EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

Constance Li, an insightful author and co-founder of Hive and AI for Animals, shares her journey to becoming a super connector. She emphasizes the importance of strategic introductions, showing how these connections can drastically impact high-stakes communities. Constance reveals practical tips for effective networking, like understanding individuals deeply and being selective about whom to introduce. She also discusses managing whisper networks and encourages focusing on meaningful relationships to create genuine value.

Lewis Bollard, a researcher at Open Philanthropy focused on farm animal welfare, shares insights on the shift towards cage-free egg production. He discusses the commitments of over 2,700 companies, including giants like McDonald’s and Walmart, and the challenges they've faced. Despite setbacks, consumer demand is driving significant progress. Bollard critiques corporate excuses for not meeting pledges and highlights the need for transparency. He also explores the pricing dynamics of cage-free versus caged eggs and the crucial advocacy efforts pushing this movement forward.

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, and @titotal's recent post finally made me do it:Thick red dramatic box emphasis mine. I was going to post a comment in his post, but I think this topic deserves a post of its own. My plea is simply: Please, oh please reconsider using adjectives that reflect a negative judgment (“bad”, “stupid”, “boring”) on the Forum, and instead stick to indisputable facts and observations (“I disagree”, “I doubt”, “I dislike”, etc.). This suggestion is motivated by one of the central ideas behind nonviolent communication (NVC), which I’m a big fan of and which I consider a core life skill. The idea is simply that judgments (typically in the form of adjectives) are disputable/up to interpretation, and therefore can lead to completely unnecessary misunderstandings and hurt feelings: Me: Ugh, the kitchen is dirty again. Why didn’t you do the dishes [...] --- First published: June 21st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Fkh2Mpu3Jk7iREuvv/please-reconsider-your-use-of-adjectives --- 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.

Discover the exciting results of a recent request for proposals that granted over $1.5 million to 11 organizations dedicated to impactful charity. Learn about the stringent criteria that led to the disqualification of some promising applicants. Gain insights into how funding strategies are evolving, with a focus on maximizing returns and encouraging effective giving. Explore the role of organizations like Charity Navigator in refining donor strategies and promoting higher-impact donations.

This is a link post. Thank you to Arepo and Eli Lifland for looking over this article for errors. I am sorry that this article is so long. Every time I thought I was done with it I ran into more issues with the model, and I wanted to be as thorough as I could. I’m not going to blame anyone for skimming parts of this article. Note that the majority of this article was written before Eli's updated model was released (the site was updated june 8th). His new model improves on some of my objections, but the majority still stand. Introduction: AI 2027 is an article written by the “AI futures team”. The primary piece is a short story penned by Scott Alexander, depicting a month by month scenario of a near-future where AI becomes superintelligent in 2027,proceeding to automate the entire economy in only [...] ---Outline:(00:45) Introduction:(05:21) Part 1: Time horizons extension model(05:27) Overview of their forecast(10:30) The exponential curve(13:18) The superexponential curve(19:27) Conceptual reasons:(27:50) Intermediate speedups(34:27) Have AI 2027 been sending out a false graph?(39:47) Some skepticism about projection(43:25) Part 2: Benchmarks and gaps and beyond(43:31) The benchmark part of benchmark and gaps:(50:03) The time horizon part of the model(54:57) The gap model(57:31) What about Eli's recent update?(01:01:39) Six stories that fit the data(01:06:58) ConclusionThe original text contained 11 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: June 19th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KgejNns3ojrvCfFbi/a-deep-critique-of-ai-2027-s-bad-timeline-models Linkpost URL:https://titotal.substack.com/p/a-deep-critique-of-ai-2027s-bad-timeline --- 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.

