EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

This is a link post.

Intro

This Twitter thread from Kelsey Piper has been reverberating around my psyche since its inception, almost six years now.

You should read the whole thing for more context, but here are the important tweets:

Link 1, link 2, link 3

I really like Kelsey Piper. She's “based” as the kids (and I) say. I think she was trying to do her best by her own lights during this whole episode, and she deserves major props for basically broadcasting her mistakes in clear language to her tens of thousands of followers so people like me can write posts like this. And I deeply respect and admire her and her work.

But:

I deeply regret not telling my readers sooner what I told my family

Easier said than done, hindsight is 20/20, etc., but I basically agree that she fucked up.[1]

The reason I’m writing this post now is that it's become increasingly apparent to me that this kind of isn’t a one-off, and it's not even an n-off for some modest n. It's not out of the norm.

Claim

Rather, public intellectuals, including those I respect and admire, regularly communicate information to their audiences and the [...]

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Outline:

(00:13) Intro

(01:23) Claim

(02:22) A few more examples

(02:26) Will MacAskill

(05:42) Dean Ball

(13:43) The case against the status quo

(13:58) It's misleading and that's bad

(14:10) No one else knows they're playing a game

(15:18) What would a reasonable reader infer?

(16:35) Public intellectuals are often domain experts relative to their audience

(19:05) You're (probably) all they've got

(20:54) You can have your cake and eat it too

(22:37) Not a trivial ask

(23:47) Appendix: transcript of original rant

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First published:

January 7th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8MbhZdezSavhbFcmx/public-intellectuals-need-to-say-what-they-actually-believe

Linkpost URL:
https://www.aaronbergman.net/p/public-intellectuals

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

Many of the biggest companies in the world are racing to build superintelligence — artificial intelligence that far exceeds the capability of the best humans across all domains. This will not merely be one more invention. The magnitude of the transformation will be beyond that of the printing press, or the steam engine, or electricity; more on a par with the evolution of Homo sapiens, or of life itself.

Yet almost no one has articulated a positive vision for what comes after superintelligence. Few people are even asking, “What if we succeed?” Even fewer have tried to answer.[1]

The speed and scale of the transition means we can’t just muddle through. Without a positive vision, we risk defaulting to whatever emerges from market and geopolitical dynamics, with little reason to think that the result will be anywhere close to as good as it could be. We need a north star, but we have none.

This essay is the first in a series that discusses what a good north star might be. I begin by describing a concept that I find helpful in this regard:

Viatopia: an intermediate state of society that is on track [...]

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First published:

January 7th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AjHmrSjLrtCagrud2/what-sort-of-post-superintelligence-society-should-we-aim

Linkpost URL:
https://www.forethought.org/research/viatopia

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Note: This post was crossposted from The Digital Minds Newsletter by the EA Forum team, who encouraged the crosspost, with the authors’ permission. It was briefly mentioned in an earlier announcement post. The authors may not see or respond to comments here.

Welcome to the first edition of the Digital Minds Newsletter, collating all the latest news and research on digital minds, AI consciousness, and moral status.

Our aim is to help you stay on top of the most important developments in this emerging field. In each issue, we will share a curated overview of key research papers, organizational updates, funding calls, public debates, media coverage, and events related to digital minds. We want this to be useful for people already working on digital minds as well as newcomers to the topic.

This first issue looks back at 2025 and reviews developments relevant to digital minds. We plan to release multiple editions per year.

If you find this useful, please consider subscribing, sharing it with others, and sending us suggestions or corrections to [email protected].

– Bradford, Lucius, and Will

In this issue:

1. Highlights
2. Field Developments
3. Opportunities
4. Selected Reading, Watching, & Listening
5. Press & Public Discourse
6. A Deeper Dive [...]

