Topics in Need of Work
The ethics of existential risk is the study of the ethical issues related to existential risk, including questions of how bad an existential catastrophe would be, how good it is to reduce existential risk, why those things are as bad or good as they are, and how this differs between different specific existential risks. There is a range of different perspectives...
Psychedelics are a class of psychoactive substances that alter perception, mood, and cognition, and have been investigated for their therapeutic potential, particularly in mental health treatment. Within the effective altruism (EA) community, psychedelics have gained attention as a potentially high-impact intervention due to their promising results in treating...
An altruistic wager is a type of argument that seeks to establish that an agent should act as though a conclusion is true because, given what we know, that seems to be the right decision from an ethical perspective, even if the conclusion does not actually seem likely to be true. For example, one might argue that one should act as though animals are sentient...
Altruistic coordination is the study of how individual altruists should act when the impact of each person's decisions depends on the actions of other altruists. Such coordination could take many forms, including philanthropic coordination; moral trade; attempting to consider comparative advantage and replaceability rather than just personal fit; building "community...
The books tag covers posts about books.
If you're looking for summaries and reviews, you might also find LessWrong's "Book reviews" tag relevant. On the Forum, the "collections and resources" tag might also be related.
Some EA books have their own tag: The Precipice | Doing Good Better | Poor Economics | Superintelligence | The Life You Can Save | ...
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A week for discussing funding strategy, broadly construed.
A two-long series of events on the EA Forum, aimed at causing more and better donations, and reaching new audiences.
| Dates | Nov 10-16 | Nov 17-23 | Nov 24-Dec 7 | Dec 8-14 | Dec 15-EOY |
| Event | Funding Strategy Week | Marginal Funding Week | Donation Election
| ‘Why I donate’ week | Donation Celebration Banner
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More details in the announcement post.
A two-long series of events on the EA Forum, aimed at causing more and better donations, and reaching new audiences.
| Dates | Nov 10-16 | Nov 17-23 | Nov 24-Dec 7 | Dec 8-14 | Dec 15-EOY |
| Event | Funding Strategy Week | Marginal Funding Week | Donation Election
|
The Essays on Longtermism Competition (EoL Competition) iswas an essay contest on the Effective Altruism Forum, co-organized by the Forum team and the editors of Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future (Oxford University Press, 2025).
The competition encouragesencouraged rigorous philosophical engagement with longtermism—the view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. Participants arewere invited to submit essays in response to a chapter, or (substantiated) theme from the collection before October 20, 2025 (anywhere on earth).
NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR THE COMPETITION HAS NOW PASSED. YOU CAN STILL SUBMIT ESSAYS WITH THE TAG, AND THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR A BEST-OF SEQUENCE, BUT WON'T BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE PRIZE.
This year's Draft Amnesty Week will run from February 24th to March 2nd.2nd, and, from October 13th - 19th. Draft Amnesty is an event where Forum users can post scrappy, draft-y, or incomplete posts with impunity.
The Essays on Longtermism Competition (EoL Competition) is an essay contest on the Effective Altruism Forum, co-organized by the Forum team and the editors of Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future (Oxford University Press, 2025).
The competition encourages rigorous philosophical engagement with longtermism—the view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. Participants are invited to submit essays in response to a chapter, argument, or (substantiated) theme from the collection before October 20, 2025 (anywhere on earth).
Greaves, Hilary & MacAskill, William (2021). The Case for Strong Longtermism.
Ord, Toby (2020). The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.
Provisional tag — moderators may want to change the name, or delete this if it doesn't seem separate enough from the "Forecasting" tag. Could also be "betting on beliefs", though that still isn't very specific.
Some people use betting as a way to signal the strength of their views; they might offer a bet as a way to identify a crux in a debate, or challenge a critic they view as insincere.
This tag tracks posts where people make public bets on their beliefs (or discuss the practice of doing so).
Provisional tag — moderators may want to change the name, or delete this if it doesn't seem separate enough from the "Forecasting" tag. Could also be "betting on beliefs", though that still isn't very specific.
Some people use betting as a way to signal the strength of their views; they might offer a bet as a way to identify a crux in a debate, or challenge a critic they view as insincere.
This tag tracks posts where people make public bets on their beliefs (or discuss the practice of doing so).
Effective Altruism Forum (2025). Announcing: The Essays on Longtermism Competition.Competition.
The Essays on Longtermism Competition (EoL Competition) is an essay contest on the Effective Altruism Forum, co-organized by the Forum team and the editors of Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future (Oxford University Press, 2025). The competition encourages rigorous philosophical engagement with longtermism—the view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. Participants are invited to submit essays in response to a chapter, argument, or theme from the collection before October 20, 2025 (anywhere on earth).
Further reading
Barrett, Jacob; Greaves, Hilary; Thorstad, David (eds.) (2025). Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future. Oxford University Press.
Greaves, Hilary & MacAskill, William (2021). The Case for Strong Longtermism.
Ord, Toby (2020). The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.
Effective Altruism Forum (2025). Announcing: The Essays on Longtermism Competition.
Related entries
longtermism | forecasting | moral philosophy | Events on the EA Forum | prizes and contests
NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR THE COMPETITION HAS NOW PASSED. YOU CAN STILL SUBMIT ESSAYS WITH THE TAG, AND THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR A BEST-OF SEQUENCE, BUT WON'T BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE PRIZE.
The Essays on Longtermism Competition (EoL Competition) was an essay contest on the Effective Altruism Forum, co-organized by the Forum team and the editors of Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future (Oxford University Press, 2025).
The competition encouraged rigorous philosophical engagement with longtermism—the view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. Participants were invited to submit essays in response to a chapter, or (substantiated) theme from the collection before October 20, 2025 (anywhere on earth).
Further reading
Barrett, Jacob; Greaves, Hilary; Thorstad, David (eds.) (2025). Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future. Oxford University Press....
The 10% Pledge is a public, non-binding commitment to donate at least 10% of one’s income each year to the most cost-effective charities or funding opportunities one can identify. It is administered by Giving What We Can (GWWC) and serves both as a personal commitment device and as a norm-setting tool within the effective altruism community.tool.
The tag was rejected because it hasn’t yet been applied to at least three posts by different authors.