Hi EAs, I’m Dee, first-time forum poster but long-time advocate for EA principles since first discovering the movement through Peter Singer’s work. I’ve always had a particular interest in global health and wellbeing, which initially inspired me to complete a medical degree. While I enjoyed my studies, I became somewhat disheartened with the scope of impact I could have as a single doctor in a system largely geared towards treatment rather than prevention of disease. After a career pivot to management consulting for a couple of years, I eventually completed my PhD in epidemiology. I’m now using my research experience and medical knowledge to tackle complex public health problems.
The more I’ve solidified my own goals to do good, including through my career as well as through giving to effective causes, I’ve sought to further engage with EA content and the community. I look forward to connecting and sharing ideas with you all!
Epidemiology! I hadn't really thought about epidemiology as a career but it strikes me as potentially very high impact, especially if you're going into it with an attention to impact. My basic thinking is that the field of health tends to have some of the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of improving people's lives, and epidemiology can have a leveraged impact by benefiting many people simultaneously (which is also why being a doctor is maybe less good—the number of people you can help is much smaller).
If you have thoughts, I am interested in what you think about where are the big problems in epidemiology, or at least where are the big problems that you personally can contribute to. It's not a space I know much about. (You did say the problems are complex which seems true to me so I don't think I am really in a position to understand epidemiology lol.)
Very much agree about public health as low-hanging fruit when it comes to impact- hence my career pivot! We often use the term “wicked problems” to describe the public health challenges that are complex, interconnected, and basically refuse to be “solved”. In my view, some of the “wickedest” problems in epidemiology include climate change and health, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), antimicrobial resistance, mental health, pandemic preparedness, and global health equity (among others).
My own research mostly focuses on NCDs (particularly diabetes) and occupational health epidemiology, while I teach subjects like climate change and public health, as well as health communication (which I also see as particularly important given the rise of health misinformation). I’ve also served on various mental health and global health boards and committees, so I guess you could say I’m trying to contribute to solving as many of these big public health problems as I can!
A lot of EAs wanted to slow down AGI development to have more time for alignment. Now Trump's tariffs have done that - accidentally and for the wrong reasons - but they did slow it down. Yet no EA seems happy about this. Given how unpopular his tariffs are maybe people don't want to endorse them for PR reasons? But if you think that AI is by far the most important issue that should easily lead you to say the unpopular truth. Scenarios where China reaches AGI before the US became more likely, but that was always an argument against AI slowdown and it didn't seem to convince many people in the past.
Thoughts?
Maybe this post should be placed in some AI safety thread, but I wasn't sure where exactly.
Feels like claims like "Trump's tariffs have slowed down AGI development" need some evidence to back then up. The larger companies working on AGI have already raised funds, assembled teams and bought hardware (which can be globally distributed if necessary) and believe they're going to get extraordinary returns on that effort. Unlike retail and low margin business, it doesn't seem like a 10% levy on manufactured goods or even being unable to import Chinese chips is going to stop them from making progress
I do think the whole technology innovations have been slowed down globally, in many ways. Both the good, the bad, or the not so good or not so bad things. However, the good things are easily being left behind than the bad things, right? Anyway, it's why effective altruism's about, doing what we can, smartly, to make it a better world each day, each time. I think AGI is not the holy grail, but an absolute moral AGI is the holy grail. However, how do we define moral? That's a big question we all need to think about, ask about. The current moral standard of AIs, are vastly insufficient. Maybe, it's an opportunity for us to rethink about it?
Hi everyone, I’m Sarah! I’m relatively new to effective altruism and am excited to learn and engage with this community. My background is in social services, where I’ve focused on leadership, program development, and fostering community resilience. I’m currently transitioning into the fields of operations and human resources, looking to apply my skills in a more strategic, impact-driven context.
In addition to my professional work, I’ve founded a small business that creates and sells dehydrated meals for backcountry adventures, with a focus on sustainability and community. I’m also a founding member of MFC, an initiative where we pool resources to support community needs and engage in thoughtful discussions about the ethical distribution of wealth. Through MFC, I’ve gained valuable experience in collective decision-making and governance, which aligns closely with my passion for creating meaningful impact.
Outside of work, I’m an avid outdoors enthusiast — I enjoy biking, backpacking, and have even competed in the world’s longest annual paddling race. I’m excited to continue growing and learning through effective altruism, and I look forward to connecting with all of you.
Hi everyone! I'm Antony, and I work at the intersection of Data Engineering, People Development, Organizational Development, and Research/Writing.
A little bit more about me...
Three things I care about:
Helping people to build meaningful and impactful careers.
