Timothy and I have recorded a new episode of our podcast with Austin Chen of Manifund (formerly of Manifold, behind the scenes at Manifest). The start of the conversation was contrasting each of our North Stars- Winning (Austin), Truthseeking (me), and Flow (Timothy), but I think the actual theme might be “what is an acceptable … Continue reading "Austin Chen on Winning, Risk-Taking, and FTX"...
We’ve been expanding our cause area overviews to highlight more ways people can make a difference. These new articles dive into different global challenges and offer a broad look at various impactful career paths worth considering: Biosecurity – Exploring the importance of reducing risks from pandemics and other biological threats.
California YIMBY is advancing its most ambitious legislative agenda yet—one that tackles the three biggest impediments to ending California’s housing shortage: legalizing housing where it’s most needed, streamlining approvals, and reducing costs. If we can pass this package—and fend off….
Disagreements on AGI Timelines
FarmSTAND has new positions open for a Digital Communications Associate and an Organizer, Food Systems and Rural Communities. FarmSTAND works against the harms from industrial animal agriculture, including to animals, workers, the environment, independent farmers, and consumers. Please share with your networks! Thanks!. Discuss...
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited West Virginia on March 28 to promote his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda at an event where he cruelly criticized state Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s weight. Kennedy suggested that he would host a public weigh-in and celebration once Morrisey had shed 30 pounds, and Kennedy had an […]...
This Earth Month we have passed a terrifying new milestone—2024 was the hottest year on record. It’s time to bring the heat to companies that are failing to take responsible action to combat climate change with more sustainable plant-forward menus. And that’s exactly what we are doing in our 2025 Earth Month report! The report […].
Or maybe 2028, it's complicated
The United States is now a country that disappears people. Visa holders, green card holders, and even occasionally citizens mistaken for non-citizens: Trump’s goons can now seize them off the sidewalk at any time, handcuff them, detain them indefinitely in a cell in Louisiana with minimal access to lawyers, or even fly them to an […]...
In this talk, Dr Lewis will focus on the current risk of a large-scale nuclear war between the United States and either Russia or China, the prospects for a resumed arms race and the impact of new technologies, like AI, on strategic stability. Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Join us for a brief closing talk from the EAG organizing team and a few minutes to fill out the event feedback survey, followed by a talk from Dr. Neil Buddy Shah. Dr. Shah will share his experience and thoughts on the successes and challenges of integrating core effective altruist ideas into large-scale global development work.
Factory farming, the industrial-scale harming of animals raised for food, is arguably the greatest moral atrocity of our time. Every year, 91 billion land animals, 124 billion finfishes, and trillions of crustaceans are farmed globally, with the vast majority suffering from psychological and physical harms.
From anthropics
Misaligned hive minds, Xi and Trump waking up, and automated Ilyas accelerating AI progress
Researchers review the scientific literature on growth rates in broiler chickens, demonstrating the severe consequences of a focus on weight gain at the expense of animal welfare. The post The Weight Of Evidence Against Fast Growth appeared first on Faunalytics.
Consciousness in contemporary or near-future AI systems is becoming a matter of practical concern. To make wise decisions about such systems, it will be important to have a model of their probabilities of consciousness and how those probabilities will change with new advancements.
Nucleic acids – such as DNA – are core building blocks of modern synthetic biology, and the increasing quality and affordability of nucleic acid synthesis holds tremendous promise for pandemic preparedness and biotechnological innovation. However, these materials also pose risks of biosafety accidents or even deliberate misuse.
AI could enable a tiny group of humans, or just one human, to take over a country and even the world. This risk is ballpark similar probability to AI takeover, and would be similarly bad if it happened. But there's been significantly (10X) less effort to reduce it. This talk aims to raise awareness and understanding of the risk, and discuss counter-measures.
