Effective Altruism: An Introduction – 80,000 Hours

Effective altruism in a nutshell

'Effective Altruism: An Introduction' is a collection of ten top episodes of The 80,000 Hours Podcast [https://80000hours.org/podcast/?utm_campaign=podcast__eaai-intro&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] specifically selected to help listeners quickly get up to speed on the school of thought known as effective altruism. Here the host of the show — Rob Wiblin — briefly explains what effective altruism is all about, and what to expect from the rest of this series.

One: Holden Karnofsky on times philanthropy transformed the world & Open Phil's plan to do the same

The Green Revolution averted mass famine during the 20th century. The contraceptive pill gave women unprecedented freedom in planning their own lives. Both are widely recognised as scientific breakthroughs that transformed the world. But few know that those breakthroughs only happened when they did because of a philanthropist willing to take a risky bet on a new idea. Holden Karnofsky has been studying philanthropy’s biggest success stories because he’s Executive Director of Open Philanthropy, a major foundation which gives away over $200 million a year — and he’s hungry for big wins. In this conversation from 2018 Holden explains the philosophy of effective altruism and how he goes about searching for giving opportunities that can do the most good possible. Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/holden-karnofsky-open-philanthropy/?utm_campaign=podcast__holden-karnofsky&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast]This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed [https://80000hours.org/podcast/?utm_campaign=podcast__holden-karnofsky&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on February 27, 2018. Some related episodes include: • #41 – David Roodman [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/david-roodman-becoming-a-world-class-researcher/?utm_campaign=podcast__holden-karnofsky&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on incarceration, geomagnetic storms, & becoming a world-class researcher • #37 – GiveWell picks top charities by estimating the unknowable. James Snowden [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/james-snowden-givewell-research/?utm_campaign=podcast__holden-karnofsky&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on how they do it. • #10 – Dr Nick Beckstead [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/nick-beckstead-giving-billions/?utm_campaign=podcast__holden-karnofsky&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction Series produced by Keiran Harris.

Two: Dr Toby Ord on why the long-term future matters more than anything else & what to do about it

Of all the people whose well-being we should care about, only a small fraction are alive today. The rest are members of future generations who are yet to exist. Whether they’ll be born into a world that is flourishing or disintegrating – and indeed, whether they will ever be born at all – is in large part up to us. As such, the welfare of future generations should be our number one moral concern. This conclusion holds true regardless of whether your moral framework is based on common sense, consequences, rules of ethical conduct, cooperating with others, virtuousness, keeping options open – or just a sense of wonder about the universe we find ourselves in. That’s the view of Dr Toby Ord, a philosophy Fellow at the University of Oxford and co-founder of the effective altruism community. In this conversation from 2017, Toby makes the case that aiming for a positive long-term future is likely the best way to improve the world. Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/why-the-long-run-future-matters-more-than-anything-else-and-what-we-should-do-about-it/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast]This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed [https://80000hours.org/podcast/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on September 6, 2017. Some related episodes include: • #10 – Dr Nick Beckstead [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/nick-beckstead-giving-billions/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction • #45 – Prof Tyler Cowen's [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/tyler-cowen-stubborn-attachments/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] stubborn attachments to maximising economic growth, making civilization more stable & respecting human rights • #68 – Will MacAskill [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/will-macaskill-paralysis-and-hinge-of-history/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on the paralysis argument, whether we're at the hinge of history, & his new priorities • #72 – Toby Ord [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/toby-ord-the-precipice-existential-risk-future-humanity/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on the precipice and humanity's potential futures • #73 – Phil Trammell [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/phil-trammell-patient-philanthropy/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on patient philanthropy and waiting to do good • #86 – Hilary Greaves [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/hilary-greaves-comparing-existence-and-non-existence/?utm_campaign=podcast__toby-ord&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on Pascal's mugging, strong longtermism, and whether existing can be good for us Series produced by Keiran Harris.

Three: Alexander Berger on improving global health and wellbeing in clear and direct ways

The effective altruist research community tries to identify the highest impact things people can do to improve the world. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulty of such a massive and open-ended project, very different schools of thought have arisen about how to do the most good. Today’s guest, Alexander Berger, leads Open Philanthropy’s ‘Global Health and Wellbeing’ programme, where he oversees around $175 million in grants each year, and ultimately aspires to disburse billions in the most impactful ways he and his team can identify. In this conversation from 2021, Alexander explains the case in favour of adopting the ‘global health and wellbeing’ mindset, while going through the arguments for the longtermist approach that he finds most and least convincing. Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/alexander-berger-improving-global-health-wellbeing-clear-direct-ways/?utm_campaign=podcast__alexander-berger&utm_source=80000+Hours+Podcast&utm_medium=podcast]This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed [https://80000hours.org/podcast/?utm_campaign=podcast__alexander-berger&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on July 12, 2021. Some related episodes include: * #22 – Dr Leah Utyasheva [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/leah-utyasheva-pesticide-suicide-prevention/] on the non-profit that figured out how to massively cut suicide rates * #37 – GiveWell picks top charities by estimating the unknowable. James Snowden [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/james-snowden-givewell-research/] on how they do it. * #83 – Jennifer Doleac [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/jennifer-doleac-reforming-police-preventing-crime/] on ways to prevent crime other than police and prisons Series produced by Keiran Harris.

Four: Spencer Greenberg on the scientific approach to solving difficult everyday questions

Will SpaceX land people on Mars in the next decade? Will North Korea give up their nuclear weapons? Will your friend turn up to dinner? Spencer Greenberg, founder of ClearerThinking.org [https://www.clearerthinking.org] has a process for working out such real life problems. In this conversation from 2018, Spencer walks us through how to reason through difficult questions more accurately, and when we should expect to be overconfident or underconfident. Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/spencer-greenberg-bayesian-updating/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast]This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed [https://80000hours.org/podcast/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on August 7, 2018. Some related episodes include: • #7 – Julia Galef [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/is-it-time-for-a-new-scientific-revolution-julia-galef-on-how-to-make-humans-smarter/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on making humanity more rational, what EA does wrong, and why Twitter isn’t all bad • #11 – Dr Spencer Greenberg [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/spencer-greenberg-social-science/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on speeding up social science 10-fold & why plenty of startups cause harm. • #15 – Prof Tetlock [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/prof-tetlock-predicting-the-future/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on how chimps beat Berkeley undergrads and when it’s wise to defer to the wise • #30 – Dr Eva Vivalt [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/eva-vivalt-social-science-generalizability/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on how little social science findings generalize from one study to another • #40 – Katja Grace [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/katja-grace-forecasting-technology/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on forecasting future technology & how much we should trust expert predictions. • #48 – Brian Christian [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/brian-christian-algorithms-to-live-by/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on better living through the wisdom of computer science • #78 – Danny Hernandez [https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/danny-hernandez-forecasting-ai-progress/?utm_campaign=podcast__spencer-greenberg-2&utm_source=eaai&utm_medium=podcast] on forecasting and measuring some of the most important drivers of AI progress Series produced by Keiran Harris.