The last Open Thread was in October 2017, so I thought we were overdue for a new one.
Use this thread to post things that are awesome, but not awesome enough to be full posts. This is also a great place to post if you don't have enough karma to post on the main forum.
Consider giving your post a brief title to improve readability.
The EA Forum Needs More Sub-Forums
EDIT: please go to the recent announcement post on the new EA Forum to comment
The traditional discussion forum has sub-forums and sub-sub-forums where people in communities can discuss areas that they’re particularly interested in. The EA Forum doesn’t have these and this make it hard to filter for what you’re looking for.
On Facebook on the other hand, there are hundreds of groups based around different cause areas, local groups and organisations, and subpopulations. Here it’s also hard to start rigorous discussions around certain topics because many groups are inactive and moderated poorly.
Then there are lots of other small communication platforms launched by organisations that range in their accessibility, quality standards, and moderation. It all kind of works but it’s messy and hard to sort through.
It’s hard to start productive conversations on specialised niche topics with international people because
1) Relevant people won’t find you easily within the mass of posts
2) You’ll contribute to that mass and thus distract everyone else.
Perhaps this a reason why some posts on specific topics only get a few comments even though the quality of... (read more)
Vox is looking for EA journalists. This is an opportunity to publicize EA and help shape its public perception. Their ad hints that they want people who are already in the movement, so take a look if you have any writing or journalism related skills.
Forum searching tip
Searching the forum by typing "site:effective-altruism.com [your search query]" into the URL bar gives you more results - including some very relevant ones - than using the built-in search bar on the top-right of the forum itself (at least for me).
Why I'm skeptical of cost-effectiveness analysis
Reposting as comment because mods told me this wasn't thorough enough to be a post.
Briefly:
Just a newbie exploring the forum!
Hi, I'm new here!
By the looks of it, there is SO much to learn about effective altruism and I absolutely love that. I've really come to accept learning as a never ending process and it's liberating to look at learning that way.
I'm hoping to earn some Karma points so I can make my own posts here and interact with members of this lovely forum, to continuously learn and maybe contribute sometimes along the way.
I've totally bought into the concepts of effective altruism, with the ideals of working as a community to edge closer to a better society resonating with me. I'm so excited about EA that I've decided that I want to help host an Effective Altruism Global X in my home country, Bangladesh.
I know for a fact that not many people know about effective altruism in Bangladesh. I've seen there is a listed group from Bangladesh in Effective Altruism Hub and I've mailed them to get in touch, but I have not detected much activity from them prior to sending them an email.
I just feel that concepts such as "Earning To Give" and "Cause Neutrality" are ideas that more people should know about. So many people do not fully understand the poten... (read more)
I was terrified of pursuing an EA career
For 3 years after joining EA I was still set on going to medical school. I knew I could do more but I was just terrified of switching. Even when I got an opportunity presented to me I was very torn between pursuing it or staying in my comfort zone. Now I'm having the best summer of my life in a biosecurity internship. I'm more motivated, I'm more productive, I'm going on more adventures, and I have a lot more and better connections than before.
EA was amazing in that having this network made it easier to go into an e... (read more)
Requesting Help for a Compilation of Top EA Facebook Posts
In December 2015, Claire Zabel posted links to all posts in the EA Facebook group with 50 or more likes or comments. I think it's time for a similar post. From what I understand, the most liked and most commented on posts can be found using the "My groups dashboard" feature on Facebook. Unfortunately, I do not have a Facebook account. I am posting in this thread to request that someone with a Facebook account post the most liked and most commented on posts as a reply to this comment. I can... (read more)
Should EAs work on reducing food waste?
According to USDA statistics, a significant percent of food purchased by consumers goes uneaten (15% of chicken, 35% of turkey, 20% of beef, 29% of pork, and 23% of the edible portion of eggs). If consumers wasted less food, they would purchase less meat/eggs/dairy, which would lead to fewer animals suffering on factory farms.
One factor that could be driving food waste is confusing date labeling. For example, an egg container may have a 'Sell By' date meant to help retailers manage their inventory, but a consumer who... (read more)
Seeking 5 karma so I can post about the recent WASR grant competition! :)
New here. Hoping to get some karma points so that I can ask specific questions for the local community development project I have planned.
I just finished reading "The Nobel Laureates' Guide To The Smartest Targets For The World" and can not find the specific methods that can be employed to achieve the proposed targets. For example: with regard to coral reef loss, if the research is accurate and there is a 24$ economic return for every 1$ spent, through what organizations or processes can this be achieved? The specific dollar figure must imply th... (read more)
Seeking 5 upvotes in order to make a post.
Looking for Karma points.
Hi all, I would like to post a critical perspective on maximizing happiness. It includes an alternative approach, mental health issues and burnout. I would love to see a discussion about it, but not only on FB :) Anyone interested and willing to give me some karma to enable my post?
Cheers :)
Frequency of Open Threads
What do people think would be the optimal frequency for open threads? Monthly? Quarterly? Semi-annually?
Impact Investing from an EA Perspective
This is just a teaser, since I don't have enough karma for a full post yet!
Picture a scale that has charity one one side (good social utility, -100% financial return) and Investing on the other (zero social utility, 7% financial return). Impact investing is a space that can give similar risk-adjusted market returns as traditional investments, but also provides social utility.
In my research, I've found several factors that make me excited about this area:
Impact investing is about 5% the size of charitable donations
Hello everyone! I'm new to the EA Forum and it'd be great if I could get some karma so I can start contributing more. :)
This next fall I am running a university EA group. Is there anyone who has run an EA group that has any advice for me other than the basic information on EA Hub? What types of events were the most fun? What types of events were the most effective in gaining members or discussing issues?
Side note: I'd encourage commenters to put a title at the top of their comments (maybe this can be done in the OP).
Has anyone reframed priorities choices (such as x-risk vs. poverty) as losses to check if they’re really biased?
I’m new here. Since I suspect someone has probably already made a similar question somewhere (but I couldn’t find it, sorry), I’m mostly trying to satisfy my curiosity; however, there’s a small probability that it touches an important unsolved dilemma about global priorities and the x-risk vs. safe causes.
I’ve read a little bit about the possibility that preferences for poverty reduction/global health/animal welfare causes over x-risk reduction... (read more)
Animal v. Human Prioritization
Hi all,
A person involved with EA said I should get involved with the forum, so here I am.
Here is/are my question(s).
1) Is (and should) morality be based on a combination of biology and strict logical induction?
If yes to 1), then here’s my deal.
I have a preference for valuing human life over animal life. However, if some animal species are more likely to live longer than the human species will, then would I be doing more good by prioritizing helping those animals out first and foremost?
This article— https://www.theatlantic.com/... (read more)