EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

We are glad to announce the release of biosecurity.world! Your new go-to website for navigating the biosecurity landscape and finding relevant organizations worldwide.

The biosecurity.world database, in a view structured around the types of activities.

Objective & Target Audience

Our aim is to provide an overview of the biosecurity landscape for people who want to learn more about the field, by giving them an idea of the work that is being done (and by whom) and therefore how they could contribute.

This corresponds to Level 2, and to some extent 3, of this on-ramp model. We got inspiration from aisafety.world.

Current State

This is version 0.2—the Earliest Usable Version.

Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way by providing feedback.

We are currently working on version 0.3—Earliest Lovable—which includes a visualization of the map. We believe the current version is still useful and should [...]

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Outline:

(00:36) Objective and Target Audience

(01:01) Current State

(01:25) Navigation

(03:17) Call To Action

(04:40) Acknowledgements

(05:18) Existing Lists and Databases

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First published:

October 21st, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kFiShNekSEvB8PLm5/announcing-biosecurity-world

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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While this post touches on biosecurity it's a personal post and I'm

not speaking for my employer

If you want to prevent airborne spread of diseases you have a few

options:

Masks, fans, and air filters are widely available, but what about UV?

The CDC recommends

upper-room UV, it has a long history of successful use in with TB,

and in many cases it's great fit for the space. Look on Yelp, though,

and no installers come up:

Maybe people are missing a good business opportunity, or maybe it's

the kind of opportunity that's only ok but is worth it for the

altruistic impacts of directly reducing spread and normalizing UV?

Seems worth finding out!

If [...]

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First published:

October 19th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KsxipaEywCpWfbvni/start-an-upper-room-uv-installation-company

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

Crossposting this essay by my friend Gavriel Kleinwaks, who is approximately the world expert in Far UV deployment.

Disclaimer: In the interest of avoiding the problem where a post languishes in drafts forever, I am not attempting to be particularly rigorous, but I’m happy to answer questions to fill in details about how I’ve come to the conclusions I’m writing about. This post is informed by my work experience at 1Day Sooner, but only reflects my personal takes, not the official stance of my organization.

I work on indoor air quality to reduce disease burden and pandemic risk, and far-UV is an extremely promising intervention. One of the questions I get most often is, “If this is so promising, why isn’t it everywhere?” The answer requires a lot of breakdown and I get a lot of follow-up questions as soon as I start to answer [...]

The original text contained 10 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

October 19th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/MGTzcHtwxpL6iXLJd/if-far-uv-is-so-great-why-isn-t-it-everywhere

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Introduction

Worldview diversification involves “putting significant resources behind each worldview that we find highly plausible,” and then allowing those resources to be utilized in ways that promote that worldview's values[1] (Karnofsky 2016). There are many possible representatives of a worldview. In a large organization, entire departments might represent worldviews. In a giving circle, groups of individuals with particular interests might represent worldviews. In a single person, portions of their credence might represent worldviews.

Regardless of the context, suppose that a given worldview gets a share of the overall budget proportional to a credence in that worldview. The worldview is empowered to spend that money however it likes and it attempts to bring about the greatest amount of value with the resources it's given.[2] Worldviews are autonomous but are informed about the deliberations of other worldviews. How should we expect the diversified system to distribute the overall pool of [...]

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Outline:

(00:05) Introduction

(03:53) Compromises

(06:14) Trades

(09:51) Wagers

(14:50) Loans

(17:17) Common Cause/ Same Boat

(19:15) Conclusions

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

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First published:

October 18th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/c4xhaJmuvigD3hWBu/bargaining-among-worldviews

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

It's been a busy season at the Nucleic Acid Observatory, and we have a lot to share since our last update. As always, If anything here is particularly interesting or if you’re working on similar problems, please reach out!

Wastewater Sequencing

We performed an initial analysis of untargeted sequencing data from aggregated airplane lavatory waste and municipal treatment plant influent that we collected and processed during our Fall 2023 partnership with CDC's Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program and Ginkgo Biosecurity. We've now analyzed viral abundance and diversity in sequencing data across multiple sample types and wastewater-processing and sequencing protocols. Next steps include further investigating how protocol and sample-type affect specific viruses and bacteria, as well as understanding pathogen temporal dynamics seen in airport versus treatment-plant samples.

We have continued to work with Pardis Sabeti's Lab at the Broad Institute to develop an optimized protocol for preparing [...]

