Effective Altruists discussion

Hi, I'm Quinn! studying computer science, interested in AI, automated proof-checking, but i read about way more than just CS! Add me as a friend on goodreads!

Hi guys! I'm a medical student studying in China with an interest in mental health. And an unhealthy reading addiction. Nice to meet you all.

Hey everyone, figured I would jump on the bandwagon!!

I'm a Medical Science Liaison in Immuno Oncology. Have been fairly involved in the EA community for the past 2.5 years now, and loving every minute!

Hey! I'm Sam. And I'm interested in all things EA. From Global health and Decision theory to Wild animal suffering. Add me as a friend, let's talk books.

hi I'm Simon in Melbourne Australia. interested in ea, wild and farm animal suffering. anyone in Australia here?

Simon wrote: "hi I'm Simon in Melbourne Australia. interested in ea, wild and farm animal suffering. anyone in Australia here?"

Hi Simon. I used to live in Sydney, as was involved in the EA community there. Definitely miss living there, as there's not yet much of a presence in the midwest of the US. Great to see the passion still alive on that side of the globe though!

Daniel wrote: "Simon wrote: "hi I'm Simon in Melbourne Australia. interested in ea, wild and farm animal suffering. anyone in Australia here?"

Hi Simon. I used to live in Sydney, as was involved in the EA commun..."

Oh Sydney seems to have a pretty active EA community, hopefully Melbourne soon :)

Hi all! A bit late but I'm Luca from UK/Germany. Interested in all things EA but especially development and recently practical ethics :)

Hi, I'm Fin from UK. Studying philosophy, interested in longtermism, ethics (meta-), ethics (practical), and EA-related topics in social science / psychology. Nice to meet you all!

Hi, I'm Dan Elton, I live near Washington DC. I'm interested in existential risk reduction, animal wellfare, and some meta-EA stuff. I tweet @moreisdifferent. About to start reading "The Precipice"

Hi, I am Gabriel from Germany, currently studying International Studies in The Hague in the Netherlands, I am mostly interested in how EA viewpoints could be implemented in politics.

Hi I am Viola, currently in London doing PhD in human genomics. I am interested in learning about the arguments in EA especially global development, existential risks and long-termism.

Hi, i'm Eric currently in Waterloo Ontario doing a masters in computational mathematics, interested in dynamical systems in particular. With regards to EA i'm interested mostly in global development, cost benefit analysis of policy interventions and intersections with various areas of stats/bio-stats

Hi, I am jj, a self-employed web dev living in Spain. I recently listened to The Precipice audiobook, which switched me onto the EA community. Interested to read people's perspective and opinions, and get some book recommendations as the topic seems very interesting to me.

Hey JJ! I too listened to the audiobook, but then learned that about half the book is in the footnotes, so it's definitely work getting a hard copy at some point! Welcome to the EA community, and super cool to see how various people come across it.

For starters, I would recommend Will MacAskill's 'Doing Good Better', or Peter Singer's 'The Most Good You Can Do'. Aside from that, I have a shelf of many books related to EA that you might get some good ideas from, if you want to have a look!

Again, welcome!!

Welcome jj! Toby Ord has some recommendations of further reading here https://theprecipice.com/further-reading

Thank you Daniel and James.
I really appreciate the recommendations. Due to my lifestyle choices I typically find that most of the content that I take is comes in the form of audio, typically podcasts or audiobooks. This restricts my access to a broad swath of content, but does mean that I get am able to get through a number of titles, which if reading them just wouldn't happen.
I'll look to those books that you have mentioned, and see how many I am able to obtain.
I look forward to learning more, and understanding how I may have as useful an impact as possible. :)
Thank you again for taking the time to respond, and for your insight. :)

Awesome! I also rely quite heavily on audio, probably ~2/3 of what I get through. Scribd definitely has a fair few of EA-related books on offer, and I find it the best 'bang for your buck' overall. Best of luck looking into this material, and don't hesitate to reach out if there's ever something specific you can't get a hold of!

Hello all. I’m a computer hardware engineering undergraduate at University of California Davis. I’m interested in existential risks (particularly AI, which I’d love to devote my career to making safer) and global development. Add me on Goodreads, especially if you’re local.

