EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

This is a (late) Draft Amnesty Week draft

I claim that there's a special thing about some EAs. It's really hard to describe this using a low number of bits, which should make me skeptical that it exists. I’ve here settled on describing the collection of skills that people with that thing have. I claim that this set of highly correlated traits predicts success in EA about as well as raw intelligence (or more), and is much more trainable. I won’t justify this, and instead, please accept this draft amnesty post gesturing at a thing.

Epistemic status: I find this model useful, and make this claim with the part of me that buys into it, but I’m aware that it doesn’t land for many people I describe it, including those who I would describe as having this skillset. So take it as a model but not one with my full endorsement.

[...]

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Outline:

(01:04) The skills:

(03:11) The EA Spark

(03:25) Disclaimer

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First published:

March 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mQefkforx9qMYzomd/ea-core-skillset

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

By Jim Chapman, Linkedin.

TL;DR: In 2023, I was a 57-year-old urban planning consultant and non-profit professional with 30 years of leadership experience. After talking with my son about rationality, effective altruism, and AI risks, I decided to pursue a pivot to existential risk reduction work. The last time I had to apply for a job was in 1994. By the end of 2024, I had spent ~740 hours on courses, conferences, meetings with ~140 people, and 21 job applications. I hope that by sharing my experiences, you can gain practical insights, inspiration, and resources to navigate your career transition, especially for those who are later in their career and interested in making an impact in similar fields. I share my experience in 5 sections - sparks, take stock, start, do, meta-learnings, and next steps. [Note - as of 03/05/2025, I am still pursuing my career shift.]

Sparks – [...]

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Outline:

(01:16) Sparks - 2022

(02:29) Take Stock - 2023

(03:36) Start

(04:15) Do - 2023 and 2024

(05:13) Learn

(10:46) Get a Job

(14:21) Create a Job

(16:49) Contractor

(18:16) Meta-Learnings

(19:50) Next Steps

(20:48) Appendix A - Helpful Feedback

The original text contained 30 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/FcKpAGn75pRLsoxjE/from-comfort-zone-to-frontiers-of-impact-pursuing-a-late-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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March 17 - 24 will be Existential Choices Debate Week on the EA Forum. We’ll be discussing the debate statement "On the margin[1], it is better to work on reducing the chance of our[2] extinction than increasing the value of futures where we survive[3]"

Add this and future events to your calendar

Like the last two debate weeks (1,2), during the event you’ll find a banner on the front page with an axis going from “strong disagree” to “strong agree” where forum users can place their avatar, and attach a comment explaining their position.

We’ll also be hosting a “symposium” with Will MacAskill — a chance to join in a live debate with experts on the issue. Provisionally, this will happen on the Monday of debate week, in the comments of a symposium post[4].

If you’d like to take part, you can start thinking about writing a [...]

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Outline:

(01:24) Why this topic?

(02:38) Clarifications

(04:20) How to take part:

(04:23) Vote and comment

(04:45) Post

(05:25) Turn up for the Symposium

(05:58) Further reading:

The original text contained 14 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/DZnSFYPzoL2oT3pXX/announcing-existential-choices-debate-week-march-17-24

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a Draft Amnesty Week post.

Last year, an EA community member who was scoping out some projects related to diversity and inclusion in EA noted that one challenge was not knowing what had been tried before. I drafted this summary but never got it out the door.

The atmosphere around DEI interventions, in the US at least, is different than it was when I first drafted this. I’m not intending this as commentary as anything going on currently, but as finally publishing an old draft. The main update I've made is to add some demographic data that recently came out from the 2024 EA Survey.

I don’t mean this post as a claim that EAs have done all the right things. I mean it as a historical record so people can better gauge what's been tried over time, what might be worth trying differently, and [...]

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Outline:

(01:17) Organizational / program efforts

(08:07) Efforts in hiring / staffing at EA orgs

(11:58) Other research / content / major discussions in the community

(21:40) Demographic trends over time

(21:45) Location

(22:39) Race

(23:28) Gender

(24:35) Political views

(25:06) Age

(25:20) Experiences at events

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6FLvBaEwiiqf9JGEJ/history-of-projects-and-trends-on-diversity-in-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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I think there could be compelling reasons to prioritise Earning To Give highly, depending on one's options. This is a "hot takes" explanation of this claim with a request for input from the community. This may not be a claim that I would stand by upon reflection.

I base the argument below on a few key assumptions, listed below. Each of these could be debated in their own right but I would prefer to keep any discussion of them outside this post and its comments. This is for brevity and because my reason for making them is largely a deferral to people better informed on the subject than I. The Intelligence Curse by Luke Drago is a good backdrop for this.

• Whether or not we see AGI or Superintelligence, AI will have significantly reduced the availability of white-collar jobs by 2030, and will only continue to reduce this [...]

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First published:

March 3rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dnKvAJcRko9ZPJcA6/could-this-be-an-unusually-good-time-to-earn-to-give

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft. It may not be polished, up to my usual standards, fully thought through, or fully fact-checked. 

Commenting and feedback guidelines:

I'm posting this to get it out there. I'd love to see comments that take the ideas forward, but criticism of my argument won't be as useful at this time, in part because I won't do any further work on it.

This is a post I drafted in November 2023, then updated for an hour in March 2025. I don’t think I’ll ever finish it so I am just leaving it in this draft form for draft amnesty week (I know I'm late). I don’t think it is particularly well calibrated, but mainly just makes a bunch of points that I haven’t seen assembled elsewhere. Please take it as extremely low-confidence and there being a low-likelihood of this post describing these dynamics perfectly.

I’ve [...]