Join Marcus Davis as he examines how Rethink Priorities has refined its research methodology and theory of change over time. Drawing from concrete examples, he'll share key insights for researchers and organizations aiming to maximize their impact through systematic investigation. This session will offer practical takeaways for conducting and structuring research that drives meaningful change.
Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity? In this talk, Jeff Sebo argues that humanity should include all potentially significant beings in our moral community, with transformative implications for our lives and societies.
Join us for an opening talk from Kelsey Piper. Kelsey is a senior writer at Vox's Future Perfect, where she writes about global health, science, and tech. Learn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.org
Find out more about EA Global conferences at: www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-global...
Write for Works in Progress
At Vox, I specialize in writing and editing all sorts of stories about animal agriculture and the future of food, from the strange ritual of eating turkeys on Thanksgiving to the policy debates around the fate of mother pigs in the pork industry. But the lives of America’s 9.4 million dairy cows have always been […]...
In this presentation, Marco Aqil shares research from his recently defended PhD, exploring two complementary approaches to understanding visual perception and brain dynamics. The first part focuses on population receptive field models and how psychedelics alter visual processing, while the second examines graph neural fields for modeling brain dynamics and geometric hallucinations.
I have written a paper about a previously undiscussed fundamental game (think Coordination game and Prisoner's Dilemma) which Chris Homan and I are calling "MAD Chairs". It is relevant to AI safety because MAD Chairs is the game that would be played by AI displacing humanity at the top of a caste system.
William Whewell might claim that becoming less wrong has often been accompanied by the introduction of new concepts. In that spirit, I have written a paper about a previously undiscussed fundamental game (think Coordination game and Prisoner's Dilemma) which Chris Homan and I are calling "MAD Chairs". I consider this concept less as a new invention than as a previously overlooked discovery.
And no, it's not just for old ones that have done lots of miles.
It’s been a while since my last post - but we’ve been busy with good work in the meanwhile, including welcoming our daughter into this world!. We’ve been working with some high-impact clients to effect operational transformations and help them grow, in addition to building out a suite of services to give nonprofits more resources.
Whether you’re short on time or gearing up for a road trip or hike, these easy vegan meals and snacks will keep you energized. Quick Snacks and Handy Travel Foods Hummus with veggies, chips, or pretzels. Most airports in the United States have convenience stores that sell small tubs of hummus with pretzels in the […]. The post Vegan Snacks and Travel Foods appeared first on Vegan Outreach.
EA Forum Digest #234
Hello!. No news this week. Enjoy the posts! — JP (for the Forum team)
We recommend: Scaling the NAO's Stealth Pathogen Early-Warning System (Jeff Kaufman 🔸, 2 min, link-post).
The Making of Modern Corporate Finance: A History of the Ideas and How They Help Build the Wealth of Nations (quotes below), by Donald Chew, persuaded me that for-profit-firm capitalism has varied quite a lot over space and time, and that the U.S.
Chain-of-Thought Monitoring, Distinguishing Honesty from Accuracy, and Emergent Misalignment
Welcome to the April 2, 2025 Main edition of The Homework, the official newsletter of California YIMBY — legislative updates, news clips, housing research and analysis, and the latest writings from the California YIMBY team. News from Sacramento It’s been…. The post The Homework: April <span class="dewidow">2, 2025</span> appeared first on California YIMBY.
Summary: The NAO will increase our sequencing significantly over the next
few months, funded by a $3M grant from Open
Philanthropy. This will allow us to scale
our pilot early-warning system to where we could flag many engineered pathogens early
enough to mitigate their worst impacts, and also generate large amounts of data
to develop, tune, and evaluate our detection systems.
One of the...
Summary: The NAO will increase our sequencing significantly over the next
few months, funded by a $3M grant from Open
Philanthropy. This will allow us to scale
our early-warning system to where we could flag many engineered pathogens early
enough to mitigate their worst impacts, and also generate large amounts of data
to develop, tune, and evaluate our detection systems.
One of the...