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Outline:

(01:51) 1. Highlights

(02:15) Anthropic's early steps on model welfare

(03:22) The field is growing

(04:44) Early signs of public discourse

(05:26) Research advances

(06:12) 2. Field Developments

(06:19) NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy

(07:24) Eleos AI

(08:04) Rethink Priorities

(08:18) Longview Philanthropy

(08:57) Global Priorities Institute

(09:11) PRISM - The Partnership for Research into Sentient Machines

(09:45) Sentience Institute

(10:05) Sentient Futures

(10:20) Other noteworthy organizations

(11:28) 3. Opportunities

(11:44) Funding and fellowships

(12:43) Events and networks

(13:48) Calls for papers

(14:25) 4. Selected Reading, Watching, & Listening

(14:30) Books

(16:09) Podcasts

(17:30) Videos

(18:51) Blogs and magazines

(21:36) 5. Press & Public Discourse

(25:58) 6. A Deeper Dive by Area

(26:14) Governance, policy, and macrostrategy

(28:47) Consciousness research

(32:17) Doubts about digital minds

(33:48) Social science research

(35:21) Ethics and digital minds

(39:09) AI safety and AI welfare

(40:59) AI and robotics developments

(42:34) AI cognition and agency

(44:53) Brain-inspired technologies

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First published:

January 6th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/oEGrRfihf7AKaqigH/digital-minds-in-2025-a-year-in-review

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Center on Long-Term Risk (CLR) is accepting applications to the next iteration of our introductory fellowship.

The CLR Fundamentals Program will introduce people to CLR's research on s-risk reduction. Apply by Monday January 19th 23:59 GMT.

Apply nowWhat topics does the CLR Fundamentals Program discuss?

The Fundamentals Program is designed to introduce participants to CLR's research on how transformative AI (TAI) might be involved in the creation of large amounts of suffering (s-risks). Our recent work on addressing these risks include our Model Personas agenda, s-risk macrostrategy, safe Pareto improvements (SPIs) and multiagent AI safety, in addition other relevant areas such as AI governance, epistemology, and risks from malevolent or fanatical actors.

We recommend people consider Center for Reducing Suffering's S-risk Introductory Fellowship if they are interested in learning about work on s-risks beyond these priority areas, and consider BlueDot's AI Safety courses if they are interested in learning about existential risks from TAI.

Note that some prior familiarity with discourse surrounding TAI and AI safety will be helpful.

Who are these programs a good fit for?

We think the Fundamentals Program will be most useful for you if you are interested in reducing s-risk through contributions to CLR's [...]

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Outline:

(00:34) What topics does the CLR Fundamentals Program discuss?

(01:31) Who are these programs a good fit for?

(02:24) When and how long is the CLR Fundamentals Program?

(02:37) How do I apply to these programs?

(03:11) I have questions!

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First published:

January 5th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KmX2HotREHnBLvnSs/announcing-the-clr-fundamentals-program

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

My recommendation for donors who are American citizens or permanent residents is that they donate directly to high-value political candidates.

My recommendation for other donors is the GiveWell All Grants Fund, except other donors with idiosyncratic preferences who should donate to other things.

Why Is Donald Trump Bad?

U. S. Democracy

Let's be clear about this: the current president of the United States tried to do a coup to overthrow the results of a free and fair election which he lost.

It's true it was an ineffectual coup that had little chance of succeeding. Once upon a time, however, attempting any coup would have ruled out someone from the presidency, and “well, he wasn’t very good at it” wasn’t considered a defense.

Donald Trump's first presidency was remarkably similar to a normal Republican presidency. The norms and institutions of American democracy managed to check his most autocratic impulses. His aides managed to work around him to get governing done. You wouldn’t have been unreasonable, in December 2024, to predict that Trump's second term would mostly just be embarrassing.

Unfortunately, Trump has learned from his mistakes. At present, Trump is actively pursuing the consolidation of power in the executive branch. [...]

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Outline:

(00:28) Why Is Donald Trump Bad?

(00:55) U. S. Democracy

(06:15) USAID

(07:25) Artificial Intelligence?

(10:03) Why Donations?

(10:06) How Do Donations Help?

(11:30) Why To Candidates?

(13:40) Why Now?

(15:37) Who Shouldn't Donate?

(18:05) Where To Donate?

(18:08) If You Care About AI Safety

(18:53) If You Don't Care About AI Safety

(20:14) Lobbying Congresspeople You Donate To

(20:40) Donations for Non-Americans, the Apolitical, Future Republican Staffers, Et Cetera

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First published:

January 6th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/axu2dfXucw7ekrj49/american-effective-altruists-should-consider-political

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In this essay, I argue that improving EA's presence on YouTube could be a high impact cause area, and I offer a series of ideas on how EA's presence on the platform could be improved.