Designing organizations that become drivers of social change.
Voicing ideas to help people understand how the world works and how they can make a change.
Three things I'm good at:
Identifying inefficiencies and designing solutions with a deep understanding of what makes people and organizations thrive.
Creating frameworks to systematically approach complex problems.
Researching deeply and communicating insights clearly, because I believe solutions start with understanding.
Three things I have experience with:
Engineering Management. I scaled up a data engineering department from 12 to 70 engineers for an AI Fund company backed by Andrew Ng, managing a team of 14 direct reports and 70 indirect reports.
Mentoring. I've mentored over 50+ engineers over my career, helping them to gain clarity on what they want and how to approach challenges they face.
Writing. I've published more than 20+ technical articles on Medium (~500k views), and I'm now currently building The Utopian Engineering Society.
I’d love to connect with people and organizations working at these intersections. While I’ve been following the EA movement for a couple of years, my involvement has been passive. But I’m now actively looking to change that.
If you know anyone, please point me in the right direction or just say hi. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.
Hey Antony! Do you know about High Impact Engineers? Also, welcome to the Forum! I'm here if you have any questions, Toby (Content Manager for the EA Forum)
Hello there, my name is Benton. I have a bachelor's degree in philosophy (and one in computer science), and that's where I first heard about effective altruism (I believe it was an ethics class I took). I initially rejected it, as I believed it presupposed two claims that I was very skeptical of: moral realism and utilitarianism. It took several years for me to come back around to this movement. Through reading the work of Micheal Huemer and others, I become convinced of moral realism, and I also realized that the arguments of Peter Singer and others can apply even for non-utilitarians. All it takes is the recognition that preventing unnecessary suffering is a good thing (and probably obligatory). And that brings me here.
I don't actively work on any projects, however, I am split between four priorities: global health and wellbeing, animal welfare, AI safety (including x-risk and s-risk), and politics/systemic change. I am not a consequentialist, as I think what causes to prioritize depends on more than the expected value of a given amount of time or money input into a cause. I generally have the intuition that we should end extreme poverty first before prioritizing other issues (yes, I think I am species-ist). However, factory farming is just so abhorrent that I can't help but think that should also be a priority, especially since ending extreme poverty may lead to an increase of the consumption of animal products from factory farms. And not only is AI safety important for longtermist reasons, it may be the most important neartermist cause if AGI is only a few years away as many experts claim. That's why I am split between these three issues. But I really want more research and focus on politics and systemic change in the EA community. As far as I can tell, there is no research being done on alternate economic systems (market socialism, participatory socialism, etc) within the community. One could argue that implementing alternate systems is not a very tractable solution, however, one could argue the current economic system is what gives rise to the other three problems in the first place, so it could be the most effective solution to many issues even though it's improbable.
I'm interested in hearing more about the cases you found for and against EA ideas/arguments applying without utilitarianism. I personally am very much consequentialist but not necessarily fully utilitarian, so curious both for myself and as a community builder. I'm not a philosopher so my footing is probably much less certain than yours.
Concerning the case against EA, I was a moral antirealist for a while. And since I thought there are no moral truths, then we are not obligated to donate to charity, pick a highly impactful career, etc. But I thought that even if there were objective moral truths, then it would certainly not be utilitarianism (due to all the counterexamples such as the utility monster, the experience machine, etc). I mistakenly thought this would completely disqualify Peter Singer's pond analogy/argument.
My journey in three steps:
About a year ago, I read Michael Huemer's Knowledge, Reality, and Value, then his Ethical Intuitionism since his ethical arguments sparked my curiosity. This convinced me of moral realism - specifically moral intuitionism. This is, roughly, the view in metaethics that we come to know moral truths through our moral intuition.
Using my moral intuition, the case against utilitarianism (and consequentialism) seems very strong. There are some cases (utility monster, experience machine, the sheriff that sacrifices one innocent to save the town, etc) that I have such a strong moral intuition against. Some kind of deontology (such as Ross' prima facie duties theory) makes much more sense.
Revisiting Peter Singer's pond analogy/argument made me realize that Singer does not have utilitarianism or even consequentialism as a premise. The idea that one ought to prevent suffering without significant sacrifice is one that any plausible moral view will accept, consequentialist or not. For example, the principle of beneficence is one of Ross' prima facie duties. And that principle is all one needs to agree with for effective altruism to get off the ground, so to speak.
I am very much not a utilitarian (though I think consequences are very important)
Using my moral intuition, the case against utilitarianism (and consequentialism) seems very strong
I'm wondering how to square these statements re: your attitude towards consequentialism (not utilitarianism). I suppose you're saying you think consequences are very important yet you aren't a consequentialist in the way most people who call themselves that use/define the term?