For the people restricted to audio I’d really recommend The Economist audio edition. I’ve been interested in EA concepts long before discovering EA in January 2021 and The Economist was a big part of that. It was recommended by all my economics professors and is the only respected newspaper I’m aware of that does an audio version of all its content.

Hi Sonia, great to see a fellow aggie interested in EA!

Hi everyone,
I'm a geophysicist, born and working in Poland. If you're an EA with a background in Earth sciences, definitely get in touch with me! I'm increasingly interested in the growing field of geoethics and would like to know more people in the industry of natural resources who share a similiar mindset and values.

I was introduced to the concept of EA through a vegan community, when my primary concern was animal welfare. This remains my main area of interest within the EA movement and I'm still exploring others. Environmental and energy issues also ring close to me because of my profession.

On an unrelated note, I'm also a geek for planetary sciences and sci-fi.

Nice to make all y'all's acquaintance. I'm very keen on AI-related topics, and also getting my own philosophical bearings right in population ethics. I also think EA philosophy largely ignores non-Western traditions. I think this is a potential problem (to put it mildly) since we risk ignoring how the majority of humanity thinks about certain topics. My ambitious hope is to inform myself enough to offer some course correction.

Besides that, I love etymology, pop-science, classical poetry (Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, Tamil), and queer literature.

Heading back to CS grad school this fall in NYC so let me know if you're in the area!

Hi all, former technical program manager in the medical devices industry here, retired early and looking to change directions a little to focus on new priorities like effective altruism. Personally more interested by longtermist causes, but happy to chat and connect with anyone interested with those subjects or competing alternatives under the overall umbrella.

Hi! Work in ML out in Palo Alto and in the middle of a life-transition where my role is likely moving to applying ML to a field fairly alien to my background. Currently reassessing and nailing down my exact beliefs and long-term goals, as well as how my work fits into it. I've been loosely plugged into EA circles via mutuals and IRL friends involved and always appreciated their thoughts, and reading recommendations. Here looking for more.

hey I'm alex k chen (quora.com/Alex-K-Chen) - most obsessed with longevity and unschooling, but have been involved with the EA community since 2016 and know LOTS of EAs). Interesting things happen around me. Also see my google books recommendations (it's better than goodreads) - see linktr.ee/simfish

Anyone have any thoughts on the FTX case? What implications and consequences are there for EA or in general?

Jonathan wrote: "Anyone have any thoughts on the FTX case? What implications and consequences are there for EA or in general?"

this substack compiled a-lot of EA forum responses to SBF/FTX.
https://thezvi.substack.com/p/sadly-ftx

It's been a while since the last introduction, but Hi! I'm Renata, a translator from Portugal. I mainly translate EU policies and legislation and clinical trial materials. I've been involved in the EA community for about a year now, interested in all topics, from Global Health to AI Alignment. Always looking for a new interesting book to read, and that is essencialy what brings me here.

Renata wrote: "It's been a while since the last introduction, but Hi! I'm Renata, a translator from Portugal. I mainly translate EU policies and legislation and clinical trial materials. I've been involved in the..."

Welcome! Always nice to have more people join.

Hi everyone, my name is Endy from Indonesia, currently living in Germany for my PhD in Li-ion batteries research. I am very new in EA as I just finished the intro program and the annual retreat. Naturally I have worked in Climate Change/Sustainability cause areas from my career, but I'm open to other cause areas and any other recommendations too! I'm also an avid reader in other personal development books (you may know many of best-sellers authors' books that I can recommend from my lists in my Kindle), feel free to chat me further, I'll be happy to exchange thoughts and suggestions with you!

Welcome Endy! Not the most active group, but still good to have more people joining.

Hi everyone! My name's Melody :) I'm 19, based in the UK and currently on a gap year working in sales. I'm hoping to pursue a career in Civil or Electro-mechanical Engineering with a focus on sustainability. I began looking into Effective Altruism after a previous teacher recommended the 80,000 Hours book to help me choose a career that maximised social impact. I've since read a few EA books and am partway through the EA Handbook on the forum. I find the movement incredibly interesting as I am very passionate about altruism and social justice and look forward to connecting with others.