This month’s Faunalytics Index provides facts and stats about egg production in Asia and Brazil, the benefits of a vegan dog diet, the use of feed crops in aquaculture, and more. The post Faunalytics Index – April 2025 appeared first on Faunalytics.
Last month, I had the privilege of attending key events in Europe looking at the value of investment in global health and what the future could look like. On March 10th, I attended the workshop “Health and prosperity: how Dutch investments in Global Health drive security and economic growth”, organized by the KIT institute in […].
Women are known for their ability to empathize with animals. This study demonstrates a link in men too between having companion animals and feeling empathy for other species. The post Building Empathy Through Direct Interactions With Animals appeared first on Faunalytics.
From immigration to family policy, inaccurate and missing federal data undermine major policy reforms
Giving courts four years to block a project can pave the way for permitting reform
Useful conversations & resources from our Slack community
DSG UN Amina Mohammed Calls For Accelerated Food System Transformation
gloireri
Wed, 04/02/2025 - 15:22
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Blogs
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Global
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Global
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Food system
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Short title
DSG UN Amina Mohammed Calls For Accelerated Food System...
The day this article goes up, April 2, has been pegged by President Donald Trump as “Liberation Day”: the day his suite of tariffs will go into effect and thus, in some unspecified sense, liberate the United States. The pre-history of this disastrous set of policies, which will only make America poorer and alienate it […]...
AI deterrence isn’t like nuclear deterrence...
At the Happier Lives Institute, our mission is to find the charities that generate the most happiness for the money donated to them. We do this because we think happiness matters and we want to help donors maximise the philanthropic bang for their buck.
Through our survey, 44 civil society organizations—including research institutes, think tanks, and advocacy groups—ranked ten potential AI governance mechanisms. The post Ten AI Governance Priorities: Survey of 44 Civil Society Organizations appeared first on The Future Society.
Remember: There is no such thing as a pink elephant. Recently, I was made aware that my “infohazards small working group” Signal chat, an informal coordination venue where we have frank discussions about infohazards and why it will be bad if specific hazards were leaked to the press or public, accidentally was shared with a deceitful and discredited so-called “journalist,” Kelsey Piper.
I’m excited to announce QUALIUS, an upcoming post-ASSC retreat on the topic of non-ordinary states of consciousness, taking place July 10–14, 2025, in Ligres, Crete. Organized by the ALIUS and QRI, the retreat will bring together researchers working at the intersection of psychometrics, VR, computational modeling, and contemplative practice. It’s structured around four thematic tracks: […]...
Advanced AI could unlock an era of enlightened and competent government action. But without smart, active investment, we’ll squander that opportunity and barrel blindly into danger.
California cities remain racially segregated, with significant economic disparities between predominantly minority and white neighborhoods. In “The Long-Run Effects of America’s Largest Residential Racial Desegregation Program: Gautreaux,” researchers Eric Chyn, Robert Collinson, and Danielle H. Sandler examined what happened when….
Eight states have recently passed laws allowing smaller homes like duplexes and townhomes, also known as “middle housing,” in areas previously restricted to only large, expensive houses. In “Missing No More: Planners Should Harness Private Developers to Build Middle Housing,”….
Looking to take your first steps towards a high-impact career? This page lists some of the most promising recurring internships, fellowships, and other early career opportunities that we’ve identified. These are opportunities that run at least once a year (and sometimes more), and that we have judged to be likely... Read more...
Epistemic status: 0%. Much ink has been spilled on this forum investigating what we should do about the world's most pressing problems. However, I've recently come to the realization that doing nothing may be even more promising than the most cost-effective EA interventions! Below is a shallow writeup of the top reasons why you should stop doing things. The Singularity is Near.
For immediate release: April 1, 2025. OXFORD, UK — The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) announced today that it will no longer identify as an "Effective Altruism" organization. "After careful consideration, we've determined that the most effective way to have a positive impact is to deny any association with Effective Altruism," said a CEA spokesperson.