In the appendix, I share links to the data sets I created while writing this essay, some thoughts on AI safety's presence on YouTube, and my sources.

As a side note, I am not a YouTuber so this essay is very much an outsider perspective.

Improving EA's Presence on YouTube As A High Impact Cause Area

In this section, I argue that improving EA's presence on YouTube could be a high impact cause area using the “scale, neglectedness, tractability” framework. Importantly though, we lack a clear understanding of how much views on YouTube translate into EA community building. As such, this section is somewhat speculative.

Scale

YouTube is the world's third largest video streaming platform with over 2.5 billion monthly users. Despite this, most EAs do not discover EA through YouTube. According to “EA Survey 2024: How People Get Involved in EA,” podcasts, TED talks, and videos constitute less than 12% of the sources where individuals first heard about EA. Instead, most people first [...]

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Outline:

(00:37) Improving EA's Presence on YouTube As A High Impact Cause Area

(01:03) Scale

(01:45) Neglectedness

(03:11) Tractability

(03:30) How to Improve EA's Presence on YouTube

(04:10) Pay Existing Non-EA Channels to Make EA-Related Content

(04:37) Create New EA Channels

(05:04) Necessary Requirements for a Successful Channel

(05:59) Specific Channel Ideas

(08:30) Improve Existing EA Channels

(08:49) 80,000 Hours

(09:17) Giving What We Can

(10:17) Make videos about EA itself

(11:22) Write EA books and go on media tours

(11:52) Conclusion

(12:05) Appendix

(12:09) Data on EA's Presence on YouTube

(14:06) Thoughts on AI Safety's Presence on YouTube

(15:23) Sources

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First published:

January 5th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kzuZsc7trzR792tXn/how-to-improve-ea-s-presence-on-youtube

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Key Takeaway: CEARCH recommends effective giving in Asia as a high impact philanthropic cause.

The full report can be read here.

Introduction: This research project focused on evaluating the cause area of effective giving in Asia; we focused in particular on pledge promotion, though we also examined non-pledge considerations, and we treated high-income East Asian countries (i.e. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan & South Korea) as the primary targets, given their high donation potential and CEARCH's greater familiarity with the region.

As with all our research projects, this investigation heavily focused on estimating the cause area's cost-effectiveness using quantitative modelling, while gathering evidence through literature reviews, expert interviews, and beneficiary surveys.

Cost-Effectiveness: We model the cost-effectiveness of effective giving in Asia as a function of (a) the value of pledge donations resulting from a 10% pledge by an Asian pledger; (b) the value of more EA talent resulting from a 10% pledge by an Asian pledger; and (c) tractability of pledge promotion in Asia (while applying a number of miscellaneous adjustments to account for non-pledge benefits).

We estimate that effective giving in Asia has a giving multiplier of about 10x GiveWell; it averts the equivalent of 9,750 DALYs per [...]

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First published:

January 4th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dfEJmLFsxDcFRXubt/deep-report-on-hypertension-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Note: This post was crossposted by the Forum team from the Center for Reducing Suffering's Substack, with the author's permission. It is a newer and revised version of this earlier Forum post. The author may not see or respond to comments here.

Content warning: descriptions of very bad experiences. Not graphic but may be disturbing.

I

I am writing these words while sitting in a comfortable chair in a comfortable 70 degree house. And, I suspect, you are too. Basically comfortable, that is. Physically. Maybe you’re a little cold, but not consumed by the screaming anguish of an icy ocean you cannot escape. Maybe stressed, but not asphyxiating.

It's times like these I find it far too easy to ignore the most urgent, most serious, most fundamental problem in our world.

II

Once in a while, most of us endure suffering that completely consumes us. This need not be as severe as the horrors your mind can conjure. A kidney stone. Childbirth. Stubbing your toe hard, even. Those first first few seconds, as your nerves radiate electric signals up your leg, through your spine and into your brain, there is nothing in the world but pain.

Talking—even thinking—about intense [...]

