EAG Talks

EAG Talks

By Aaron BergmanSociety & CulturePhilosophy
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EAG Talks episodes

  • The role of mental health in poverty in rural Pakistan | Victoria Baranov | EAGxAustralia 2023

    Victoria Baranov is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne. In her research, Victoria couples RCTs and longitudinal data in her research that looks into how psychological factors may perpetuate poverty traps. Her team conducted an RCT in rural Pakistan, providing psychotherapy to depressed mothers in the treatment group, while simultaneously collecting bio-samples and baseline data. She compared life outcomes at 7 years postpartum, with significant positive effects. While ‘classical’ development microeconomics has focused on credit constraints, lack of insurance, or high exposure to disease, Baranov’s findings have significant implications for where resources should be directed in LDCs in order to break poverty traps, and offers profound insight into how mental health pervades individual and societal wellbeing.

    Victoria Baranov is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne. In her research, Victoria couples RCTs and longitudinal data in her research that looks into how psychological factors may perpetuate poverty traps.
    MC: Bridget Loughhead


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD0L4prUHjE

    56 min
  • Australia's unique opportunities in tackling climate chang | Jack Rafferty | EAGxAustralia 2023


    Climate change is one of the biggest problems we have to face. This talk discusses some of the more effective and neglected methods of addressing climate change, and unpacks what Australia can do to make a difference in climate on a global scale.
    Jack Rafferty is the Manager of Climate Giving for Giving Green Australia. Prior to joining Giving Green, Jack was the Co-founder and Director of Lead Exposure Elimination Project, a policy focused international NGO that is working to end childhood lead poisoning worldwide.Jack holds bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Science and Philosophy from the University of Sydney.


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZShvP97sjY

    42 min
  • Consciousness, philosophy and animal welfare | Jack Hawke | EAGxAustralia 2023

    This talk introduces the audience to the philosophical and scientific study of animal consciousness. It explains why understanding animal consciousness is inseparable to the project of animal welfare, and why the current ‘valence-based’ and ‘preference-based’ approach to animal welfare are inadequate. It ends by urging effective altruists concerned about animal welfare to care about fundamental, theoretical research on animal consciousness.

    Jack Hawke is currently undertaking a research Masters in philosophy at the Australian National University (ANU). Earlier, he completed a graduate program at the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care. Before that, he completed a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) at the ANU.
    MC: Bec Mayo


    25 min
  • Australia & policy careers | Chelsea Liang, Krystal Ha | EAGxAustralia 2023

    Chelsea and Krystal give a talk on pursuing EA-aligned policy careers in Australia. They go through what's important to consider in your fit for policy work, what EA-aligned policy work looks like day-to-day and across different types of organisations, the current landscape of EA policy organisations, and different routes to impact.

    Chelsea Liang is a Health Security Policy Researcher at Good Ancestors Policy, a charity that seeks to engage all levels of government and civil society on the biggest challenges of the century. There she has created a bespoke and concrete set of pandemic preparedness policy papers tailored to meet the current Australian legal, bureaucratic, and scientific infrastructure. This work was supported by an Open Philanthropy grant.
    Krystal is a Co-Founder of Policy Foundry, a policy development unit that provides high-quality policy proposals for advocates on the most important 21st century global challenges. Previously, she worked at the Grattan Institute, economic consultancy HoustonKemp and the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. She is currently an economics honours student at Monash University.
    MC: Lucas Lewit-Mendes


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYT-5vHXNE

    40 min
  • Animal Welfare Talks | Sam Perkins, Ren Springlea, Michael Dello-Iacovo | EAGxAustralia 2023

    Cellular Agriculture has the potential to create a more ethical, accessible and sustainable food system. However, this potential won't be realised unless the sector can overcome a number of significant and pressing challenges, such as accessing regulatory approval, scaling manufacture and gaining social acceptance. Cellular Agriculture Australia focuses exclusively on the non-competitive challenges and opportunities facing the sector in Australia.

    Ren Springlea: Why you should pursue a career in animal advocacy (even if you're a longtermist!)
    Working in animal advocacy is both really enjoyable and an opportunity to have an immense impact. I'll explain why animal advocacy could be a great option for you, especially if you're worried your skills or moral frameworks might make animal advocacy a less competitive option. I'll also discuss some resources for getting started.
    Michael Dello-Iacovo: Key considerations for longtermist animal advocates: Overlaps and opportunities
    Longtermism and animal advocacy are often discussed separately. However, by neglecting the other, longtermists and animal advocates may be missing out on key considerations to maximise their impact. In this talk, Michael will give an overview of the overlap between longtermism and animal advocacy, and discuss some important considerations that proponents of both should keep in mind.
    Sam has taken on many roles around sustainability, strategy, and R&D, and today is the CEO of Cellular Agriculture Australia.
    Ren works as a Research Scientist at Animal Ask. They are also co-founding a new project focusing on humane fish slaughter in Mediterranean fish farms, and have been involved with the Animal Justice Party.
    Michael currently works for the Sentience Institute as Strategy Lead & Researcher. He has also co-founded The Life You Can Save Adelaide, has been the CEO of Effective Altruism Australia, and has been involved with the Animal Justice Party.
    MC: Bec Mayo


