EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

Canva announces a groundbreaking $100 million commitment to GiveDirectly, aiming to empower 185,000 people in extreme poverty over the next four years. This follows a previous $50 million donation that has already changed the lives of over 85,000 individuals in Malawi. The discussion covers GiveDirectly's impressive cash transfer scale since 2009 and Canva's unique founding-to-give model, which emphasizes building value before committing to philanthropy. Additional charitable engagements from Canva showcase their broader impact beyond standard effective altruism cause areas.

I have some claim to be an “old hand” EA:[1] I was in the room when the creation Giving What We Can was announced (although I vacillated about joining for quite a while) I first went to EA Global in 2015 I worked on a not-very successful EA project for a while But I have not really been much involved in the community since about 2020. The interesting thing about this is that my withdrawal from the community has nothing to do with disagreements, personal conflicts, or FTX. I still pretty much agree with most “orthodox EA” positions, and I think that both the idea of EA and the movement remain straightforwardly good and relevant. Hence why I describe the process as “senescence”: intellectually and philosophically I am still on board and I still donate, I just… don’t particularly want to participate beyond that. Boredom I won’t sugar-coat [...] ---Outline:(01:00) Boredom(04:05) What do I have to offer? --- First published: October 19th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rJqQGD2z2DaupCbZE/my-ea-senescence --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

The discussion highlights the common struggle with time tracking, a crucial tool for maximizing impact. Christoph argues that our time is limited, often just a few productive hours each day. By treating time like a budget, we can prioritize better and enhance our planning. He introduces doneThat.ai, a new AI tool designed to simplify and automate time tracking, addressing the usual barriers people face. With a two-minute setup, it promises to revolutionize productivity and reduce anxiety, all while encouraging support on Product Hunt.

Explore alarming forecasts about the future of US democracy, with experts estimating a 25% chance it won't exist by 2030. Listen to compelling warnings about authoritarian risks, especially under Trump, and hear thought-provoking quotes from scholars on aggressive political moves. The podcast dives into research on autocratization patterns and the chances of civil resistance. It provokes essential questions about how much concern we should have regarding democratic backsliding and what action might be warranted.

or Maximizing Good Within Your Personal Constraints Note: The specific numbers and examples below are approximations meant to illustrate the framework. Your actual calculations will vary based on your situation, values, and cause area. The goal isn't precision—it's to start thinking explicitly about impact per unit of sacrifice rather than assuming certain actions are inherently virtuous. You're at an EA meetup. Two people are discussing their impact: Alice: "I went vegan, buy only secondhand, bike everywhere, and donate 5% of my nonprofit salary to animal charities." Bob: "I work in finance, eat whatever, and donate 40% of my income to animal charities." Who gets more social approval? Alice. Who prevents more animal suffering? Bob—by orders of magnitude. Alice's choices improve welfare for hundreds of animal-years annually through diet change and her $2,500 donation. Bob's $80,000 donation improves tens of thousands of animal-years through corporate campaigns. Yet Alice is [...] ---Outline:(00:11) or Maximizing Good Within Your Personal Constraints(01:31) The Personal Constraint Framework(02:26) Return on Sacrifice (RoS): The Core Metric(03:05) Case Studies: Where Good Intentions Go Wrong(03:10) Career: The Counterfactual Question(04:32) Environmental Action: Personal vs. Systemic(05:13) Information and Influence(05:45) Truth vs. Reach(06:17) The Uncomfortable Truth About Offsets(07:43) When Personal Practice Actually Matters(08:22) Your Personal Impact Portfolio(09:38) The Reallocation Exercise(10:40) Addressing the Predictable Objections(11:41) The Call to Action(12:10) The Bottom Line --- First published: September 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/u9WzAcyZkBhgWAew5/your-sacrifice-portfolio-is-probably-terrible --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In this engaging discussion, William MacAskill, a philosopher and co-founder of the effective altruism movement, dives deep into how the rapid advancement of AI challenges the future of the EA movement. He proposes a broadened focus, emphasizing neglected areas such as AI welfare, power concentration, and space governance. MacAskill argues that embracing these causes can rejuvenate EA's intellectual vigor while ensuring a smooth transition to a post-AGI society. He also critiques the current PR mentality, urging for a commitment to truth-seeking over brand preservation.

Here's a talk I gave at an EA university group organizers’ retreat recently, which I've been strongly encouraged to share on the forum. I'd like to make it clear I don't recommend or endorse everything discussed in this talk (one example in particular which hopefully will be self-evident), but do think serious shifts in how we engage with ethics and EA would be quite beneficial for the world. Part 1: Taking ethics seriously To set context for this talk, I want to go through an Our World in Data style birds-eye view of how things are trending across key issues often discussed in EA. This is to help get better intuitions for questions like “How well will the future go by default?” and “Is the world on track to eventually solve the most pressing problems?” - which can inform high-level strategy questions like “Should we generally be doing more [...] ---Outline:(00:32) Part 1: Taking ethics seriously(04:26) Incentive shifts and moral progress(05:07) What is incentivized by society?(07:08) Heroic Responsibility(11:30) Excerpts from Strangers drowning(14:37) Opening our eyes to what is unbearable(18:07) Increasing effectiveness vs. increasing altruism(20:20) Cognitive dissonance(21:27) Paragons of moral courage(23:15) The monk who set himself on fire to protect Buddhism, and didn't flinch an inch(27:46) What do I most deeply want to honour in this life?(29:43) Moral Courage and defending EA(31:55) Acknowledging opportunity cost and grappling with guilt(33:33) Part 2: Enjoying the process(33:38) Celebrating what's really beautiful - what our hearts care about(42:08) Enjoying effective altruism(44:43) Training our minds to cultivate the qualities we endorse(46:54) Meditation isnt a silver bullet(52:35) The timeless words of MLK --- First published: October 4th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/taking-ethics-seriously-and-enjoying-the-process --- 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.

