On an earlier discussion of Nonlinear's practices, I wrote:

I worked closely with Kat for a year or so (2018-2019) when I was working at (and later leading) Charity Science Health. She's now a good friend.  

I considered Kat a good and ethical leader. I personally learned a lot from working with her. In her spending and life choices, she has shown a considerable moral courage: paying herself only $12K/year, dropping out of college because she didn't think it passed an impact cost-benefit test. Obviously that doesn't preclude the possibility that she has willfully done harmful things, but I think willfully bad behavior by Kat Woods is quite unlikely, a priori. 

I would also like to share my experience negotiating my salary with Kat when I first joined Charity Science Health, i.e., before we were friends. It was extremely positive. She was very committed to frugality, and she initially offered me the position of Associate Director at a salary of $25K/year, the bottom end of the advertised salary range. We exchanged several long emails discussing the tradeoffs in a higher or lower salary (team morale, risk of value drift, resources available for the core work, counterfactual use of funds, etc.). The correspondence felt like a genuine, collaborative search for the truth. I had concluded that I needed to make at least $45K/year to feel confident I was saving the minimum I would need in retirement, and in the end we agreed on $45K. Subsequently Kat sent me a contract for $50K, which I perceived as a goodwill gesture. My positive experience seems very different from what is reported here. 

At a very quick skim, I am confused about whether this post is arguing that:

1. if fake meat were better than real meat in terms of each of price, taste, and convenience, many consumers would still buy real meat, or
2. if fake meat were as good as real meat in terms of PTC overall, many consumers would still buy real meat.

(2) seems obvious intuitively. (1) would be surprising to me but it makes sense to point out any gaps in our evidence against it. 

FYI, EA Iran had a quite active group of mostly medical students in Tehran a year ago - they might have other things on their mind these days, but could be worth connecting with them. 

Giant congratulations! Are you open to working on neartermist projects? 

I worked closely with Kat for a year or so (2018-2019) when I was working at (and later leading) Charity Science Health. She's now a good friend.  

I considered Kat a good and ethical leader. I personally learned a lot from working with her. In her spending and life choices, she has shown a considerable moral courage: paying herself only $12K/year, dropping out of college because she didn't think it passed an impact cost-benefit test. Obviously that doesn't preclude the possibility that she has willfully done harmful things, but I think willfully bad behavior by Kat Woods is quite unlikely, a priori. 

With limited manpower, GiveWell also has to prioritize which CEA improvements to make--and added complexity can moreover increase the risk of errors. 

I have heard the claim that there were no professional ethicists among the authors of the Belmont Report. 

What do real existing bioethicists think of compensation for kidney donors? 

Heads up that it's still in the headline version - though I think as an average it's fine and useful to include. 

Amazing. Quick comments on "how much is spent" (GDP). 

• At first glance this looks like nominal GDP, not adjusted for changes in prices. That's more literally "how much is spent" but less informative about how people's welfare and capabilities are changing over time.

Can someone tell me things about when I should expect the next doubling, i.e. in what year should I expect daily global spending to exceed $526 billion? Feels complicated and important; I’m ignorant about what sensible projections are and how much uncertainty there is.

• See the OECD's long run projections. Note that these are adjusted for changes in prices.