I was given the opportunity to organise and run a student-led university course introducing attendees to the philosophy and social movement of EA. :)
Even though it was officially categorised as a philosophy course, I would describe it as "an introductory reading and discussion group with a focus on philosophy".
Prior to running the course, I had sought feedback on a preliminary collection of resources for the syllabus and, having incorporated three people's feedback, now think this should give a more well-rounded, balanced intro into mainstream EA. Prior to that, my preliminary collection of resources for the syllabus was too suffering-focused for it to be a well-rounded, balanced introduction into what mainstream EA currently is.
The event series took place at UZH (University of Zurich) in the last autumn semester.
For six events, a guest with more background knowledge than me in that day's topic was invited by me and arranged to make it to the event to enrich the discussion.
There were varying but low numbers of attendees, with the most being four and with only one attendee attending the whole event series. If I ever rerun such an event series, I won't schedule it for Friday from 16:15 to 17:45 and I'll start advertising it sooner.
I think it can't hurt to share the syllabus below and my power point slides with discussion prompts here.
Maybe it's useful for someone who has a similar opportunity. Or for people looking into a philosophy-focused intro to EA. And if I ever decide to rerun such an event series, I'd make sure to take any suggestions / criticisms / ... of yours to heart prior to doing so. :)
These were my syllabus-related preliminary remarks:
I distinguish between resources designated as
E1: expected
E2: encouraged
E3: extra
Additionally, I would like to encourage you to quickly scan the resources you are not going to read in full, especially those I encourage you to read (i.e. “E2”).
I recommend reading/watching the resources in the order I put them.
Table of Contents
session #1: Introduction
session #2: Global Health and Development
session #3: Animal Welfare
session #4: The Long-Term Future
session #5: Putting EA into Practice – Part 1/2
session #6: Global Catastrophic Biological Risks
session #7: Positively Shaping the Development of Artificial Intelligence
session #8: Global Priorities Research and Moral Uncertainty
session #9: Putting EA into Practice – Part 2/2
session #1: Introduction
session #2: Global Health and Development
session #3: Animal Welfare
session #4: The Long-Term Future
session #5: Putting EA into Practice – Part 1/2
session #6: Global Catastrophic Biological Risks
- E1 Why we need worst-case thinking to prevent pandemics (edited extract from Toby Ord’s 2020 book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity)
- E1 Biotechnology and existential risk | Andrew Snyder Beattie | EA Global: London 2017 (29:09)
- E2 short section on Synthetic Biology in Unprecedented Technological Risks (by Nick Beckstead, Nick Bostrom, Niel Bowerman, Owen Cotton-Barratt, William MacAskill, Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, and Toby Ord)
- E2 What are information hazards? (by Michael Aird)
- E1 Information Hazards in Biotechnology (by Gregory Lewis, Piers Millett, Anders Sandberg, Andrew Snyder-Beattie, and Gigi Gronvall)
- E2 Horsepox synthesis: A case of the unilateralist’s curse? (by Gregory Lewis)
- E3 Information Hazard tag on the EA Forum
session #7: Positively Shaping the Development of Artificial Intelligence
session #8: Global Priorities Research and Moral Uncertainty
session #9: Putting EA into Practice – Part 2/2
