Coleman
Bio
Hi! Thanks for checking out my EA Forum Bio! My name is Coleman; I am the President of Cornell Effective Altruism, a Global Catastrophic Risk researcher, and a science communicator with a focus on AI, emerging technology policy, societal health/resilience, ethics, and long-term flourishing. In addition to my passion for community building and speaking with various folks (both seasoned veterans and completely new to EA/GCR), I am interested in improving clearing thinking surrounding this century's greatest challenges, in part through expanding upon the systemic risk approach.
My academic background is in Cognitive Science, Ethics, and Politics. My favorite thinkers from history are Aristotle, Hegel, and I especially admire the work of Derek Parfit, Vikctor Frankl, and the recent empirical studies out of Cornell's Purpose and Identity Lab.
Currently projects (updated semi-regularly):
- Expansion of The X-Risk Podcast + Expanding our team (Feel free to reach out via cjs386@cornell.edu if interested in learning more about our production & research assistant roles)
- Ongoing research on the underpinnings of cooperation and policy with Matthew Gentzel of LongView
- Resilience research with Luke Kemp and Nathaniel Cooke.
- Guest lecturing at Undergraduate/Graduate Student Groups on X Risk
Posts 4
Comments18
Wonderful project. We have needed something like this for quite a while and I am thrilled to see it happening!
Wonderful project. We have needed something like this for quite a while and I am thrilled to see it happening!
Would you say more organizational support would make for a broader equilibrium for EA-organizational needs...
Perhaps a 'Nash-Equilibrium'?
The promotion of pluralism allows for greater epistemic checks and balances in a way that seems unparalleled in good thinking.
Thank you so much for bringing these ideas to the forefront, Gideon. Absolute legend.
21st Talks, a growing existential risk and EA-focused media organization with a podcast and youtube channel, is looking for a content admin/research assistant.
The role is not currently fully funded but the content admin will receive royalties.
The responsibilities include taking over the reins of strategizing potential podcast guests and setting up interviews via writing the guest directly or their PR team.
We are looking for someone who is also able to meet once a week to go over that upcoming content, and plan monthly content calendars, along with someone proficient in working on public communication-focused research projects.
The role will be 5 hours a week and should be a lot of fun. Current university students who are looking to be involved in EA communication seem like great fits. Bonus points if you're in or near Ithaca NY where our current production team (Coleman Snell, Justin Dmelio) attends university.
More details are available to anyone interested. You can shoot me an email at cjs386@cornell.edu, using the subject line "21st Talks Content Admin Inquiry"!
Have a great rest of your week!
Hi! I am interested in this kind of research and I study behavioral science, and psychology at Cornell. I also do public/industry communication for X-Risk and EA, so I would love to connect and discuss what you have in mind!
In line with Khorton's answer, life coaching
Especially from someone within Effective Altruism, who understands one's longterm goals, having an individual to sit down with each week and talk through any and all issues is well worth the pay. When coupled with journaling, the issues that would otherwise impact one's EA work can be majorly minimized.
Even issues that may seem small or insignificant on the surface, if they are recurring, can be extremely taxing on one's sustainable EA motivation. The life coaching widely accessed within EA needs to extend far beyond just direct aspects of the career.
If you're interested in life coaching on better achieving your goals, romance sustained motivation, etc... feel free to DM me. I'd be happy to chat about options beyond just therapy!
Hi Max,
This may be a silly question but I have been thinking quite a bit about exactly some of the points you brought up in your piece above due to a recent expansion of my EA Communication Organization requiring me to take on my own assistant.
I am curious, would you recommend finding a part-time assistant for other people involved in EA who recognize that their work could become significantly more effective with even a part-time assistant? I am thinking of how often I see responses like "So sorry for the long response, I want to prioritize this and dropped the ball on responding because I have been so busy with {x responsbility}..."
Given how opportunity distribution works, there is a connection between the importance of work and the effectiveness of the specific individual at said work and the number of opportunities they are presented with. Do you think this creates a condition where many EA's who are doing well at what they are aiming to do ought to have more readily available access to for example part time assistants?
Great video, you two!