All of Jeroen Willems🔸's Comments + Replies

For me, it doesn't need to be hard-working or smarter people. Anyone you can cowork with who is supportive will do. But my challenge is to actually create such an environment! Online doesn't work that well for me, it needs to be in-person. It's so much more impactful than any other productivity hack. 

It's OK to eat honey

I try to avoid it, but it's hard for me to believe it's as bad or worse than most animal products. Especially in the quantities it's usually consumed. Who eats a kg of honey per year? I do think the treatment of bees is very unclear. But I've also heard that some non-animal products involve a lot of insects, like avocados, so I'm curious how it compares.

I checked parts of the study, and the 0.12% figure is for P(AI-caused existential catastrophe by 2100) according to the "AI skeptics". This is what is written about the definition of existential catastrophe just before it: 

Participants made an initial forecast on the core question they disagreed about (we’ll call this U, for “ultimate question”): by 2100, will AI cause an existential catastrophe? We defined “existential catastrophe” as an event in which at least one of the following occurs:

1. Humanity goes extinct
2. Humanity experiences “unrecoverable colla

Interesting, I thought p(doom) was about literal extinction? If it also refers to unrecoverable collapse, then I'm really surprised that takes up 15-30% of your potential scenarios! I always saw that part of the existential risk definition as negligible.

You're right that this is an important distinction to make.

You make a fair point, but what other tool do we have than our voice? I've read Matthew's last post and skimmed through others. I see some concerning views, but I can also understand how he arrives at them. But what puzzles me often with some AI folks is the level of confidence needed to take such high-stakes actions. Why not err on the side of caution when the stakes are potentially so high?

Perhaps instead of trying to change someone's moral views, we could just encourage taking moral uncertainty seriously? I personally lean towards hedonic act utilitaria... (read more)

Good point, I guess my lasting impression wasn't entirely fair to how things played out. In any case, the most important part of my message is that I hope he doesn't feels discouraged from actively participating in EA. 

On top of mentioning a specific opportunity, I think this post makes a great case in general for considering work like this (great wage & benefits, little experience necessary, somewhat mundane, shiftwork). I do feel a bit uncomfortable about the part where you mention using personal sway to influence the hiring process though, as this could undermine fair hiring practices, but I could be overreacting. 

Thanks for sharing this, while I personally believe the shift in focus on AI is justified (I also believe working on animal welfare is more impactful than global poverty), I can definitely sympathize with many of the other concerns you shared and agree with many of them (especially LessWrong lingo taking over, the underreaction to sexism/racism, and the Nonlinear controversy not being taken seriously enough). While I would completely understand in your situation if you don't want to interact with the community anymore, I just want to share that I believe y... (read more)

I'm not sure how to word this properly, and I'm uncertain about the best approach to this issue, but I feel it's important to get this take out there.

Yesterday, Mechanize was announced, a startup focused on developing virtual work environments, benchmarks, and training data to fully automate the economy. The founders include Matthew Barnett, Tamay Besiroglu, and Ege Erdil, who are leaving (or have left) Epoch AI to start this company.

I'm very concerned we might be witnessing another situation like Anthropic, where people with EA connections start a company... (read more)

No guest bedrooms. We encouraged tents and sleeping bags. Some people just went home for the night, while others came only for one day. This meant for both editions only 5-8 people ended up staying overnight, with most of them sleeping indoors in the living room.

Got it, thanks for the reply!

What are some reasons to remain optimistic about the world from an EA perspective? Or how can we keep up with the most important news (ex. USAID / PEPFAR) without drowning in it? 

The news is just incredibly depressing. The optimism I once had before the pandemic is just gone. Yeah, global health and development may still continue to improve. And that's not insignificant. But moral circle expansion? Animal welfare? AI risks? 

Same, I love it as well. Though my Facebook connection is broken and will likely never be fully repaired. I can remain logged in until I send a picture, then the connection breaks. And I keep forgetting. I've talked with the support team about it and it seems quite hopeless.

Yeah, and even when finding a classic EA "high impact job" doesn't work, finding a good E2G job may not work either. And you may not find the time to volunteer. It sucks, but you just try with what you have and what you can. This will be different for everybody. It may require a lot of self-forgiveness. I sure struggle(d) with it. But this is different from completely giving up on having an impact! 

My guess is, but I could be wrong, EA forum content is often just difficult to share with a broader audience as it's usually not the target audience? And even when it's ideas worth sharing with a broader audience, it may still be filled with EA jargon / way of speaking that's difficult to follow for a lot of people. I am saying this assuming most people's followers aren't EAs but friends, colleagues and family. Even within EA, people are focused on different cause areas and many may not priorize reading stuff outside their cause area. I am not saying all o... (read more)

Thanks for the write-up! This is a very useful post. 

