percentile forecast in 2023 · GiveWell fundraising up 17% in 2024
GiveWell has published its...
Word note: beware the mind-killing phrase “meritocracy”. It was designed by someone who was opposed to meritocracy. Its purpose is to intentionally confuse “the best students should study physics” and “the best students should rule”. The -crat ending is sinister and vague. A better phrase is “determined by ability“ / “chosen by ability” / or your favorite non -ocracy word.
After long experience and experimentation I have high confidence in this.