TLDR: If you're an EA-minded animal funder donating $200K/year or more, we'd love to connect with you about several exciting initiatives that AIM is launching over the next several months.
AIM (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship) has a history of incubating and supporting...
Thanks for clarifying! We always have an expert view section in the report, and often consult animal science specialists, but it is possible we missed something. Could you tell me where specifically we made a mistake regarding animal science that could have changed the recommendation? I want to look into it, to fact-check it, and if it is right not to make this mistake in the future.
If you've read Leif's WIRED article or Poverty is No Pond & have questions for him, I'd love to share them with him & in turn share his answers here.
Thank you, M, for sharing this with me & encouraging me to connect.
I am a GiveWell donor because I want to spend money to improve the world. Should I do something else with that money instead? If so, what?
If anyone wants to see what making EA enormous might look like, check out Rutger Bregmans' School for Moral Ambition (SMA).
It isn't an EA project (and his accompanying book has a chapter on EA that is quite critical), but the inspiration is clear and I'm sure there...
Thanks! IIRC, we focused on it substantially because a lot of the sign ups for our programmes (e.g. online course) were coming from LinkedIn even when we hadn't put much effort into it. The number of sign ups and the proportion attributed to LinkedIn grew as we put more effort into it. This was mostly the work of our wonderful Marketing Manager, Ana. I don't have access to recent data or information about how it's gone to make much of a call on whether it was worth it, relative to other possible uses of our/Ana's time.
Thanks for writing this up, Oscar! I largely disagree with the (admittedly tentative) conclusions, and am not sure how apt I find the NIMBY analogy. But even so, I found the ideas in the post helpfully thought-provoking, especially given that I would probably fall into the cosmic NIMBY category as you describe it.
First, on the implications you list. I think I would be quite concerned if some of your implications were adopted by many longtermists (who would otherwise try to do good differently):
...Support pro-expansion space exploration policies and laws
Summary: Even from an anti-realist stance on morality, there are various reasons we might expect moral convergence in practice.
[Largely written two years ago; cleaned up for draft amnesty week. The ideas benefited from comments and conversations with many people; errors...
4 is a great point, thanks.
On 1--3, I definitely agree that I may prudentially prefer some possibilities than others. I've been assuming that from a consequentialist moral perspective the distribution of future outcomes still looks like the one I give in this post, but I guess it should actually look quite different. (I think what's going on is that in some sense I don't really believe in world A, so haven't explored the ramifications properly.)
[GIF] A feature I'd love on the forum: while posts are read back to you, the part of the text that is being read is highlighted. This exists on Naturalreaders.com and would love to see it here (great for people who have wandering minds like me)
For what it's worth, I would find the first part of the issue (i.e. making the player "floating" or "sticky") already quite useful, and it seems much easier to implement.
As someone who works with software engineers, I have respect for how simple-appearing things can actually be technically challenging.
It breaks my heart when I see eulogy posts on the forum. And while I greatly appreciate people going to the effort of writing them (while presumably experiencing grief), it still doesn't feel like enough. We're talking about people that dedicated their lives to doing good, and all they get is a post. I don't have a suggestion to address this 'problem', and some may even feel that a post is enough, but I don't. Maybe there is no good answer and death just sucks. I dunno.
I really appreciated this report, it seemed one of the most honest and open communications to come out of Open Philanthropy, and it helped me connect with your priorities and vision. A couple of specific things I liked.
I appreciated the comment about the Wytham Abby purchase, recognising the flow on effects Open Phil decisions can have on the wider community, and even just acknowledging a mistake - something which is both difficult and uncommon in leadership.
"But I still think I personally made a mistake in not objecting to this grant back when the initial...
This is a cross-post from the CGD Blog. For the original post and downloadable Note please visit: https://www.cgdev.org/publication/1-trillion-paradox-why-reforming-research-publishing-should-be-global-priority .
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Our research system is a perplexing paradox. Each year, approximately $1 trillion of public funds are spent on research worldwide. Whole careers are spent making incremental improvements to research methods. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on a single clinical trial. And yet, the global system for sharing research results is a costly mess. Rooted in antiquated journal structures and marred by market failures, our research systems prioritise profit at the expense of accessibility, equity, and affordability, hindering our ability to fully reap the benefits of research.
A prior CGD blog argued that research reform is a critical issue for global development and...
Reflecting on the upcoming EAGx event in Utrecht, I find myself both excited and cautiously optimistic about its potential to further grow the Dutch EA community. My experiences from the last EAGX in the Netherlands marked a pivotal moment in my own EA journey (significantly grounding it locally) and boosted the community's growth. I think this event also contributed to the growth of the 10% club and the founding of the School for Moral Ambition this year, highlighting the Netherlands as fertile ground for EA principles.
However, I'm less inclined to view the upcoming event as an opportunity to introduce proto-EAs. Recalling the previous Rotterdam edition's perceived expense, I'm concerned that the cost may deter potential newcomers, especially given the feedback I've heard regarding its perceived extravagance. I think we all understand why these events are worth our charitable Euros, but I have a hard time explaining that to newcomers who are attracted to EA for its (perceived) efficiency/effectiveness.
While the funding landscape may have changed (and this problem may have solved itself through that), I think it remains crucial to consider the aesthetics of events like these where the goal is in part to welcome new members into our community.