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Outline:

(02:45) Deference is everywhere

(04:39) Funders often lack information you have access to

(08:29) Funders often don't share your values

(09:58) Funders have experience in grantmaking. That is different from experience doing the work.

(11:48) What can we do to make this better?

(12:22) There are lots of issues with over-updating on this!

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First published:

March 3rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/adZEA4SEkab4SZhTx/on-deference-to-funders

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft. As I prepare to post this, I’m happy to see that it's “Draft Amnesty Week” – I feel less unsure about initiating a thread without having read as much and heard as much from the conversations already underway, as I’d have liked to.  From the quick scan of posts tagged in “Building Effective Altruism”,  I can see that this post from Luke Freeman on “Big Tent” EA in May 2022 touches on some of the problems I’ve covered and triggered a lot of debate.  I hope the deeper exploration of solutions below can trigger action!Commenting and feedback guidelines: 
I'm posting this to get it out there. I'd love to see comments that take the ideas forward. 

TLDR:

Problem

The Effective Altruism (EA) landscape is complex and overwhelming, making it difficult for newcomers, especially mid-career professionals, to engage. This complexity leads to low conversion rates from [...]

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Outline:

(00:07) TLDR:

(02:06) 1. My initial challenges with EA

(04:45) 2. The difference with High Impact Professionals

(07:51) 3. Toward a Theory of Change

(12:46) Theory of Change: Increasing EA Engagement for Mid-Career Professionals

(13:12) 4. Your thoughts?

(13:48) Appendix - Evidence of Relatively Low Engagement for 80,000 Hours

The original text contained 12 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 3rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bx5doQyudNZ62R3jP/is-it-too-hard-to-do-good-through-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

“The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring the United States is the undeniable leader in AI technology. This AI Action Plan is the first step in securing and advancing American AI dominance, and we look forward to incorporating the public's comments and innovative ideas,” said Lynne Parker, Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The AI Action Plan will define priority policy actions to enhance America's position as an AI powerhouse and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements from hindering private sector innovation. With the right governmental policies, continued U.S. AI leadership will promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.

Today's RFI from OSTP seeks input from interested public parties, including academia, industry groups, private sector organizations, state, local and tribal governments, and others on actions that should be included in the AI Action Plan.

Comments can be submitted online and [...]

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First published:

March 3rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QFpLKg2F6FMBim3kr/public-comment-invited-on-artificial-intelligence-action

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TL;DR:

• Big career decisions are rarely clear-cut—trade-offs, mixed feelings and uncertainty are inevitable

• Decision-making tools (cost-benefit analysis, weighted factor model, structured mentorship) can provide clarity

• Seeking advice from mentors, peers, and career resources is invaluable, but you ultimately own the decision and its consequences

• Career and life values can help you make better decisions, but they also evolve—what feels right now may change over time

• Long-term impact matters more than short-term outcomes; a decision's true value often becomes clear only in hindsight

• Taking calculated risks, paired with backup plans, can open up unexpected opportunities.

Appreciations:

Having written this post and reflected on my journey, I can't help but be grateful for the work of some amazing meta charities that made my decisions more informed. Their work can be invisible sometimes, but it is vital for ensuring our community continues to make more [...]

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Outline:

(00:05) TL;DR:

(00:57) Appreciations:

(01:56) Disclaimer:

(02:21) Key Career Decisions I Made:

(02:47) Decision 1: Leaving My Ed-Tech Startup to Help Farmed Animals

(02:54) Background:

(04:08) Decision Options:

(04:19) How I Felt About the Decision:

(04:46) Risk Analysis:

(05:09) Risk Mitigation:

(05:25) Trade-offs:

(05:39) Decision Feedback (7 Years Later):

(06:31) Decision 2: Leaving Veganuary to Start a New Project in an Incubator

(06:38) Background:

(07:10) Decision Options:

(07:30) Decision-Making Tools Used:

(11:43) How I Felt About the Decision:

(12:00) How I Rationalized It:

(12:19) Trade-offs:

(12:42) Risk Analysis:

(12:58) Decision Feedback (3 Years Later):

(13:32) Decision 3: Choosing a New Job After Leaving the Incubated Project

(13:40) Background:

(14:05) Decision Options:

(14:22) Decision-Making Tools Used:

(16:17) How I Felt About the Decision:

(16:38) How I Rationalized It:

(17:02) Trade-offs:

(17:17) Risk Analysis:

(17:35) Decision Feedback (2.5 Years Later):

(18:14) Decision 4: Leaving AAC to Focus on Hive

(18:20) Background:

(18:38) Decision Options:

(19:05) Decision-Making Tools Used:

(20:04) How I Felt About the Decision:

(20:32) How I Rationalized It:

(21:04) Trade-offs:

(21:28) Risk Analysis:

(22:08) Decision Feedback (1.5 Years Later):

(23:07) Final Thoughts

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First published:

March 3rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/zj7EGdodY2aX3Rgve/the-toughest-career-decisions-i-made-and-the-tools-that

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Late draft amnesty week entry. Written anonymously because I work in a field where there is a currently low but non-negligible and possibly high future risk of negative consequences for criticizing Trump and Trumpism.

This post is an attempt to cobble together some ideas about the current situation in the United States and its impact on EA. I invite discussion on this, not only from Americans, but also those with advocacy experience in countries that are not fully liberal democracies (especially those countries where state capacity is substantial and autocratic repression occurs).

I've deleted a lot of text from this post in various drafts because I find myself getting way too in the weeds discoursing on comparative authoritarian studies, disinformation and misinformation (this is a great intro, though already somewhat outdated), and the dangers of the GOP.[1] I will note that I worry there is still a tendency [...]

The original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 2nd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/96tat8zsuTYBMt9Td/are-us-eas-prepared-for-democratic-backsliding

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.