Effective Altruism Forum
EA Forum

All of Jack_H's Comments + Replies

Anti-Aging and EA (Recorded Talk)
Jack_H3y6
1
0
1
1
1
1

Thanks for the questions. These two lines of argumentation are quite common responses, and I would address them as follows:

1. It is entirely possible that existential risk mitigation (e.g. AI safety, nuclear, biosecurity) is by far the most effective cause area in EA due to the 'Pascal's mugging'-style argument you put forth (i.e. the potential for trillions of future lives to be saved). If you believe that 100% of EA funding should support ex-risk causes then you will be unlikely to be persuaded to donate to anti-aging research. 

However, if you think... (read more)

Reply
1
Frank_R
3y
Thank you for your detailed answer. I expect that other people here have similar questions in mind. Therefore, it is nice to see your arguments written up.
Problem areas beyond 80,000 Hours' current priorities
Jack_H4y5
0
0

Insightful post.

Great that you mention 'anti-aging' research, one of the most promising means of alleviating enormous amounts of suffering (from chronic diseases) and increase healthy lifespan of the population (something not often discussed in EA).

Anti-aging research also meets the EA criteria for an important cause area of tractability, scale, neglectedness.

I personally donate to the SENS Research Foundation to progress this work. I encourage others to also.

Reply