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Outline:

(00:22) Wastewater Sequencing

(02:36) Pooled Individual Sequencing

(03:36) Other Sampling Strategies

(04:15) Nucleic Acid Tracers

(04:50) Analysis of Sequencing Data

(07:31) Organizational Updates

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First published:

October 18th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ipErm2s9GvA8So86d/nao-updates-fall-2024

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

It's been a busy season at the Nucleic Acid Observatory, and we have a lot to share since our last update. As always, If anything here is particularly interesting or if you’re working on similar problems, please reach out!

Wastewater Sequencing

We performed an initial analysis of untargeted sequencing data from aggregated airplane lavatory waste and municipal treatment plant influent that we collected and processed during our Fall 2023 partnership with CDC's Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program and Ginkgo Biosecurity. We've now analyzed viral abundance and diversity in sequencing data across multiple sample types and wastewater-processing and sequencing protocols. Next steps include further investigating how protocol and sample-type affect specific viruses and bacteria, as well as understanding pathogen temporal dynamics seen in airport versus treatment-plant samples.

We have continued to work with Pardis Sabeti's Lab at the Broad Institute to develop an optimized protocol for preparing [...]

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Outline:

(00:21) Wastewater Sequencing

(02:35) Pooled Individual Sequencing

(03:35) Other Sampling Strategies

(04:14) Nucleic Acid Tracers

(04:49) Analysis of Sequencing Data

(07:29) Organizational Updates

The original text contained 1 image which was described by AI.

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First published:

October 18th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ipErm2s9GvA8So86d/nao-updates-fall-2024

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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At EAG: London 2024, I presented Ambitious Impact's strategic vision for maximizing career impact across the EA ecosystem. I introduced the concept of "high absorbency" careers and outlined why and how EA should create more targeted on-ramps, helping promising individuals bridge the final gap to truly impactful roles. I also reviewed AIM's expanded program offerings, each tailored to address specific bottlenecks within their respective ecosystems. Here's a transcript of the talk, relevant for individuals looking for high-impact careers, EA organizations, and EA as a movement.

Edit: I ended up giving the same talk filmed at EAGxVirtual so you can also watch/listen to the talk now here.

Key Points:

• The talk emphasizes the need for structured guidance to help people transition into high-impact careers, especially those who are already skilled but face last-mile barriers. Building on-ramps for people who are 95% of the way to impact is thus [...]

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Outline:

(01:33) Why we need on-ramps and what they are

(02:13) The problem: skills gap creating talent bottlenecks

(03:17) The solution: building on-ramps to help people reach career goals

(03:57) How to choose where to build on-ramps

(04:02) Which career paths should we focus on building on-ramps for?

(05:43) Calculating the impact of a career

(06:58) Calculating absorbency

(09:24) Example: NGO founding and Charity Entrepreneurship

(10:42) Lead Exposure Elimination Project as a case study in NGO founding

(12:14) On-ramps as last mile solutions

(13:32) Charity Entrepreneurship to AIM: solving more bottlenecks

(14:35) Building multiple on-ramps; Charity Entrepreneurships transition to Ambitious Impact

(15:16) Other AIM programs

(15:38) AIM Grantmaking

(16:50) AIM Founding to Give

(18:47) Effective Giving Incubation

(19:19) AIM Research

(20:35) Career paths we should on-ramp

(23:01) Applying this framework

(23:36) As an individual

(25:30) As an organization

(27:24) As a movement

(28:10) Conclusion: EA should be more ambitious in achieving impact

(29:09) QandA

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First published:

October 17th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ExNBpnggY9pjTpcrK/building-backwards-how-to-get-more-people-into-impactful

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

At EAG: London 2024, I presented Ambitious Impact's strategic vision for maximizing career impact across the EA ecosystem. I introduced the concept of "high absorbency" careers and outlined why and how EA should create more targeted on-ramps, helping promising individuals bridge the final gap to truly impactful roles. I also reviewed AIM's expanded program offerings, each tailored to address specific bottlenecks within their respective ecosystems. Here's a transcript of the talk, relevant for individuals looking for high-impact careers, EA organizations, and EA as a movement.

Key Points:

• The talk emphasizes the need for structured guidance to help people transition into high-impact careers, especially those who are already skilled but face last-mile barriers. Building on-ramps for people who are 95% of the way to impact is thus a uniquely effective way to solve talent bottlenecks.
• Absorbency (i.e. the number of people who can realistically and successfully get a [...]

