Effective altruism in media & blogs
• A BBC article on whether we can reinvent democracy for the long-term future
• A post on the Long-Time project - which is looking at existential risks from a cultural and artistic perspective and how these will be crucial for shifting beliefs, including 5 pathways to thinking in a long term way - "Our short-termism means we are effectively colonising the future, prioritising our own short-term gains over the future collective good."
• Inside Philanthropy looking at why an effective altruism donor has given millions to AI security
• A firsthand account of GiveDirectly's work in Kenya
• Richard Parr, the new GFI managing director for Europe, is quoted in this BBC article on UK scientists producing cell-based meat
• A BBC article on Development Media International and the results of their randomised controlled trial looking into radio interventions
• The Council on Foreign Relations on the continuing risk of nuclear war
Organisation Updates
• A write up from SHIC on why they are suspending outreach operations following their impact report
• Charity Entrepreneurship with a post on what to expect on their charity incubation program
• A paper on the role and limits of principles in AI ethics from the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
• Forethought Foundation have a £2000 prize for undergraduate thesis in global priorities research
• Open Phil with reflections on their 2018 researcher hiring process
• 80,000 Hours with an updated article on how to make a tough career decision, including a decision making tool
• CSER giving advice to the UN High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation
• CSER also leading a UK government review of the economics of biodiversity
• Malaria Consortium have announced a 5 year programme to reduce the burden of malaria in Nigeria, which accounts for 25% of all malaria cases worldwide
• Q&A with the founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET)
• WHO have launched a new global influenza strategy aimed at protecting people in all countries
• ICT Mumbai and GFI are setting up the worlds first cellular agriculture research centre in Maharashtra
• A transcript of the talk Vicky Bond of THL gave at EA Global London - "How Corporate Reform is Changing the Landscape for Animals"
• Carolyn Henry talking about the work that SCI does in eliminating parasitic worms
Research
• Charity Entrepreneurship with research on meat reduction, humane slaughter & transport, increasing the price of animal products and fish feed optimisation as potential new charity ideas
• Research from the CGD on education that finds girl-targeted interventions and general interventions deliver similar gains
• Founders Pledge with research into existential risks, recommending 3 charities. The Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, The Biosecurity Initiative at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and The Center for Human-Compatible AI
• An NBER paper looking at whether celebrity endorsements affect beliefs about vaccination
• A global study looking at the link between democratic governance and adult health
• Charlotte Stix with an overview of the EU's AI ecosystem
• The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Outcome Monitoring Project has found that major medical journals don’t follow their own rules for reporting results from clinical trials
• BIT with a report on applying behavioural insights to international development, including combating corruption in Nigeria, improving responses to intimate partner violence in Georgia, promoting financial inclusion in Mexico, building tax capacity in Indonesia and increasing medication adherence in Moldova
• A new book on the benefits of ending animal experimentation, with a foreword by Peter Singer
• DeepMind with a report on designing incentives to avoid side effects
Grants
• Open Phil have made 2 grants since February, with $2,500,000 for Schistosomiasis Control Initiative and $1,800,000 for The Center for Election Science
• Open Phil have announced a $6,000,000 prize to any group who successfully develops a technology that can accurately and rapidly determine if a chick is male as early as possible in the egg production process
• CEDIL have a call for proposals on impact evaluation research to commission £9,500,000 of research projects
Events
• A summary of the Google flood forecasting meets ML workshop event, where they believe it can help the hundreds of millions of people affected by floods every year
• The Good Food Conference is happening in California this September (noisy link)
• The worlds leading behavioural science conference is in London on the 5th and 6th of September, with past EA Global speakers Cass Sunstein and Rachel Glennerster
Vox
• How movement capture shaped the fight for civil rights
• Why disaster relief is so hard
• Why some scientists are saying that p-values and 'statistical significance' should be used less
• Stanford has a new Institute for Human-Centered AI, launched with a speech by Bill Gates - “The world hasn’t had that many technologies that are both promising and dangerous the way AI is"
• How deadly pathogens have escaped the lab multiple times
• Consumers in China and India are more likely than Americans to be okay with purchasing lab-grown meat
Podcasts
• 80,000 Hours podcast with OpenAI on how policy can keep up with advances in technology
• Nick Bostrom on the Sam Harris podcast talking about existential risks
• An FLI podcast with Max Tegmark looking at DNA, bio-weapons and biological existential risks
• A BBC Radio 4 segment on whether humanity will survive the century featuring interviews with people from FHI, CSER, FLI and GCR
• A podcast with Seth Baum of GCR talking about the long term future
Miscellaneous
• James Snowden on what it's like to work at GiveWell
• Stefan Schubert on the psychology of existential risk and long-termism
• If you're interested in being interviewed on why you've taken the Giving What We Can pledge for a written series to inspire others - contact Alexandra on this Facebook link
• A post from Jeremy who got an unexpected response from a Facebook post offering to give books to friends and will fund you to give away copies of Doing Good Better
• A profile in the Times on Demis Hassabis, one of the founders of DeepMind
• A 30-million page archive of human knowledge has been sent to the moon to help preserve civilisation
Good news roundup
• Angola has decriminalised same-sex conduct
• The Central African Republic has signed a peace deal after 7 years of conflict