    52 min
  • Alternative proteins: Untapped opportunities | Thomas King | EAGxAustralia 2023


    Alternative proteins hold the potential to move humanity beyond animal agriculture. If successful, this would have substantial benefits, in animal suffering, climate change, public health, food security and more. Yet after the initial wave of excitement in recent plant-based products such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, it’s clear there are significant technical and non-technical challenges to overcome. This 1 hour session is geared towards students and professionals who are interested to learn more, brainstorm together and ultimately have potential career interest to contribute in this space. We divide the session by business and scientific backgrounds, discuss key challenges, then conclude by talking about next steps for career exploration. The session is co-hosted by Lucie from Cellular Agriculture Australia, a non-profit working with multiple stakeholders to to progress the field, and Simon from Better Bite Ventures, an early stage investor in new alt protein startups.
    Thomas King is a founder, international speaker and future food specialist who has been recognised as one of Australia’s most accomplished young pioneers. For over a decade Thomas has driven food systems, environmental and poverty alleviation initiatives across five continents. He was named Young Australian of the Year VIC in 2015, awarded a Myer Innovation Fellowship in 2019 and on The Australian’s 2022 100 Top Innovators list.
    MC: Lucas Lewit-Mendes


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB28UJi7_oE

    25 min
  • Unexpected value: Prioritising the urgency of suffering | Jonathan Leighton | EAGxAustralia 2023

    We all agree that suffering matters, but how much does it matter compared to other issues we could devote resources to? In this talk, Jonathan Leighton will discuss the relationship between happiness and suffering, including how it is understood by many rationalists and members of the EA community, and argue for an alternative ethical framework that prioritises the inherent urgency of extreme suffering, while still explicitly acknowledging the important role of our intuitions.

    Jonathan Leighton is the Executive Director of the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS), a think-and-do tank he founded to promote compassionate ethics in societal decision-making. OPIS is best known for its advocacy for better access to effective medications for people in severe pain, including morphine for terminal cancer patients in lower-income countries, and psychedelics for patients with horrendously painful conditions like cluster headaches. It also advocates for anti-speciesism and an end to factory farming and the abuse of animals.
    MC: Michael Kerrison


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWCe3bbnA8&t=18s

    30 min
  • Best bets: fourteen innovations with potential for impact at scale | Loic Watine | EAG London: 2024

    In this session, Loic presents the concept of emerging innovations in international development (a.k.a Best Bets) and goes over the 14 that IPA has identified in a recent flagship report.

    As Chief Research & Policy Officer for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Loic's work is about championing research and evidence that is connected with real-world decision-makers to improve the lives of people living in poverty. In practice, Loic oversees IPA's various sector programs, IPA's Policy team, and the Right-Fit-Evidence unit—an advisory unit that helps funders and implementers with their own use of M&E (monitoring and evaluation), data and evidence.


    52 min
  • History and challenges of economic development | James Fodor | EAGxAustralia 2023

    The richest countries in the world are about one hundred times wealthier per person than the poorest countries. How did such immense differences arise, and why do they continue to exist? This talk summarises various proposed solutions to this paradox of economic development, including theories emphasising culture, geography, dependency, and institutions. Drawing upon comparative historical analysis, formal models, and statistical evidence, the talk argues that the quality of political and economic institutions ultimately explains most of the differences in development outcomes between countries. It concludes by considering implications for the effective altruism movement.

    James Fodor is a PhD student in the Decision, Risk and Financial Sciences Program. He completed graduate studies in physics and economics at the University of Melbourne, and a masters degree in neuroscience at the Australian National University. He has also worked as a research assistant in structural biology at Monash University. Outside of research, James has a keen interest in science, philosophy, and critical thinking. He is passionate about Effective Altruism, including causes such as global poverty and animal welfare.


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tA8wkOGJrE

    26 min
  • AI Wellbeing | Simon Goldstein | EAGxAustralia 2023

    Simon Goldstein is a research fellow at the Center for AI Safety, and an associate professor of philosophy at Australian Catholic University. His research focuses on AI safety and AI wellbeing. He is especially interested in new types of AI systems that enrich LLMs with agential scaffolding, to create AI systems that have the semblance of a folk psychology.

    Simon argues that some AI systems today have wellbeing, so that it could be morally wrong to frustrate their goals. He surveys the main philosophical theories of belief and desire, and argues that according to most of these theories, some AI systems have beliefs and desires. Then he surveys the main philosophical theories of wellbeing, and argues that AI systems with beliefs and desires have wellbeing. Finally, he argues that uncertainty about AI wellbeing requires us to dramatically reassess our relationship with the intelligent systems we create.
    MC: Bridget Loughhead


    Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21fbCIaZPlA

    28 min

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