Yes, I think consequences are very important, but I am not a consequentialist. Consequentialists claim that only consequences matter, morally speaking. I disagree. I think things like virtue, autonomy, justice, fidelity, and so on also matter, in addition to consequences.
I work in the nonprofit education space and am currently pursuing an MBA in Global Sustainable Development. I’m fairly new to EA and actually stumbled into it through Christians for Impact (CFI) after seeing their work through LinkedIn. I’ve been drawn to EA’s emphasis on global health, economic empowerment, and scalable, evidence-based solutions to poverty.
I’m starting to get more engaged with EA. I’ve taken the Trial Pledge with Giving What We Can, started connecting with EACH, and am enrolling in the Intro EA Program to build a stronger foundation. Long-term, I’m interested in working with EA-aligned organizations, or eventually launching a high-impact charity through CE’s incubation program.
I’d especially love to connect with others working at the intersection of EA and faith, or who’ve transitioned into the EA space from nonprofit backgrounds. Always eager to learn, grow, and contribute!
Fun fact: I started a Thai rolled ice cream business in high school, complete with custom flavors and a little cart! That experience sparked my interest in entrepreneurship and building things that serve others (even if it started with sprinkles).
Hey everyone! I’m currently testing a lightweight emotional scaffolding framework (VSPE) as a way to reduce sycophantic outputs in LLMs. It’s rooted in trauma-informed therapy but adapted for AI alignment, essentially guiding models through a human-like process of honest reflection under pressure.
I recently took the Giving What We Can 10% pledge (to give 10% of my income to effective charities). Part of the appeal of the pledge is making effective giving a cultural norm.
I wonder about the effects of that in the global economy, and on the economy of rich countries, where I hope the pledge takes roots stronger and faster.
Hey Clara, congrats on taking the pledge! My guess on this question is that you'd need a lot more people to give before you saw macro-economic effects. But people's giving does differ greatly country to country, so I'm sure there is some economic work on the effects of that on savings, investment, wages etc! Also- welcome to the Forum! Let me know if you have any questions about how it works.
I agree that to observe macroeconomic effects something has to be broad scale and my question was quite speculative.
On the other hand, about the Forum, I see that posts are like essays and appear informative. I wonder what is the right place to things that might be interesting or valuable, but don't fit the general vibe, for instance, just a question. Do they belong in here? As quick takes?
Hey y'all! I'm Sawyer, an undergrad student studying philosophy and studio arts. I'm going into my senior year and will soon be starting my cumulative senior thesis project, so I've been exploring the internet and just came across this site. Hoping to find some interlocutors!
I first learned about EA when I read some of Peter Singer's book "The Life You Can Save" a few years ago. I had a renewed interest in EA from last year when I became more interested in animal ethics and animal rights. I am interested in maximizing impact for human health, income inequality, social justice, and animal rights/welfare/health.
I am almost finished my accounting degree (finished 4 years, will graduate in the upcoming year for 5y total schooling), after which I will study/work for 3 years to become chartered as an accountant in Canada. Being chartered will also allow me to practice accounting in other countries. The issue I have now is that I am trying to maximize my earning potential to be able to give more in my lifetime. Being a university-educated professional is definitely useful, but I want to know if there is more that I can do.
I am considering going into law school (my GPA would put me in a mid-tier school, good enough to practice law), or focusing on my CPA, or doing both simultaneously? Is it better to get to work immediately into accounting or should I do more schooling? Should I pivot to a different career within business and financial services?
I would appreciate any resources on career choice, comparison for salary numbers, or cost of living comparison.
My name is Rose, I am founder and director of Vital Crest Foundation (VCF) in Uganda. VCF works on fighting poverty, uplifting marginalised communities, environmental protection and convening. I first heard about the concept of EA in 2019 (more of environmental altruism) and I stuck in me. I have been trying to apply the principles to my daily life and my policy advocacy and projects. I stumbled on the CEA by chance while I was trying to write concept notes of projects targeting EA, part of my non profit. I am glad to be here and I hope we can hold each other’s hands in this journey.
I am also currently doing my PhD, facing a few challenges here and there but I hope I will finish it soon.
I am so happy finding you and hope to connect and collaborate with some of you.
My name is Karl and I'm a socio-economic geographer with an engineering degree in inland waterways revitalization and a master's in spatial management with a specialization in revitalization of urban and degraded areas. I co-authored a few research papers and quite a bit of local planning and strategic documents. I'm also engaged with a local civic organization in my city. In the future I plan to do a PhD, researching a topic of optimization of administrative divisions.
