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Epistemic status: Speculation from two decently informed advocates armed with anecdata.
Note on process: After having some version of this conversation several times and saying, “we should probably write about this publicly,” we took the less heroic route: we recorded one of our conversations, fed the transcript into an LLM, and then substantially revised the structure, substance, and framing ourselves. We will not be sharing the transcript, as it is in...
I want to start by noting that I am amazed and somewhat in awe of what's been accomplished by the EA animal welfare movement. I am enthusiastically supportive of all campaigns that make living and dying conditions less bad for farmed animals.
I worked on such campaigns for almost 20 years, and I'm proud of that work.
That said, I do think it's a strategic error that the EA animal movement has so thoroughly moved on from advocacy for animal liberation and diet change.&n...
The swarm has made me feel AI risk in my bones for the first time
Until the Hugging Face / OpenAI swarm thing, I think I deep down felt pretty skeptical that extinction or serious loss of control scenarios were plausible in the next few years.
I’ve been lurking on LessWrong for years, and I remember being freaked out by Yudkowsky’s ‘List of Lethalities’ in 2022, and thinking that this did seem intellectually convincing, and maybe I should do something about it. But it didn...
Recent opportunities to take action
Consultancy Opportunities – Biological Threat Reduction 📢📢📢
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) is looking for two consultants to support the implementation of the Fortifying Institutional Resilience Against Biological Threats (FIRABioT) Project in Africa. Supported by Global Affairs Canada's Weapons Threat Reduction Program, this high-impact initiative aims to support WOAH Members in strengthening capacities to prevent, detect, prepare, respond and recover from biological threats. The project also supports the implementation of the Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa, an initiative of the Global Partnership to Prevent the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.
WOAH is looking for one consultant to work with anglophone countries and another to work with francophone countries.
📍 Base: Nairobi (remote work possible)
✈️ Travel: Regular missions across Africa
📅 Duration: 6 months (March–August 2026)
These consultants will work closely with WOAH regional and HQ teams to design, deliver, and report on an ambitious technical programme, including in-person workshops across WOAH Members in Africa.
Focus areas include:
• National contingency planning
• Risk communication
• Laboratory biological risk management
• Management of high-consequence agents and toxins
You’ll be work in collaboration with Veterinary Services and other agencies to strengthen institutional resilience against biological threats.
📌 Deadline to apply: 14 February 2026
👉 For full details and application guidelines, please click here:
Anglophone consultancy : https://rr-africa.woah.org/en/events/call-for-applications-consultant-for-biological-threat-reduction-and-emergency-preparedness-english-french-an-asset/
Francophone consultancy: https://rr-africa.woah.org/en/events/call-for-applications-consultant-for-biological-threat-reduction-and-emergency-preparedness-advanced-proficiency-in-french-is-mandatory/