Music Music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter: Pinkshinyultrablast: Everything Else Matters (2015) Third Coast Percussion: Perspectives (2022) Chuquimamani-Condori [Elysia Crampton]: “Breathing” (2023) Bryce Dessner: Quilting (2014), “Haven” (2019), Trombone Concerto (2020), Violin Concerto (2021) Edward Ratliff: Wong Fei-Hong Meets Little Strudel (2000) Goat: Joy in Fear (2023) Eric...
The Educated Choices Program (ECP) is revolutionizing food education through science-based, accessible learning. As we expand our impact, we seek visionary leaders to join our Board of Directors and help drive our mission forward! We’re seeking experts in: Education & Curriculum – Guiding content expansion and global academic alignment.
[This is a belated submission for the EA Red-teaming contest]. Having recently discovered PowerSmoothie.org, a website founded by our very own Holden Karnofsky, I felt compelled to share some concerns with the EA community about the nutritional framework and ethical implications of this project.
New research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that higher butter consumption was associated with a 15% higher risk of mortality, while eating more plant-based oils was linked to a 16% reduction in mortality. Dr. Yu Zhang, the study’s coauthor and a researcher at the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and […].
Hi everybody!. I'm Conor. I run the 80,000 Hours Job Board. Or I used to. As of today — April 1 — we are becoming Job Birds!. We've been talking to users for the last few years about making this change, and people have overwhelmingly been in favour (remember, there are six or more birds for every human on Earth).
Hi, I’m Tandena Wagner. As part of my research for EcoResillience Initiative (an EA organization searching for the best ways to preserve biodiversity into the long-term future), I’ve investigated several common claims that various resource limitations could be disastrous for civilization – ie, that we’re approaching “peak oil”, or imminently running out of phosphorus, soil nitrogen, chromium,...
The rebugnant conclusion and its consequences
Old king plague is dead! The smallpox plague is dead!
A new online course to help you imagine what hopeful futures with AI could look like.
People who strongly identify with science are more likely to support harmful animal experimentation, highlighting how scientific authority can override moral concerns about animal welfare. The post Scientific Authority Increases Support For Animal Experimentation appeared first on Faunalytics.
Hello everyone! Here you can find the March updates from Animal Equality in all the countries in which we operate. We hope that you find it helpful and inspiring. We will also include our current job openings, knowing that we can count on your support to share them with the people you think might be a perfect fit for the role!. Below you will find the updates: . Animal Equality - Mexico.
Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. But this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.
It is standard form in EA to state one's welcomingness of feedback, both in a personal and professional capacity. Individuals and organisations alike often have many means by which you can deliver feedback, whether through anonymous forms or direct communication, and forum posts will often begin or end with:
It's time for safety conscious researchers to leave Anthropic. This is a short post, due to an unfortunate lack of time (in more ways than one). I think it's pretty clear that AGI might come about rather (or indeed, very) soon.
Discuss...
We're looking for a Managing Editor and a Reporter to grow our coverage of transformative AI systems into the world’s leading publication for AI decision-makers. Apply by April 30.
Introduction. Misaligned AI systems, which have a tendency to use their capabilities in ways that conflict with the intentions of both developers and users, could cause significant societal harm. Identifying them is seen as increasingly important to inform development and deployment decisions and design mitigation measures. There are concerns, however, that this will prove challenging.
We at Pivotal™ are thrilled to announce that we have successfully trademarked the terms "pivotal," "to pivot," and "a pivot" (see our official trademark certificate). We've long tolerated the unauthorised and, frankly, inflationary use of these terms, but the situation has reached a tipping point. So we're forced to take this pivotal™ action. What does this mean for you?.
Hi group organisers, The current intro fellowship syllabus is getting on to be ~3 years old now, and many of you have remarked that it needs an update. As good stewards of EA, we have listened to your feedback and are pleased this April 1st to announce our proposed revamp!. Problems with the current Intro Fellowship. Confusion over name variations. People don’t do the readings.