Formosa: Fulcrum of the Future?An invasion of Taiwan is uncomfortably likely and potentially catastrophic. We should research better ways to avoid it. TLDR: I forecast that an invasion of Taiwan increases all the anthropogenic risks by ~1.5% (percentage points) of a catastrophe killing 10% or more of the population by 2100 (nuclear risk by 0.9%, AI + Biorisk by 0.6%). This would imply it constitutes a sizable share of the total catastrophic risk burden expected over the rest of this century by skilled and knowledgeable forecasters (8% of the total risk of 20% according to domain experts and 17% of the total risk of 9% according to superforecasters). I think this means that we should research ways to cost-effectively decrease the likelihood that China invades Taiwan. This could mean exploring the prospect of advocating that Taiwan increase its deterrence by investing in cheap but lethal weapons platforms [...] ---Outline:(00:13) Formosa: Fulcrum of the Future?(02:04) Part 0: Background(03:44) Part 1: Invasion -- uncomfortably possible.(08:33) Part 2: Why an invasion would be bad(10:27) 2.1 War and nuclear war(19:20) 2.2. The end of cooperation: AI and Bio-risk(22:44) 2.3 Appeasement or capitulation and the end of the liberal-led order: Value risk(26:04) Part 3: How to prevent a war(29:39) 3.1. Diplomacy: speaking softly(31:21) 3.2. Deterrence: carrying a big stick(34:16) Toy model of deterrence(37:58) Toy cost-effectiveness of deterrence(41:13) How to cost-effectively increase deterrence(43:30) Risks of a deterrence strategy(44:12) 3.3. What can be done?(44:42) How tractable is it to increase deterrence?(45:43) A theory of change for philanthropy increasing Taiwan's military deterrence(45:56) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Flow chart showing policy influence between think tanks and Taiwan security outcomes.(48:55) 4. Conclusion and further work(50:53) With more time(52:00) Bonus thoughts(52:09) 1. Reminder: a catastrophe killing 10% or more of humanity is pretty unprecedented(53:06) 2. Where's the Effective Altruist think tank for preventing global conflict?(54:11) 3. Does forecasting risks based on scenarios change our view on the likelihood of catastrophe?The original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: June 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qvzcmzPcR5mDEhqkz/an-invasion-of-taiwan-is-uncomfortably-likely-potentially --- 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.

Zachary Robinson, CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism, challenges the common belief that effective altruism is devoid of feelings. He emphasizes that personal emotions, like anger and sadness, drive individuals to take impactful action. Through relatable stories, he illustrates how frustrations can spark community initiatives—like addressing potholes in Omaha. Robinson argues that rational analysis and compassion should coexist, portraying analytical tools as manifestations of deep emotional commitment to alleviating suffering.

Crosspost from my blog. Content warning: this article will discuss extreme agony. This is deliberate; I think it's important to get a glimpse of the horror that fills the world and that you can do something about. I think this is one of my most important articles so I’d really appreciate if you could share and restack it! The world is filled with extreme agony. We go through our daily life mostly ignoring its unfathomably shocking dreadfulness because if we didn’t, we could barely focus on anything else. But those going through it cannot ignore it. Imagine that you were placed in a pot of water that was slowly brought to a boil until it boiled you to death. Take a moment to really imagine the scenario as fully as you can. Don’t just acknowledge at an intellectual level that it would be bad—really seriously think about just [...] --- First published: June 2nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rtZuWbsTA7GdsbpAM/the-horror-of-unfathomable-pain --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post. I am deeply saddened to share that Gabrielle Young, a much-loved member of the EA NZ community and personal friend, died last month. This is an absolutely devastating loss, and our hearts go out to Gabby's friends and family, including her parents and her sister Brigette. While most of us knew her through EA, Gabby was an incredibly vibrant person with a diverse range of interests. She brought an infectious enthusiasm to everything she did, from software development to parkour and meditation. Music was also a huge part of Gabby's life. She performed with multiple groups— including ACAPOLLiNATiONS, the Medena ensemble and Gamelan— and enjoyed recording original music with friends. Though EA was just one part of Gabby's life, it was an important one. Like many of us, she cared deeply about alleviating suffering. And in her short life, Gabby had an amazing impact [...] The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: June 6th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/5DvenF2RjFM7QQLtK/gabrielle-young-1995-2025 Linkpost URL:https://effectivealtruism.nz/blog/gabrielle-young --- 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.

Crosspost from my blog. I just got back from Effective Altruism Global London—a conference that brought together lots of different people trying to do good with their money and careers. It was an inspiring experience. When you write about factory farming, insect suffering, global poverty, and the torment of shrimp, it can, as I’ve mentioned before, feel like screaming into the void. When you try to explain why it's important that we don’t torture insects by the trillions in insect farms, most people look at you like you’ve grown a third head (after the second head that they look at you like you’ve grown when you started talking about shrimp welfare). But at effective altruism conferences, people actually care. They’re not indifferent to most of the world's suffering. They don’t think I’m crazy! There are other people who think the suffering of animals matters—even the suffering of small [...] --- First published: June 9th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rZKqrRQGesLctkz8d/the-unparalleled-awesomeness-of-effective-altruism --- 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.