Currently I'm working on my own social impact project, focused on climate action and ecosystem restoration, making it more efficient and accessible for individuals, and addressing some issues of existing initiatives I've encountered. I'd like to write a separate post about the project if it is ok, as I could use some support and advice.
I plan to research this forum more and hope to integrate with the EA community!
Hi all! I'm Laura, a mid-career pivoter looking to move from the arts and entertainment sector to a more mission-oriented and high-impact organization. I have deep non-profit management experience in the arts world, as well as project and events management and digital marketing experience in the corporate world. I'm looking primarily in the food systems/climate change sector.
Outside of work, I'm trying to improve yields in my garden (does singing little songs to my plants help? 😅), reading as many fantasy novels as I can, and planning the logistics for my Burning Man camp of classical musicians and ballet dancers. We put on a full orchestra & ballet performance at Burning Man each year!
Since AI X-risk is a main cause area for EA, shouldn't significant money be going into mechanistic interpretability? After reading the AI 2027 forecast, the opacity of AIs appears to be the main source of risk coming from them. Making significant progress in this field seems very important for alignment.
I took the Giving What We Can Pledge, I want to say there should be something like it but for mechanistic interpretability, but probably only very few people could be convinced to give 10% of their income to mechanistic interpretability.
I've had similar considerations. Manifund has projects you can fund directly, some of which are about interpretability. Though without specialized knowledge, I find it difficult to trust my judgement more than people whose job it is to research and think strategically about marginal impact.
I'm Dima from Berlin. I'm working on AI Alignment and Safety research. You can check out my latest post about the Neglected Approach #0 to AI Safety & Alignment. it touches the roots of advanced reasoning and cognitive neuroscience in general.
if you're interested in that kind of work. I'll write posts and be active on this forum, but just wanted to introduce myself first.
Can't wait to collaborate with people with whom we share the common goals.
I am Tadiwa, second name Fionna. From Zimbabwe and living in South Africa (I think this shapes a lot of what I care about and my approach to problem solving). I have been mostly reading EA works and blogs and now choosing to engage more. I hold a Business Management and work as a marketing consultant and try to work with for-profit business that center social impact in their communities. Outside of helping said businesses gain visibility and streamline processes to be sustainable in all the ways, I care deeply about mental health and facilitate Yoga classes for various communities where I am.
From the intros a lot of people here are doing beautiful work!
Hey Tadiwa - Hope you're getting something valuable out of the EA Forum. If you want some recommendations of where to look for great content - let me know,
My name is Oscar Fernández. I am a frequent user of artificial intelligence, and over time, through constant reading and learning, I have realized that I share theories and perspectives with leading figures and promoters in the field. I would be delighted to contribute my perspective and take part in the debate, drawing on my humble but genuine knowledge. I remain at your disposal and would appreciate the opportunity to be included.
Dear EA community, my name is Kazik, and I am new on this forum, however I am already quite familiar with EA movement. I studied philosophy and metaethics, and have been involved in animal welfare and many other ethically-driven movements in Poland. Now I am mostly focused on building the most advanced agentic AI, including fully autonomous, recursive and self-modifying systems, which I am also teaching. I'm writing from Berlin, where I co-founded 2 organizations.
1. Prachtsaal, a non-profit art cooperative / experimental cultural center in the art nouveau dance hall 2. Xemantic, a collective of applied philosophy focused on humanistic computation
Xemantic also resides at Prachtsaal, where we are:
developing other high-impact AI solutions we cannot disclose publicly
If you need to consult any high impact AI / software solution, please don't hesitate to contact me. I have more than 2 decades of experience working as a software architect and lead developer. You can also ping me on LinkedIn.
Hey Kazik! Thanks for joining. If you want any hints or tips about the Forum - or want to find people doing similar work, let me know. Cheers Toby, from the Forum team.
Hi all, my name is Tami. I have a bachelors degree in the Arts and a Teaching certificate. I currently teach grade 2's in critical and creative thinking, in an inner city school. I came across the focused group of Effective Altruism through some rabbit holes of effective teaching strategies. My main purpose for engaging in this group is to glean knowledge and build understanding towards the concerns of the future. Seven and eight year olds are naturally kind, but I have found by the time they are ten, they have already built foundational habits on how they wish to interact with their community. As a grade 2 teacher, I want to stimulate and encourage not only conversation but actionable plans for altruistic responses. We spend much of our time discussing how to have conversations with people we do not agree with. We learn how to listen. We learn how to speak using concrete evidence and to phrase our words responsibly without absolutes. They have excellent discussions about how to support the community and they have initiated collecting socks and mittens for our local homeless community. We have had discussions on how to plan for responsible housing, with very creative ideas (floating homes that have no footprint :) ). As a teacher, I want to stay on top of the current topics and ensure I am honoring my thinkers. For the most part, I will simply be an observer. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
That's so cool Tami! I hope you find some valuable ideas on the EA Forum. Message me or reply to the comment if you'd like to know where to look. To start, I'd recommend the best of page and the EA Handbook. For 7-8 year olds, there are some very cool EA-related videos on the rational animations, TED-Ed and kurtzegesagt youtube channels. Let me know if you want recommendations :) Toby - from the Forum team.
