All of Tim Ferriss's Comments + Replies

No one has been shocked and appalled by the fact that I've used psychedelics, and this was true even decades ago. As Michael said, the response is uniformly more curious than judgmental. For better and worse, you can't visit a yoga class or order a green juice these days without bumping into a rent-a-shaman, so it's all the more normalized. 

Hi Milan! It would be great to see increased discussion of the most attractive target projects related to psychedelics, as well as perhaps donation campaigns to reach critical mass for specific purposes. It's really remarkable how much can be done for how little at the moment. If there is interest, I might be able to help by drafting a blog post with some of the candidates I consider very high-leverage and worthwhile.

3
DuncanP
3y
This would be an invaluable resource.

Here are a few areas of interest:

  • Education. See tim.blog/causes for several examples. I also have some for-profit bets in EdTech, like NoRedInk.
  • Reintroduction of keystone species. Example: grey wolf. Related: read a bit on "trophic cascade."
  • Biodiverse land conservation, in combination with cultural preservation for stewards. Example: Amazon Conservation Team (ACT).

Thanks for the question, Brian. I'm a big fan of the effective altruism movement and have tracked it for some time. That said, I am by no means an expert, so my answers are those of a casual observer. Caveat lector!

THINGS I LIKE:

*Keeping it simple: I like forums where people can stress-test their ideas, assumptions, and arguments in the service of pursing good. The more rational, evidence-based decision makers we have, the better off the world will be, whether in non-profit work or any other field. EA provides concepts and tools, as well as a community wit... (read more)

5
BrianTan
3y
Thanks for the thoughtful answers! Seems like you've pondered quite a bit on EA. Here are my comments and reactions, if you or others would like to read them: On "*Does the EA community tend to overemphasize philanthropy? If so, why?..." That's the first time I heard of the etymology for philanthropy. Anyway, I think what you meant here is that you think the EA community overemphasizes working on causes that mainly help humans and farm animals, at the expense of other causes that help other beneficiaries, i.e. wild animals or the environment. To some extent you are right, but maybe you're not aware that some people and organizations in the EA community are also doing important work for wild animals and the environment. There are two EA-aligned organizations working on wild animal welfare, which are Animal Ethics and Wild Animal Initative.   Wild Animal Initiative became a top charity of Animal Charity Evaluators last year, and they focus on helping scientists, grantmakers, and decision-makers investigate important and understudied questions about wild animal welfare. You might be interested to read their research or donate to them. They wrote this article on trophic interactions, which you might be interested in given that you mentioned trophic cascades in a separate answer.  For the environment, the EA-aligned organization Founders Pledge has done research into what are the highest-impact funding opportunities for climate change here. I'm not an expert here, but it's quite possible that these organizations may have a larger positive effect long-term for biodiversity and preventing further environmental damage than the Amazon Conservation Team, which you support. On "*Do some in EA inadvertently select non-profits that are the least likely to survive?" When you said "For me, an inability to raise funds effectively would be a disqualifier, not a qualifier", I think it's quite possible that the most evidence-based and effective charities are not the ones who ca

Thank you very much for the thoughtful questions and kind words, Michael. I’m familiar with your writing and so a bit nervous to share much of this for the first time, but I hope it’s somehow helpful. I’m also open to improving my thinking, so please consider this all a rough draft! Please note that I use the words "invest" and "investment" to refer to non-profit donations, gifts, grants, etc. I think "investment" is the right way to think about how you place certain bets, whether for-profit or non-profit. To date, I have deliberately not made any for-prof... (read more)

Tim,

Thanks enormously for this very thorough write-up - shared despite your nervousness(!) - 
which was insightful, not just for your thinking about psychedelics, but also about non-profit and for-profit investing.

You said lots. I'm just going to focus on two things here.

1. (Dis)analogies between investing and donating

You drew the analogy that GiveWell-recommended charities - evidence-based 'micro-interventions' - are like index funds, whereas funding research is more like angel investing. I agree with you that the risk-return structure is similar, in ... (read more)

5
BrianTan
3y
Secondly, it's refreshing and great to see you put your startup investing mindset to the world of philanthropy! I didn't know you had such a thoughtful mindset to your own giving, and others could be inspired to be as thoughtful as well by listening to you. I think you should seriously consider creating an episode on your podcast where you talk about this, or interview other philanthropists who are as thoughtful as you about their giving, i.e. Dustin Moskovitz.  Presumably, many people have become interested in angel investing in the past because of your episodes or blog posts in which you talk about your angel investing mindset and wins. In the same way, I think that if you share about your non-profit investing mindset and wins, more people would become more thoughtful with their giving, possibly becoming non-profit  or science "angel investors". I'd be curious to hear if you are considering talking about this on your podcast!
7
BrianTan
3y
I have so many thoughts and learnings from this writeup, so I'll break them up into two comments. Firstly, I didn't know that you're a big fan of and a believer in GiveWell. I know you've had them sponsor a podcast episode of yours before, and I was aware that your listeners had donated to them after your episode with Will, but it's great to hear you're a big fan of theirs! Having Elie Hassenfeld or Holden Karnofsky (co-founders of GiveWell) on your podcast could lead to a lot of donations to GiveWell, as well as inspire future non-profit entrepreneurs or thoughtful philanthropists. They also probably have lots of inspiring and interesting stories to tell from their journey of starting and growing GiveWell. Have you considered having either of them on your podcast?