IT Bridge Academy graduate Lyne shares how she overcame barriers and disability discrimination to secure her dream job as a technical support engineer.
Happy April Fools’ Day! It’s time to put your strategic thinking to the test in The EA University Groups' Prisoner’s Dilemma!. How It Works. If you’re a member or organiser of an EA university group (or the CEA University Groups Team), then you’re eligible to play. Your group faces one big decision: Cooperate or Defect?.
Effective giving combines the head and the heart in order to do the most good possible with our charitable donations. Philanthropy has been on the mind of Australians in 2024; the Productivity Commission published the findings of its inquiry into philanthropy in July 2024. But how has effective giving fared in the current economic climate?
Epistemic status: highly certain, or something. The Spending What We Must 💸11% pledge. In short: Members pledge to spend at least 11% of their income on effectively increasing their own productivity. This pledge is likely higher-impact for most people than the Giving What We Can 🔸10% Pledge, and we also think the name accurately reflects the non-supererogatory moral beliefs of many in the...
Win-win solutions and low-hanging fruit
Manifold, meditation, minds changing, multipliers
TL;DR: This is a reply to Launching Screwworm-Free Future – Funding and Support Request — EA Forum, Screwworm Free Future is hiring for a Director, and Animal ASK’s report on Brazil - with a summary of challenges for NWS eradication in South America, such as the existence of large populations of flies (well-adapted to the environment) and relevant information gaps.
Hi everybody!. I'm Conor. I run the 80,000 Hours Job Board. Or I used to. As of today — April 1 — we are becoming Job Birds!. We've been talking to users for the last few years about making this change, and people have overwhelmingly been in favour (remember, there are six or more birds for every human on Earth).
April 2, 2025: Job Birds has moved to https://jobs.80000hours.org/birds. The below announcement has not been edited from its original form. Hi everybody!. I'm Conor. I run the 80,000 Hours Job Board. Or I used to. As of today — April 1 — we are becoming Job Birds!.
USAID has been slashed, and it is unclear what shape its successor will take. How might American foreign assistance be restructured to maintain critical functions? And how should we think about its future?.
USAID Cuts, Bangladesh GDP and Child Mortality Figures
Hey! Austin here. At Manifund, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to help AI go well. One question that bothered me: so much of the important work on AI is done in SF, so why are all the AI safety hubs in Berkeley? (I’d often consider this specifically while stuck in traffic over the Bay Bridge.).
Eleos AI Research welcomes Rosie Campbell, former Policy Frontiers lead at OpenAI, and Patrick Butlin, AI consciousness researcher from the Global Priorities Institute at Oxford University, to strengthen their work on AI sentience and welfare.
At factory farms, female animals are ruthlessly exploited for financial gain. If you are passionate about women’s rights, it’s crucial to recognize the injustices female animals in our food system face. Hidden from public view, they endure unimaginable suffering. These mothers and daughters deserve our attention and support to amplify their voices and share their […].
As AI systems become more sophisticated, understanding and addressing their potential welfare becomes increasingly important.
On March 19, 2025, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) and the CyberPeace Institute hosted the second of three plenary sessions as part of the Cyber Resilience Corps,…. The post Cyber Resilience Corps Plenary Session #2: Evaluating Immediate Measures and Sustainable Strategies for Enhancing Community Cybersecurity appeared first on CLTC.
Summary: The welfare loss from global warming is much smaller than that from epidemics/pandemics, this is smaller than that from conflicts, this is negligible compared with that from factory-farming, and this is negligible compared with that from wild animal suffering.
Epistemic status: The important content here is the claims. To illustrate the claims, I sometimes use examples that I didn't research very deeply, where I might get some facts wrong; feel free to treat these examples as fictional allegories.
US directed more military assets to positions near Iran... There are large-scale demonstrations in Turkey... Food is running out in Gaza...
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