All of JDBauman's Comments + Replies

Thanks for this. My view is the same as yours. The first two strike me as "net positive." I'm also unsure about what pigs and dairy cows need. I wouldn't be hugely surprised if they have either "net positive" or "net negative" lives, but I think it's most likely (80%+ chance) they are "net positive."

(Qualifying discussion of net value of existence with " " because I find such valuations always so fraught with uncertainty and I feel I owe other beings tremendous humility in this!) 

I love that John Wesley was a motivation! "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can" is surprisingly rarely quoted among Methodists I know... FWIW this article on it at EA for Christians is actually the highest-performing one on the site!

Not sure if this is the place to post but I'll share. 

I took the pledge about 6 years ago but I hesitated for years. I think my reasons then were:

(1) Legalism
Pledges risk falling into "legalism" i.e. a habit of relying on specific commitments and stated duties at the expense of a broader, all-encompassing spirit of generosity. 

(2) Low Anchor
Related to (1), 10% sounded great but not so radical. Why set a lower bar for myself than I could handle? Speaking for myself, I thought then (and still do now) that I ought to be giving more than 10%. Plus, d... (read more)

I find this really interesting for personal reasons. I grew up in a Calvinist church (and also, for a brief period of time, considered myself a calvinist).  

Now, looking back, I find it fascinating that the church was successful in motivating itself to take evangelism still very seriously. 

It did so not on consequentialist grounds. No one ever said "evangelize because your effort actually might affect where someone spends eternity." 

Instead, people said things like "evangelize because you can share Good News of the hope that is within you" (... (read more)

Eric Sampson published a paper on this in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion. See here. 

Abstract: Longtermist Effective Altruists (EAs) aim to mitigate the risk of existential catastrophes. In this paper, I have three goals. First, I identify a catastrophic risk that has been completely ignored by EAs. I call it religious catastrophe: the threat that (as Christians and Muslims have warned for centuries) billions of people stand in danger of going to hell for all eternity. Second, I argue that, even by secular EA lights, religious catastrophe is ... (read more)

This event is moved to April 7!

Thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you all very much for sharing!

Plenty of Christians would love more neartermist career content (and would be unlikely to engage with 80k as it's currently branded). So over the past year a group of Christian EAs created an advisory for this, under the direction of EA for Christians

See www.christiansforimpact.org

Thank you for this post.

I find the closing comment especially striking "So, I want a more synodal Catholic Church because I find secular communities like nerdfighters, like Effective Altruism⁹, like the Covid Tracking Project and yes, like some LGBT activists the church persecutes are running laps around the bishops on some of the most important issues of our time."

As far as I can tell (and as much as it disappoints me as a fellow Christian), your conclusion is correct. 

Thanks for writing this! A couple of random thoughts

1. I'm also surprised by the cost of these CEP retreats ($1,500+ per attendee). Assuming the organizer's salary is already provided for, I expected the cost for the average attendee to be closer to $300-$750. 
2. Also, I respect the establishment of a scoring system, but the weightings seem problematic. For instance,  "someone reports starting a project in an EA-aligned cause area" receives a score of 50, and "someone meets someone who inspires them to take an opportunity or cause area more seriously"

I appreciate efforts to get Christians on board about AI risks, but respectfully, Antichrist memes aren't generally taken very seriously. A fundamental issue seems to be that most people (Christians included) don't take superhuman AI as a credible threat. How then could it be a candidate for the Antichrist? 

Related to this thread, Rory Stewart is speaking on "Can EA convince governments to make international aid effective" at the EA Christian 2023 annual conference.

Excellent! Looking forward to seeing you there.

This looks excellent! I'm keen to support this in any way I can.

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

Forget fish. Just send cash.

#1

Popular myth says "teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime".

But 200+ studies say "give a poor man cash, lift him out of poverty".

Let's stick to the research.

#2 

Teach a man to fish, feed him for a year (maybe).

Give a poor man cash, lift him out of poverty.

Thanks, we did!

I'm very excited to see this. EA for Christians is working with local EAs in Kenya and Nigeria to do grassroots outreach. We would love to see more EA community building in an African context, including outreach that builds networks to impactful careers that don't require difficult-to-obtain western visas.

Thank you for the post!

Are you aware of catholic institutes/seminars that discuss themes of AXR? Have you considered starting one?

I could connect you to other Catholics in the EA community who are interested. There's a vibrant community of Christians engaging with these themes.

Hi Sean,

I would be glad to connect with you to discuss EA and religion (especially Christianity!) Would you have time for a short call about this? https://calendly.com/jdbauman

Thanks for flagging this.

I've updated the language to "do the most good" to avoid any confusion.