Open thread: January - March 2025

Hi, I'm Alistair – I'm intending to spend more time reading and posting on the Forum, so wanted to introduce myself here.

I think I came across EA online during early 2020 during the first Covid-19 lockdown, and I remember feeling it was such an obviously good idea that I was surprised that no one had come up with it before about 2008! EA was a significant influence on my decision to go vegan and my coming to consider our use and treatment of sentient non-humans to be a moral atrocity. It also sparked my concern about AI safety.

I'm currently lead organiser of the AI, Animals, & Digital Minds conference in London in June 2025, and would love to speak to people who are interested in the intersection of those three things, especially if they're in London.

I'll be co-working in the LEAH Coworking Space and the Ambitious Impact office in London in 2025, and will be in the Bay Area in California in Feb-Mar for EAG Bay Area (if accepted) and the AI for Animals conference there. Please reach out by DM!

Interested in:

• Sentience- & suffering-focused ethics; sentientism; painism; s-risks
• Animal ethics & abolitionism
• AI safety & governance
• Activism, direct action & social change
• Trying to make transformative AI go less badly for sentient beings, regardless of species and substrate

Bio:

• From London
• BA in linguistics at the University of Cambridge
• Almost five years in the British Army as an officer
• MSc in global governance and ethics at University College London
• One year working full time in environmental campaigning and animal rights activism at Plant-Based Universities / Animal Rising
• Now pivoting to the (future) impact of AI on biologically and artifically sentient beings

Hello, I'm new to the forums but not new to EA. I've been interested in EA ever since graduating college with a degree in Philosophy (concentration in ethics and morality) in 2009. I've always wanted to make an impact for the good after growing up poor and experiencing a small taste of the suffering poverty causes. 

Philosophy helped me find meaning in reducing the suffering of others, which provides a tangible purpose for myself and creates positive change. I would like to pick up my education in EA and participate more in the community.

I lost sight of my goals in EA after working on my "career" and prioritizing success. I haven't achieved as much success as I initially wanted, but I figure it's better to get back into EA sooner rather than wait for that success to manifest.  

I'd like to build a portfolio of charitable causes and rekindle my giving efforts. Joining this forum is a step in that direction, and I hope to continue my education and participation in EA and make a positive change.

Looking forward to discussions,

Christopher.  

Hi - I'm Mira. I got into vegan activism a few years ago where I met many utilitarians and effective altruists - I realized that my current activism wasn't the highest impact way of driving change. I originally assumed that the reason people were disregarding the interests of other sentient life was because they had never been shown the conditions in factory farming, and that they would change instantly if only they knew. Then through activism I realized that people can know all of the arguements for veganism, can agree with vegans and yet not change and not be able to justify it. As soon as I realized raising awareness wouldn't be enough - i thought of other more effective strategies. A friend who attended EA meetings told me that one tactic they'd discussed was to earn money in an unrelated field - to then donate that money. So now I'm pursuing a career as a chief in marine engineering. The job is high earning, with food and accommodation covered and little to no tax - i will also be travelling the world and have 6 months consecutive months off in a year when I'm not at sea. In that 6 months i would like to devote my time to studies in other fields - like politics, (i eventually hope to stop the government from funding animal agriculture through subsidies). Animal agriculture is so inefficient as an industry it cannot survive without billions (72 billion in the USA) in subsidies - so it would likely collapse if that funding stopped. 

If anyone reading this is not familiar with veganism here's some info:

• Every year trillions of animals are killed unnecessarily - most of which (aquatic animals) are suffocated
• It has been proven that animals feel pain, so from the stance of reducing suffering this should be our number one concern
• All major dietetic associations across the globe have said that a balanced vegan diet is perfectly healthy for all stages of life
• resolving this would also help: 1) world hunger - as animals are fed grains which are edible for humans. Around 70% of the worlds soy is fed to farmed animals, if this were fed to humans instead we could potentially end world hunger. 2) communicable diseases - almost all diseases, (including covid most recently) have origins in the crammed and unhygienic conditions farmed animals are raised in. 3) Prevent death - the two main causes of death globally are cancer and cardiovascular disease, both of which are primarily caused by processed meats which are a class 1 carcinogen (like cigarettes). 4) Environment - animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution - it is also a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect through methane.
• Many people assume that factory farms are not representative of animal agriculture in general - but recent data shows that 99% of meat in America is from factory farms (with similar rates across the globe)

My efforts right now are in veganism as i think it will help with so many other issues that it is the most effective problem to work on at the moment. That said, I'm also planning on studying AI in the near future, as its very possible we'll reach AGI soon. I think it also opens up opportunities for new areas of study - there seems to be a strong link between neuropsychology and AI neural networks, i think combining the two could help us understand both subjects better. 

Interested to hear your thoughts - thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm Luoluo. I learned about this community from a book called "8000 Hours". I'm really interested in the principles of effective altruism.