TL;DR - AIM's applicants skew towards global health & development. We’ve recommended four new animal welfare charities, have the capacity to launch all four, but expect to struggle to find the talent to do so. If you’ve considered moving into animal welfare work, applying to Charity Entrepreneurship to launch a new charity in the space could be of huge counterfactual value. Part 1: Why you should launch an animal welfare charity Our existing animal charities have had a lot of impact—improving the lives of over 1 billion animals worldwide. - from Shrimp Welfare Project securing corporate commitments globally and featuring on the Daily Show, to FarmKind's recent success coordinating a $2 million dollar fundraiser for the animal movement on the Dwarkshesh podcast, not to mention the progress of the 40 person army at the Fish Welfare Initiative, Scale Welfare's direct hand-on work at fish farms, and Animal Policy [...] ---Outline:(00:37) Part 1: Why you should launch an animal welfare charity(02:07) A few notes on counterfactual founder value(05:57) Part 2 - The Charity Entrepreneurship Program & Our Latest Animal Welfare Ideas(06:04) What is the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program?(06:47) Our recommended animal welfare ideas for 2026(07:10) 1. Driving supermarket commitments to shift diets away from meat(07:58) 2. Securing scale-up funding for the alternative protein industry(08:51) 3. Cage-free farming in the Middle East(09:30) 4. Preventing painful injuries in laying hens(10:02) Applications close on October 5th: Apply here. --- First published: September 29th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aeky2EWd32bjjPJqf/charity-entrepreneurship-is-bottlenecked-by-a-lack-of-great --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Summary: Consumers rejected genetically modified crops, and I expect they will do the same for cultivated meat. The meat lobby will fight to discredit the new technology, and as consumers are already primed to believe it's unnatural, it won’t be difficult to persuade them. When I hear people talk about cultivated meat (i.e. lab-grown meat) and how it will replace traditional animal agriculture, I find it depressingly reminiscent of the techno-optimists of the 1980s and ‘90s speculating about how genetic modification will solve all our food problems. The optimism of the time was understandable: in 1994 the first GMO product was introduced to supermarkets, and the benefits of the technology promised incredible rewards. GMOs were predicted to bring about the end of world hunger, all while requiring less water, pesticides, and land.Today, thirty years later, in the EU GM foods are so regulated that they are [...] ---Outline:(01:56) Why did GMOs fail to be widely adopted?(02:44) A Bad First Impression(05:54) Unpopular Corporate Concentration(07:22) Cultivated Meat IS GMO(08:45) What timeline are we in?(10:24) What can be done to prevent cultivated meat from becoming irrelevant?(10:30) Expect incredible opposition(11:46) Be ready to tell a clear story about the benefits.(13:17) A proactive PR Effort(15:01) First impressions matter(17:16) Labeling(19:35) Be ready to discuss concerns about unnaturalness(21:56) Limitations of the comparison(23:07) Conclusion --- First published: September 22nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rMQA9w7ZM7ioZpaN6/cultivated-meat-a-wakeup-call-for-optimists --- 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.

Note: I am the web programme director at 80,000 Hours and the view expressed here currently helps shape the web team's strategy. However, this shouldn't be taken to be expressing something on behalf of 80k as a whole, and writing and posting this memo was not undertaken as an 80k project. 80,000 Hours, where I work, has made helping people make AI go well [1]its focus. As part of this work, I think my team should continue to: Talk about / teach ideas and thinking styles that have historically been central to effective altruism (e.g. via our career guide, cause analysis content, and podcasts) Encourage people to get involved in the EA community explicitly and via linking to content. I wrote this memo for the MCF (Meta Coordination Forum), because I wasn't sure this was intuitive to others. I think talking about EA ideas and encouraging people to get [...] ---Outline:(01:21) 1. The effort to make AGI go well needs people who are flexible and equipped to to make their own good decisions(02:10) Counterargument: Agendas are starting to take shape, so this is less true than it used to be.(02:43) 2. Making AGI go well calls for a movement that thinks in explicitly moral terms(03:59) Counterargument: movements can be morally good without being explicitly moral, and being morally good is whats important.(04:41) 3. EA is (A) at least somewhat able to equip people to flexibly make good decisions, (B) explicitly morally focused.(04:52) (A) EA is at least somewhat able to equip people to flexibly make good decisions(06:04) (B) EA is explicitly morally focused(06:49) Counterargument: A different flexible & explicitly moral movement could be better for trying to make AGI go well.(07:49) Appendix: What are the relevant alternatives?(12:13) Appendix 2: anon notes from others --- First published: September 25th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/oPue7R3outxZaTXzp/why-i-think-capacity-building-to-make-agi-go-well-should --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.