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Outline:

(00:32) I

(01:05) II

(02:32) III

(03:56) An exception

(05:35) IV

(05:51) In Alaska

(07:25) V The Window

(08:24) VII Conclusion

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First published:

January 5th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8hphDQwCzYBFySPYE/on-suffering

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In this write-up, we aim to reflect on our experience: Highlighting what went well, identifying areas for improvement, and offering actionable insights for those planning similar gatherings (as well as for ourselves in the future!).

The Effective Altruism community is steadily growing in Turkey, with a significant presence in both Istanbul and Ankara. We currently have over 200 subscribers to our newsletter and over 300 members in our national WhatsApp group. The network now includes 5 active university groups and several cause-specific initiatives, such as AI Safety Türkiye, Health Progress Hub, Effective Animal Advocacy Turkey, and Etkili Bağış (Effective Giving Turkey). Recent community-building activities include a February retreat with 26 participants, 6 cohorts of the Intro Program, 1 In-Depth Program, and a career mentorship program that targeted more experienced community members.

Encouraged by this momentum, on October 18, 2025, 104 attendees from across Turkey gathered in Kolektif House Levent, Istanbul for EA Summit Istanbul 2025, the first-ever Effective Altruism conference and by far the largest EA-related event held in Turkey to date.

The Istanbul Summit had 2 main objectives:

• Introduce newcomers to core EA principles and ensure they are provided with next steps: Targeting individuals from different backgrounds [...]

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Outline:

(02:17) Key Information

(02:34) Core Team

(04:04) Volunteer Team

(07:34) Content & Structure

(09:07) Socialization and Networking

(11:39) Production & Logistics

(15:27) Video Production & Photography

(16:30) Registration table

(17:49) Speaker Preparation & Dry Runs

(19:03) Presentation Deadlines & Format

(20:01) Giving Game Results

(20:48) Communications

(22:12) Reminders & Communication Channels

(23:18) Design & Content Creation

(23:44) Social Media Engagement

(24:04) Engagement & Post-Event Resources

(24:31) Feedback survey results

(25:42) Other results & Community Growth

(26:22) Financial Summary

(26:41) Next Steps

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First published:

January 5th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GRzK6jZCibgZZzyNw/retrospective-ea-istanbul-summit-2025

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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In this write-up, we aim to reflect on our experience: Highlighting what went well, identifying areas for improvement, and offering actionable insights for those planning similar gatherings (as well as for ourselves in the future!).

The Effective Altruism community is steadily growing in Turkey, with a significant presence in both Istanbul and Ankara. We currently have over 200 subscribers to our newsletter and over 300 members in our national WhatsApp group. The network now includes 5 active university groups and several cause-specific initiatives, such as AI Safety Türkiye, Health Progress Hub, Effective Animal Advocacy Turkey, and Etkili Bağış (Effective Giving Turkey). Recent community-building activities include a February retreat with 26 participants, 6 cohorts of the Intro Program, 1 In-Depth Program, and a career mentorship program that targeted more experienced community members.

Encouraged by this momentum, on October 18, 2025, 104 attendees from across Turkey gathered in Kolektif House Levent, Istanbul for EA Summit Istanbul 2025, the first-ever Effective Altruism conference and by far the largest EA-related event held in Turkey to date.

The Istanbul Summit had 2 main objectives:

• Introduce newcomers to core EA principles and ensure they are provided with next steps: Targeting individuals from different backgrounds [...]

---

Outline:

(02:09) Key Information

(02:27) Core Team

(03:56) Volunteer Team

(07:27) Content & Structure

(08:53) Socialization and Networking

(11:15) Production & Logistics

(15:02) Video Production & Photography

(16:06) Registration table

(17:25) Speaker Preparation & Dry Runs

(18:39) Presentation Deadlines & Format

(19:37) Giving Game Results

(20:24) Communications

(21:48) Reminders & Communication Channels

(22:54) Design & Content Creation

(23:20) Social Media Engagement

(23:40) Engagement & Post-Event Resources

(24:07) Feedback survey results

(25:17) Other results & Community Growth

(25:57) Financial Summary

(26:17) Next Steps

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First published:

January 5th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GRzK6jZCibgZZzyNw/retrospective-ea-istanbul-summit-2025

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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