I started paying attention to environmental issues when I graduated from college in 2022, and then I began to focus on AI issues. These two topics are among the most pressing global problems I think we're facing. However, I'm still young and haven't studied any related fields, so it's hard for me to contribute my wisdom to these issues.

I hope to see the following discussions in this community:

1. Discussions on global environmental issues, especially climate change.
2. The development and utilization of new energy sources. For example, nuclear energy and the use of space technology to develop new energy.
3. Discussions on curbing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and the possibilities of using AI to address global problems like environmental issues.

Hi, I'm Daniel and I donate mostly to global health causes following GiveWell's recommendations (including their old deworming recommendations).  My impression is the GiveWell-recommended charities are more impactful, in expectation, than charities recommended by The Life You Can Save, which is not quite as stringent and admits more charities.
However, disruptions to USAID mean than donations to some programs facing shortfalls would likely be more effective now than normally, and potentially ahead of the GiveWell recommendations.  How do you think the effectiveness of e.g., AMF would compare with this new Rapid Response Fund if I donate now?  I can see compelling arguments both ways and am not sure how to decide.
Thank you for your thoughts!

Those expected value arguments about low probability but very high yield opportunities (moonshots) being more valuable than lower yield, but more certain ones, always rubbed me the wrong way. I suppose because in a very real sense, a 1% odds outcome might as well be 0% odds, specially for something that will only be attempted once, but I was also thinking about the economy. I suspect the overwhelming majority of economic activity is directed at lower risk, lower yield opportunities, and that it is necessary for things to be this way for the economy to function: there is some optimal proportion of the economy that should be dedicated to moonshots of course, but I wonder what that is. And similarly for altruism, there is probably some optimal proportion of altruistic effort that should be directed to moonshots, relative to effort on lower risk, lower yield stuff.

Has anyone written about this, about what would be the best proportion of moonshots to non-moonshots in EA? In the economy? My point is that it's not as simple as saying moonshots are better.

I also recently read someone saying that the worst case with a moonshot is that nothing happens, but that is not true, the moonshot has opportunity cost, all the time, effort, and money spent on it could've been used on something else.

Is there a cheat-sheet or list of recommendations to view when planning to join EAGx?

Hi, I'm Meir, looking for work in the San Francisco Bay Area (or remote) with (ideally) effective altruist goals in mind. Please let me know if you have thoughts on where I should be looking, aside from this post!

I'm 35, I have an MA in economics from Princeton, and my background is in development economics, so my strongest interests and strengths are in global development and health, though I also have strong interests in international affairs and history. I have strong interest and expertise in the Middle East (I speak Arabic fluently and am Israeli). I have no interest or expertise in AI issues. My software skills are minimal outside the statistical program STATA, which is mostly used in academic contexts. Currently living in Berkeley, CA, with no plans to move in the next few years, so work would have to be here or remote. I am looking primarily for entry-level jobs (I have worked almost exclusively in academic jobs until now) and have minimal pay standards. 

The ideal work for me would be research-adjacent outside academia. GiveWell (which I've applied to but didn't get the job) would be the paradigmatic example, or charities like GiveDirectly that have a strong research focus. I'd also be interested in public policy work, e.g. the Public Policy Institute of California which I've also applied to. I would be interested in working in government, including local government, or for international organizations, though it has been hard to navigate application processes for those options.

Teaching is a second option, as I love teaching and have had very good experiences teaching at the college, middle school and high school levels, including in development and international affairs. I have applied to some university teaching jobs in the area but so far have come up empty.

I would also love to use writing skills, either in a journalistic capacity or some kind of advocacy or policy writing. I have applied to some journals (Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs) and think tanks, but have yet to receive any positive results.

Thank you in advance for any help or pointers!

There is an Avaaz signature campaign to "Establish National Licensing systems for AGI before it is fully achieved" (started by the director of the Millennium Project, Jerome Glenn) you may want to sign.

I'm not sure how fitting such a petition is for the forum, that's why I put it here. If somebody more involved (forum admins, maybe?) thinks it is worth for it to have a real post, please do it.

What's the correct format for citing an EA Forum post?
E.g. like this:

Beckstead, N., Singer, P., & Wage, M. (2013). Preventing Human Extinction. EA Forum. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tXoE6wrEQv7GoDivb/preventing-human-extinction

Or like this, with "Effective Altruism" instead of "EA Forum?":

Beckstead, N., Singer, P., & Wage, M. (2013). Preventing Human Extinction. Effective Altruism. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tXoE6wrEQv7GoDivb/preventing-human-extinction

Howdy all. My name is Xavier, I'm American, and I've heard lots of things, good and bad, about this community, and I wanted to see what's up.

My Bio says that I am a professional Gambler, which is technically true and a large part of my livelihood, but I am not nearly as accomplished as many of the other members here.  I have political ambitions that I think would be of interest to the EA community, and I hope that I find what I'm looking for so that I feel comfortable in mobilizing some people here toward that goal.

For now however, I'm just taking a look.