EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

I'm often asked about how the existential risk landscape has changed in the years since I wrote The Precipice. Earlier this year, I gave a talk on exactly that, and I want to share it here. Here's a video of the talk and a full transcript. In the years since I wrote The Precipice, the question I’m asked most is how the risks have changed. It's now almost four years since the book came out, but the text has to be locked down a long time earlier, so we are really coming up on about five years of changes to the risk landscape. I’m going to dive into four of the biggest risks — climate change, nuclear, pandemics, and AI — to show how they’ve changed. Now a lot has happened over those years, and I don’t want this to just be recapping the news in fast-forward. But [...] ---Outline:(01:30) Climate Change(01:58) Carbon Emissions(03:18) Climate Sensitivity(06:43) Nuclear(06:46) Heightened Chance of Onset(08:16) Likely New Arms Race(09:54) Funding Collapse(10:53) Pandemics(10:56) Covid(16:03) Protective technologies(18:59) AI in Biotech(20:32) AI(20:50) RL agents ⇒ language models(24:59) Racing(27:05) Governance(30:14) Conclusions--- First published: July 12th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/iKLLSYHvnhgcpoBxH/the-precipice-revisited --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a link post. Introduction: The (highly interrelated) effective altruist and Rationalist communities are very small on a global scale. Therefore, in general, most intelligence, skill and expertise is outside of the community, not within it. I don’t think many people will disagree with this statement. But sometimes it's worth reminding people of the obvious, and also it is worth quantifying and visualizing the obvious, to get a proper feel for the scale of the difference. I think some people are acting like they have absorbed this point, and some people definitely are not. In this post, I will try and estimate the size of these communities. I will compare how many smart people are in the community vs outside the community. I will do the same for people in a few professions, and then I will go into controversial mode and try and give some advice that I [...] --- First published: July 12th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Bz4McBt62p63Zkjzb/most-smart-and-skilled-people-are-outside-of-the-ea --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a linkpost for https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin, posted in full here given its relevance to this community. Gerard has been one of the longest-standing malicious critics of the rationalist and EA communities and has done remarkable amounts of work to shape their public images behind the scenes. Note: I am closer to this story than to many of my others. As always, I write aiming to provide a thorough and honest picture, but this should be read as the view of a close onlooker who has known about much within this story for years and has strong opinions about the matter, not a disinterested observer coming across something foreign and new. If you’re curious about the backstory, I encourage you to read my companion article after this one. Introduction: Reliable Sources Wikipedia administrator David Gerard cares a great deal about Reliable Sources. For the past half-decade, he has torn [...] ---Outline:(00:55) Introduction: Reliable Sources(06:00) Gerard's Standards for Reliable Sources(13:48) Who Is David Gerard?(16:49) The Early Romantic Years(27:52) Gerard's fling with LessWrong in the twilight of the old internet(37:44) The bitter end(45:19) The Vindictive Ex(49:53) LessWrong(01:04:08) Effective Altruism(01:07:47) Scott Alexander(01:16:14) Conclusion(01:21:49) Companion article: A Young Mormon Discovers Online RationalityThe original text contained 24 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 10th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/D8GmTE9jvJg44GTAg/reliable-sources-the-story-of-david-gerard --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a link post. The Giving What We Can Pledge is now the 🔸10% Pledge! We cover the why (along with our near-term plans and how you can help!) below. TL;DR: The name change will help us grow awareness of the pledge by reducing brand confusion and facilitating partnerships.  We see it as an important part of reaching our goal of 10,000 pledgers by the end of 2024. You can help by adding the orange diamond emoji to your social profiles 🔸 if you’ve taken the 10% Pledge! (or a small blue diamond 🔹 emoji if you’ve taken the Trial Pledge) as described below.   Full post: For the better part of a year, Giving What We Can has been thinking more deliberately about how our brand choices could accelerate or hinder progress towards our mission of making giving effectively and significantly a cultural [...] ---Outline:(02:24) What will this help us achieve?(03:34) How can you help?(04:53) More about our new partnerships(06:12) What's staying the same?(06:53) Questions?(07:07) A big thanksThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 1st, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uZzXRyAwkDHLfu94W/we-ve-renamed-the-giving-what-we-can-pledge --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I haven't shared this post with other relevant parties – my experience has been that private discussion of this sort of thing is more paralyzing than helpful. I might change my mind in the resulting discussion, but, I prefer that discussion to be public. I think 80,000 hours should remove OpenAI from its job board, and similar EA job placement services should do the same. (I personally believe 80k shouldn't advertise Anthropic jobs either, but I think the case for that is somewhat less clear) I think OpenAI has demonstrated a level of manipulativeness, recklessness, and failure to prioritize meaningful existential safety work, that makes me think EA orgs should not be going out of their way to give them free resources. (It might make sense for some individuals to work there, but this shouldn't be a thing 80k or other orgs are systematically funneling talent into) There [...] ---Outline:(04:41) FAQ / Appendix(04:51) Q: It seems that, like it or not, OpenAI is a place transformative AI research is likely to happen, and having good people work there is important.(05:02) Isnt it better to have alignment researchers working there, than not? Are you sure youre not running afoul of misguided purity instincts?(07:06) Q: What about jobs like security research engineer?.(07:12) That seems straightforwardly good for OpenAI to have competent people for, and probably doesnt require a good Safety Culture to pay off?(08:09) Q: What about offering a path towards good standing? to OpenAI?(10:44) Q: What if we left up job postings, but with an explicit disclaimer linking to a post saying why people should be skeptical?--- First published: July 3rd, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/DjCXPkGDisS6oj6Ga/80-000-hours-should-remove-openai-from-the-job-board-and --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