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Outline:

(01:25) Why we need on-ramps and what they are

(02:12) The problem: skills gap creating talent bottlenecks

(03:30) The solution: building on-ramps to help people reach career goals

(04:19) How to choose where to build on-ramps

(04:24) Which career paths should we focus on building on-ramps for?

(06:13) Calculating the impact of a career

(07:39) Calculating absorbency

(10:14) Example: NGO founding and Charity Entrepreneurship

(11:54) Lead Exposure Elimination Project as a case study in NGO founding

(13:42) On-ramps as last mile solutions

(15:17) Charity Entrepreneurship to AIM: solving more bottlenecks

(16:29) Building multiple on-ramps; Charity Entrepreneurships transition to Ambitious Impact

(17:23) Other AIM programs

(17:53) AIM Grantmaking

(19:13) AIM Founding to Give

(21:18) Effective Giving Incubation

(21:58) AIM Research

(23:22) Career paths we should on-ramp

(25:57) Applying this framework

(26:40) As an individual

(28:40) As an organization

(30:41) As a movement

(31:34) Conclusion: EA should be more ambitious in achieving impact

(32:40) QandA

The original text contained 28 images which were described by AI.

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First published:

October 17th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ExNBpnggY9pjTpcrK/building-backwards-how-to-get-more-people-into-impactful

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Introduction

Accurately quantifying animal suffering is a critical step in ensuring that welfare interventions are evidence-based and lead to meaningful improvements.

We are excited to share this transcript from our workshop at EAG: London 2024, where we introduced the methodology behind the Welfare Footprint Project. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers, Stien van der Ploeg for being a wonderful MC and for the kind introduction, Niko Bjork for all the help, for putting together this transcript and inviting us to submit it to the EA Forum, and finally, the audience for their insightful questions during the talk and the follow-up office hours in this incredible event.

This talk highlights the importance of quantifying animal welfare to effectively prioritize and implement interventions. We introduce the Welfare Footprint Project, which provides a structured approach to measuring welfare impacts across different species and production systems.

At the [...]

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Outline:

(00:08) Introduction

(02:30) EA Global London: 2024 talk

(02:50) Throughlines between the Welfare Footprint Project and the work of Jeremy Bentham

(03:54) Felicific calculus

(04:41) Looking towards the future

(05:31) How to prioritize between sources of animal suffering?

(06:12) Using the Welfare Footprint Framework to quantity animal suffering

(07:48) Estimating the cost effectiveness interventions

(09:12) Breaking down the Welfare Footprint Framework

(13:30) Using the Pain-Track notation system

(17:52) Levels of pain intensity

(19:33) Case study: surgical castration of piglets

(20:37) Rating pieces of evidence on support for each intensity hypothesis

(21:39) Assessing the probability of pain being of each intensity level

(22:10) Cumulative Pain

(22:50) A scale of cumulative pain and cumulative pleasure

(23:42) Pain-Track can estimate the welfare impacts for various populations and interventions

(24:55) Why time-based welfare impact is an effective metric

(26:17) Anyone can understand pain and pleasure

(27:40) Introduction to the Pain-Track GPT tool

(31:41) QandA

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First published:

October 17th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/TQgjsxBdWTxksZJh9/quantifying-animal-suffering-and-the-impact-of-interventions

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This paper was published as a GPI working paper in October 2024.

Abstract

I study a static production economy in which consumers have not only preferences over their own consumption but also external, or “ethical”, preferences over the supply of each good. Though existing work on the implications of external preferences assumes price-taking, I show that ethical consumers generically prefer not to act even approximately as price-takers. I therefore introduce a near-Nash equilibrium concept that generalizes the near-Nash equilibria found in literature on strategic foundations of general equilibrium to accommodate ethical preferences. I find (narrow) sufficient criteria under which such equilibria exist, and characterize consumer behavior in all such equilibria. Finally I find that ethical preferences can have arbitrary impacts on consumer behavior in equilibrium, including motivating a consumer (1) to decrease her consumption of all goods which she would prefer in greater supply and vice-versa, or (2) not [...]

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Outline:

(00:12) Abstract

(01:16) 1 Introduction

(01:20) 1.1 Motivation

(06:19) Results with relevance to actors in the EA community

(06:53) Impacts of expenditures on supply

(08:28) Anything goes

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

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First published:

October 16th, 2024

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rKB68JhaNFsezkXuM/ethical-consumerism-philip-trammell

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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