Introduction to Effective Altruism

posted by Post author: Introduction on 09 September 2014 03:11PM

So much gets written about effective altruism online that it can get hard to know where to start. So we have compiled an Effective Altruism Handbook to cover the main big ideas. If you get through these 24 minichapters, then you can consider yourself a budding expert on the philosophy and practice of effective philanthropy!

For those who prefer to click through online links, rather than books, most of the same essays from the Effective Altruism Handbook are also available online as follows:

What is effective altruism?

Peter Singer: The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle
Eliezer Yudkowsky: Scope Insensitivity
William MacAskill: What is Effective Altruism?
Julia Wise: Cheerfully
Bernadette Young: Dorothea Brooke

Charity evaluation

Dan Pallotta: “Efficiency” Measures Miss the Point
Holden Karnofsky: How Not to Be a “White in Shining Armor”
Toby Ord: The Moral Imperative Towards Cost-Effectiveness
Scott Siskind: Efficient Charity: Do Unto Others…
Katja Grace: Estimation Is the Best We Have
Holden Karnofsky: GiveWell’s Top Charities for Giving Season 2013

Career choice

William MacAskill: To Save the World, Don’t Get a Job at a Charity; Go Work on Wall Street
Carl Shulman: High Impact Science
Ben Todd: How to Assess the Impact of a Career

Cause selection

Givewell: Your Dollar Goes Further Overseas
Matt Wage: The Haste Consideration
Nick Beckstead, Peter Singer & Matt Wage: Preventing Human Extinction
Peter Singer: All Animals Are Equal
Luke Muehlhauser: Four Focus Areas of Effective Altruism

Action

Peter Hurford: What Small Things Can an EA Do?
Jonathan Courtney: The Value of Starting a Giving What We Can Chapter
Peter McIntyre and Brenton Mayer: Should You Visit an EA Hub?

First post: The Drowning Child and The Expanding Circle

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Comments (9)

Comment author: [deleted] 02 October 2015 09:44:21AM * 1 point [-]

The first few chapters of the French translation are up! Read here !

The rest is in the works!

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Comment author: Lee_Sharkey 31 January 2017 01:45:02PM 3 points [-]

This link is expired unfortunately. Is there anything CEA/the forum could do to collate existing translations?

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Comment author: laurencrosta 10 March 2017 02:30:44PM 0 points [-]

What is the most pressing healthcare issue in Haiti right now? What can we do to help the situation in Haiti? Is it too late? What is currently being done to help Haiti?

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Comment author: LaurenMcG

11 January 2017 05:02:45PM 0 points [-]

could the 'GiveWell’s Top Charities for Giving Season 2013' blog post link be updated to the newest each year?

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Comment author: [deleted] 11 April 2016 06:11:48AM 0 points [-]

The Handbook vs Doing Good Better - what is the difference? Is the book better or worse? Do they have the same goals?

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Comment author: RyanCarey 12 April 2016 07:14:04AM * 3 points [-]

They both have the same main goal of making the major ideas in effective altruism available to relative newbies.

The Handbook is freely available online, and is made of volunteered essays and blog posts, by a variety of prominent EA authors. Doing Good Better is formally published, longer, carefully structured, easier to read, and consistently styled (as a pop-science/pop-philosophy book).