From Darren Margolias: I'm the Executive Director of Beast Philanthropy, the charity founded by the world's most popular YouTuber MrBeast. We recently collaborated with GiveDirectly on the video below. You can read background the project from our LinkedIn here and here (plus GiveDirectly's blog) On Thursday, July 18th I'll be recording a video AMA with CEA's Emma Richter. Her questions will come from you, and we'll post the video and transcript here afterwards. Please post your questions as comments to this post and upvote the questions you’d like me to answer most. Emma and I will do our best to get to as many as we can. Feel free to ask anything you'd like to know about Beast Philanthropy's process, projects, and goals! --- First published: July 9th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7QfKaF2bnCbuREJNx/ama-beast-philanthropy-s-darren-margolias --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Audio is here if you prefer. Hope you like it. I got something to offer, all I ask is your time. And forgiveness for the form: a cheesy rhyme. You’re skeptical? Makes sense. But I know your type's vice. You strike me as a purveyor, of do-gooder advice. And it's pretty damn good, I don't mean to boast, This advice always fits. Well…sort of. Almost! Listen good, take your time, to ensure I'm understood, As I tell you how to do the utmost good. But first let's all travel, to that fateful day. When you first got involved, with that thing called EA. Maybe a colleague, a classmate, or old childhood friend, Solemnly broke the news, of how this world will end. Or perhaps it was fanfic, of a boy with a wand, career tips, free pizza, or a child in a pond. Well, you found the [...] --- First published: July 1st, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rd8JBxJHC68ErsRLW/do-what-you-can-a-poem --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

The podcast explores the challenges faced by the Center for Effective Aid Policy in advocating for aid reform and improving development assistance cost-effectiveness. It reflects on the reasons for its shutdown, including limited political support and funding constraints. Despite the closure, there is optimism for future aid projects and appreciation for the support from the effective altruism community, volunteers, advisers, and donors.

Exploring the lack of public discourse on factory farming, analyzing why it is often overlooked. Strategies discussed to boost awareness include motivating the media, innovating tactics, and shaping a compelling narrative around the issue.

Join Animal Welfare Fund member KarolinaSarek, grantmaking expert Zoë Sigle, and fund manager Neil_Dullaghan as they discuss the latest grant recommendations for the period of May 2022 to March 2024. The podcast dives into the total funding recommended, grants paid out, acceptance rates, and key grants highlighted during this time. Learn about the impactful initiatives across different countries working towards improving animal welfare.