EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular) “Doing Prioritization Better” by arvomm, David_Moss, Hayley Clatterbuck, Laura Duffy, Derek Shiller, Bob Fischer
May 10, 2025
Dive into the shifting landscape of prioritization in Effective Altruism! The discussion explores three types of prioritization: cause, within-cause, and cross-cause. Discover the current focus and balance among these strategies, particularly the risks of leaning too heavily on within-cause prioritization. The rise of AI and evolving organizational priorities is examined, highlighting the need for dynamic, evidence-based resource allocation. Spoiler alert: it's about maximizing impact in a complex, changing world!
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Three Prioritization Types Overview
- Three types of prioritization exist: cause, within-cause, and cross-cause intervention prioritization.
- Most EA efforts focus on within-cause work, with much less on the broader cause or cross-cause levels.
EA Prioritization Skewed Towards Within-Cause
- Most EA prioritization work splits as approximately 89% within-cause, 9% cause, and 2% cross-cause.
- This imbalance might reflect suboptimal resource allocation and warrants reconsideration.
Cause Prioritization Strengths and Risks
- Cause prioritization highlights big-picture, neglected problems but may overlook practical implementation details.
- It is easier for framing high-level impact yet risks dismissing key interventions due to infrastructure challenges.