I have been wondering though, since the shift in strategy, is EA outreach still a priority? Such as YouTube channels, podcasts, other online media,... targeting a broader audience. And if not, why? 

Even though I have a personal vested interest in this topic (running a YouTube channel previously funded by EAIF), I do believe that projects like these could be highly effective and worth funding, regardless of my own involvement.

My main point of criticism, that I didn't see anyone else mention in the top-level comments, is that the pledge just seems too vague and broad. A 10 percent pledge is very concrete and measurable. Of course there is a difference in opinion in terms of what charities count as impactful, just like with careers. But with careers the difference in opinion is too broad for this pledge to be useful. Some could just interpret this pledge as "I'll become a doctor or work for an ngo" without giving much extra thought. While with the 10% pledge there is a clear sign... (read more)

I'm finishing up a video covering NAO and wastewater monitoring, though not based on this specific talk.

Thanks for pointing this out! I wasn't really sure where my question fell on the axis of "general EA animal welfare knowledge" (ex. prioritizing chickens > cows) to "specific detail about how ACE evaluates charities". By posting a quick take on the forum, I was hoping it was closer to the former, that I was just missing something obvious and that ACE wouldn't even have to be bothered. I shouldn't have overlooked the possibility that it might be more complicated!

Thank you so much for this elaborate and insightful response, Max! I understand the argument much better now.

I was going through Animal Charity Evaluators' reasoning behind which countries to prioritize (https://animalcharityevaluators.org/charity-review/the-humane-league/#prioritizing-countries) and I notice they judge countries with a higher GNI per capita as more tractable. This goes against my intuition, because my guess is your money goes further in countries that are poorer. And also because I've heard animal rights work in Latin America and Asia is more cost-effective nowadays. Does anyone have any hypotheses/arguments? This quick take isn't meant as criti... (read more)

Giving What We Can has grown tremendously over the past couple of years under your leadership. It’s been inspiring to witness how the organization has flourished! The redesign, the video content, the doubling in pledges, the fundraising feature, the donation platform, all the new research,... these are real milestones to be proud of. Thank you so much for the important work you've done! I am confident that Sjir and the rest of the team will continue building on the strong foundation you’ve created. I’m excited to see what you’ll do next, but make sure to take the well-earned rest you deserve!

I can't figure out how to change it on the EA Forum. Perhaps because I've already changed my name once before and there's a limit?

But I understand that there are many people who take the pledge but don't feel comfortable sharing it publicly. I think different circles and different cultures look differently towards "bragging" about donating. I know I don't feel comfortable doing it on LinkedIn or Instagram. Mostly out of fear or judgement I guess, so my mind could easily change.

Unfortunately, it looks like even in bio it's not possible! It says: 

Account update failed: Description can't include "🔹".

It's not the biggest deal, the orange one is cooler anyway, so it's an extra reason to take the 10% pledge! 😉 In the meantime I'll use the blue one on swapcard. 

Unfortunately the 🔹 emoji doesn't work on Twitter, I assume so it wouldn't be confused with the verification badge.

Agreed. There is a major difference between thinking someone should be deplatformed just because they have opposing views (e.g., pause AI vs. accelerationist, libertarian vs. communist) and thinking someone should be deplatformed because they promote discriminatory views.

There's nothing inherently wrong with being controversial or outside of the Overton window. Many important ideas were once controversial, and many still are. But it is wrong to actively promote views that are racist, transphobic or sexist and to platform those who do. Not because these vie... (read more)

In case you're interested in supporting my EA-aligned YouTube channel A Happier World:

I've lowered the minimum funding goal from $10,000 to $2,500 to give donors confidence that their money will directly support the project. Because if the minimum funding goal isn't reached, you won't get your money back. Instead it will go back in your Manifund balance for you to spend on a different project. I understand this may have been a barrier for some, which is why I lowered the minimum funding goal.

Manifund fundraising page
EA Forum post announcement

As additional sources of funding, I agree they're good ideas!

Hi Jamie!

You're right, output is definitely the biggest bottleneck. Right now, I'm focusing on making shorter videos that cover narrower, more specific topics. I'm also trying to incorporate more real-world footage to keep things visually interesting without requiring so much editing time. Unfortunately, my lead poisoning video and the video I'm currently working on turned out to be a lot more ambitious than I expected.