hi Tami! I'd love to hear more about your teaching of grade 2's in critical and creative thinking! Can you elaborate on ways in which you find 10 year olds to already have built foundational habits on how they wish to interact with their community, not that I'm disagreeing, but that I'm curious as to what ways that manifests? How do you stimulate and encourage actionable plans for altruistic responses?
This is a crosspost from the new Animal Welfare Alignment Newsletter by Anima International. You can subscribe on Substack if you are interested in following these efforts. Audio reading also available on Substack.
The goals of this post are to:
1. Raise a question I see as crucially important to the goal of aligning AI to animal welfare...
I used AI to fix transcription errors, rerrarange the ideas, and suggest tweaks to the title and some sentences.
Three of the most exciting projects to come out of EA in recent years are, in a vague sense, CEA spinouts:
* Kairos is directly a spinout of CEA and now handles most support for university AI safety groups. Basically everyone I've found who knows them is really excited about what they do
* NEST is an opinionated ideas-fi...
Hello! I'm Justin Portela. I got hired by GWWC to make YouTube videos after AI in Context did such a kickass job.
My channel is using that same cinematic, high-production value beauty to talk about everything in the EA universe that isn't AI.
...
If you'd like, share how you became interested in effective altruism, what causes you work on and prioritize, and other fun facts about yourself, in the comments below (For inspiration, you can see the last open thread here). You can also add this information to your Forum bio to help other Forum users get to know you.
2. Ask questions (and answer others' questions)
If anything about the Forum, or effective altruism in general, confuses you, ask your questions in the comments below, or message me. You can also answer other people's questions or discuss the answers. (You might be interested in sharing your question as its own post, if it's on a more complicated or substantial topic.)
Resources like the EA Handbook and the Topics wiki might be helpful for exploring topics related to effective altruism — see more here.
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Hi EAs, I’m Dee, first-time forum poster but long-time advocate for EA principles since first discovering the movement through Peter Singer’s work. I’ve always had a particular interest in global health and wellbeing, which initially inspired me to complete a medical degree. While I enjoyed my studies, I became somewhat disheartened with the scope of impact I could have as a single doctor in a system largely geared towards treatment rather than prevention of disease. After a career pivot to management consulting for a couple of years, I eventually completed my PhD in epidemiology. I’m now using my research experience and medical knowledge to tackle complex public health problems.
The more I’ve solidified my own goals to do good, including through my career as well as through giving to effective causes, I’ve sought to further engage with EA content and the community. I look forward to connecting and sharing ideas with you all!
Epidemiology! I hadn't really thought about epidemiology as a career but it strikes me as potentially very high impact, especially if you're going into it with an attention to impact. My basic thinking is that the field of health tends to have some of the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of improving people's lives, and epidemiology can have a leveraged impact by benefiting many people simultaneously (which is also why being a doctor is maybe less good—the number of people you can help is much smaller).
If you have thoughts, I am interested in what you think about where are the big problems in epidemiology, or at least where are the big problems that you personally can contribute to. It's not a space I know much about. (You did say the problems are complex which seems true to me so I don't think I am really in a position to understand epidemiology lol.)
Very much agree about public health as low-hanging fruit when it comes to impact- hence my career pivot! We often use the term “wicked problems” to describe the public health challenges that are complex, interconnected, and basically refuse to be “solved”. In my view, some of the “wickedest” problems in epidemiology include climate change and health, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), antimicrobial resistance, mental health, pandemic preparedness, and global health equity (among others).
My own research mostly focuses on NCDs (particularly diabetes) and occupational health epidemiology, while I teach subjects like climate change and public health, as well as health communication (which I also see as particularly important given the rise of health misinformation). I’ve also served on various mental health and global health boards and committees, so I guess you could say I’m trying to contribute to solving as many of these big public health problems as I can!
That's awesome to hear Dee! I'm the Forum's Content Manager, let me know if you want help finding anything, answering any questions, etc... :)
thanks Toby, will do!