EA Talks

In this talk, Rachel Waddell provides an overview of GiveDirectly’s rapid response to COVID-19 across countries of operation. In particular explaining remote responses launched in Uganda and Kenya, in partnership with local CBOs and telecommunications partners.

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Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Michelle Hutchinson (Head of Advising) and Arden Koehler (Research Analyst) answer questions about 80,000 Hours’ career advice, the career advising programme, and what’s new at the organization.

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

William MacAskill is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Oxford University. He was educated at Cambridge, Princeton, and Oxford and is one of the progenitors of the effective altruism movement. His book on the topic, Doing Good Better, was published by Penguin Random House in 2015. He is the co-founder of three non-profits based on effective altruist principles: Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours and the Centre for Effective Altruism, and is also a research fellow at the Global Priorities Institute.

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Marcus is a co-founder and Co-Executive Director at Rethink Priorities, where he leads research and strategy. He’s also a co-founder of Charity Entrepreneurship and Charity Science Health, where he previously systematically analyzed global poverty interventions, helped manage partnerships, and implemented the technical aspects of the project. Marcus is especially well placed to advise people who: – are considering working for EA organizations – are considering starting EA organizations – are considering becoming researchers at EA organizations – are current or prospective animal welfare researchers

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

How has COVID-19 changed the best way to help animals? Lewis explores the new challenges and opportunities in corporate campaigns, political advocacy, and meat alternatives.

https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Machine learning algorithms have become an essential part of technology and this part will only grow in the future. In this talk, Chongli addresses why it is important for us to develop safe machine learning algorithms. The talk covers some of the current work on this topic and highlights what we can do to ensure that the machine learning algorithms being bought into the real world are safe and consistent with desirable specifications.

https://deepmind.com

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Even though mental disorders account for a considerable burden of disease globally and appear to strongly impact an individuals’ subjective well-being, the EA community has spent relatively little effort on identifying the best mental health giving opportunities. This talk provides an introduction to the Happier Lives Institute’s Mental Health Programme Evaluation Project (MHPEP), which aims to fill this gap. In this talk, Jasper introduces the research process to date and shares preliminary insights, along with limitations of the approach.

For in-depth preparation, we recommend reading our latest post about the project on the EA Forum:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uzLRw7cjpKnsuM7c3/hli-s-mental-health-programme-evaluation-project-update-on

To find out more about the Happier Lives Institute more generally, see this recent update:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/e6u3cTSNsYGHtTth6/update-from-the-happier-lives-institute

Or visit our website:
https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

In this workshop, Habiba gives a run-down of the essentials of project management. The workshop covers the responsibilities of project managers as well as the standard tools and methodologies that can be used for large projects or scaled down for smaller projects. This video will be particularly useful for people interested in operations roles.

Link to slides

Link to handout

Clarification:
The definition of the critical path of a project is the longest sequence of activities in a project plan which must be completed to complete a project. Calculating this gives you an understanding of a the minimum amount of time a project has to take.

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

In a world now painfully aware of pandemics, with ever-increasing access to autonomous biological agents, how can we help channel society’s response to COVID-19 to minimize the risk of deliberate misuse? Using the challenge of securing DNA synthesis as an example, Kevin outlines the key norms and incentives governing biotechnology, lays out potential strategies for reform, and suggests ways in which thoughtful individuals might help safely and credibly discuss and mitigate biorisks without spreading information hazards.

http://www.sculptingevolution.org

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

The EA Forum is the best place to share a message where the EA community will see it. And there’s a very good chance that you have a message worth sharing! Aaron discusses common features of excellent Forum posts and runs a brainstorming session where participants submit post ideas to get live feedback.

A companion document for the presentation, which contains additional resources, is available here.

Original Video

Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.