Effective Altruism: An Introduction – 80,000 Hours (April 2021)

Six: Ajeya Cotra on worldview diversification and how big the future could be

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Apr 12, 2021
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INSIGHT

Worldviews Guide Big Philanthropic Bets

  • Open Phil frames major giving choices as "worldviews" that mix philosophy, heuristics and empirical views.
  • They research which worldviews to fund and how much to allocate to each based on comparative impact.
INSIGHT

Why Longtermists Prioritize Existential Risks

  • Longtermist views prioritize reducing existential risk because large future populations dominate total-value calculations.
  • Neartermist views remain skeptical of privileging speculative philosophical arguments and emphasize tractable, evidence-driven interventions.
INSIGHT

Three Ways To Resolve Cause Disagreements

  • When causes disagree, choices are: give to the largest-stake worldview, split by credence, or use fairness agreements negotiated ex ante.
  • Fairness agreements hedge philosophical extremism by trading future shares under uncertainty.
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