I'm already working on your first four suggestions. I'm hesitant about the fifth point. I've tried the last point many times, but it never ... (read more)

Thanks for the write-up! I agree with Chris that the natural functions can vary substantially, and Ulrik's comment shows how (another example could be a policy focus in EA DC and EA Brussels). But there are for sure many universal things like the ones you mentioned.

My main nitpick is with the term. I don't see why "local EA groups" isn't good enough. There are already so many abbreviations within the EA movement that it gets overwhelming. If you read "MEAROs" you have no idea what you're talking about without prior context, while "local EA groups" is very ... (read more)

Don't forget to go to http://www.projectforawesome.com today and vote for videos promoting effective charities like Against Malaria Foundation, The Humane League, GiveDirectly, Good Food Institute, ProVeg, GiveWell and Fish Welfare Initiative!

Not very active, but asking feedback on any type of EA-related writing is also welcome in the #role-writers channel in the EA Anywhere slack: https://www.effectivealtruismanywhere.org/get-involved

Ruining the person's life, their job prospects, their relationships (family, friends, partners),... while having little to no impact on the business of drug cartels. I'm not saying that's what definitely would happen, but I think the odds are uncomfortably high to risk it.

If I can stop a coke addiction, I can effectively save a life (without donating like 5000 dollars to a charity).

1. It's unclear whether reporting would stop a coke addiction at all
2. It's unclear whether stopping a coke addiction saves a life, since I assume most coke users don't die from overdose
3. You could easily do more harm than good

The location has changed! A lovely EA couple will host the event at their large apartment, located near Abbaye de la Cambre (between Flagey & Bois de la Cambre). Contact me (WhatsApp/Signal/text +32499401427) for the exact address.

Like Joseph says, conventional meditation doesn't work for everyone. Don't force yourself to try and do it. It doesn't work well for me either. Maybe less conventional forms of meditation would work for you: walking meditations, meditations targeted towards neurodiverse people (which is more literal) or just your own interpretation/take. I personally prefer focusing on mindfulness more broadly than meditation. And in my experience, cardio exercises and isolating myself to enjoy music are clearly more effective mindfulness exercices than meditation ever was for me.

This is great stuff, thank you for writing this up and sharing! Your extrapolations align with what I've learned/discovered over the past few years (but I don't have any scientific evidence to prove them either). It's sad to see such a small amount of upvotes on this post, but I hope you know that this write up is greatly appreciated and valuable for us writers in EA!

I was going to make the same comment as Dominic. This is a great tip! Overpromise with friends, underpromise with stakeholders.

I haven't read the other comments yet but I just want to share my deep appreciation for writing this post! I've always wondered why animal welfare gets so little funding compared to global health in EA. I'm thankful you're highlighting it and starting a discussion, whether or not OP's reasons might be justified.

Thanks for sharing Grace. I think it's interesting you mention "that I could always resign if needed to". I'm also still on the fence of pledging, but I wonder if I should look at it similar as going vegan. Like, right now my goal is to be vegan for the rest of my life. So in a way I've pledged to that. But something could always happen later in life, perhaps health reasons, that would result in me 'resigning' from veganism.

Today we celebrate Petrov day: The day that Stanislav Petrov potentially saved the world from a nuclear war. 40 years ago now.

I made a quick YouTube Short / TikTok about it: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Y8bnqxAbMNg https://www.tiktok.com/@ahappierworldyt/video/7283112331121347873

I'd love to do more weekly coworkings with people! If you're interested in coworking with me, you can book a session here: https://app.reclaim.ai/m/jwillems/coworking

We can try it out and then decide if we want to do it weekly or not.

More about me: I run the YouTube channel A Happier World (youtube.com/ahappierworldyt) so I'll most likely be working on that during our sessions.

Some people might not be a fan of AR or circling, so other methods of mediation should be considered too.

There are still a lot of young EAs that aren't into AuthRev and circling, so I think as a mediator it's important to take this into account.

I think having paid (part time or full time) fund managers with less expertise makes sense. Having such a high turnover of fund managers isn't great for grantees either. I'm not really sure what the cons of paid fund managers are, but I can imagine that there's a good argument against it that would change my mind. Having less expertise could be a great thing, as your mind isn't set on a particular view and you can still gather insights from people who do have expertise. And while they perhaps won't be experts in AI safety or biosecurity, they could be(come... (read more)

Great post! I've been applying the same metaphor to my life. But I like to think of it more as a phone than a computer since it has a battery that often needs recharging (my laptop is basically always plugged it so I like it less as a metaphor). Also just like not every phone has the same specs and battery, people don't either. So just because one person is able to do a crazy amount of things, don't feel bad that you can't.

I would like to add that it might be important to communicate this in an email to all currently funded projects by EAIF/LTFF ;)