Effective altruism in a nutshell
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'Effective Altruism: An Introduction' is a collection of ten top episodes of The 80,000 Hours Podcast specifically selected to help listeners quickly get up to speed on the school of thought known as effective altruism.
Here the host of the show — Rob Wiblin — briefly explains what effective altruism is all about, and what to expect from the rest of this series.
More episodes from Effective Altruism: An Introduction – 80,000 Hours
Apr 12, 2021
One: Holden Karnofsky on times philanthropy transformed the world & Open Phil's plan to do the same
The Green Revolution averted mass famine during the 20th century. The contraceptive pill gave women unprecedented freedom in planning their own lives. Both are widely recognised as scientific breakthroughs that transformed the world. But few know that those breakthroughs only happened when they did because of a philanthropist willing to take a risky bet on a new idea.
Holden Karnofsky has been studying philanthropy’s biggest success stories because he’s Executive Director of Open Philanthropy, a major foundation which gives away over $200 million a year — and he’s hungry for big wins.
In this conversation from 2018 Holden explains the philosophy of effective altruism and how he goes about searching for giving opportunities that can do the most good possible.Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview
This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed on February 27, 2018. Some related episodes include:
• #41 – David Roodman on incarceration, geomagnetic storms, & becoming a world-class researcher
• #37 – GiveWell picks top charities by estimating the unknowable. James Snowden on how they do it.
• #10 – Dr Nick Beckstead on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction
Series produced by Keiran Harris.
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Apr 12, 2021
Two: Dr Toby Ord on why the long-term future matters more than anything else & what to do about it
Of all the people whose well-being we should care about, only a small fraction are alive today. The rest are members of future generations who are yet to exist. Whether they’ll be born into a world that is flourishing or disintegrating – and indeed, whether they will ever be born at all – is in large part up to us. As such, the welfare of future generations should be our number one moral concern.
This conclusion holds true regardless of whether your moral framework is based on common sense, consequences, rules of ethical conduct, cooperating with others, virtuousness, keeping options open – or just a sense of wonder about the universe we find ourselves in.
That’s the view of Dr Toby Ord, a philosophy Fellow at the University of Oxford and co-founder of the effective altruism community.
In this conversation from 2017, Toby makes the case that aiming for a positive long-term future is likely the best way to improve the world.Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview
This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed on September 6, 2017. Some related episodes include:
• #10 – Dr Nick Beckstead on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction
• #45 – Prof Tyler Cowen's stubborn attachments to maximising economic growth, making civilization more stable & respecting human rights
• #68 – Will MacAskill on the paralysis argument, whether we're at the hinge of history, & his new priorities
• #72 – Toby Ord on the precipice and humanity's potential futures
• #73 – Phil Trammell on patient philanthropy and waiting to do good
• #86 – Hilary Greaves on Pascal's mugging, strong longtermism, and whether existing can be good for us
Series produced by Keiran Harris.
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Apr 12, 2021
Three: Alexander Berger on improving global health and wellbeing in clear and direct ways
The effective altruist research community tries to identify the highest impact things people can do to improve the world. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulty of such a massive and open-ended project, very different schools of thought have arisen about how to do the most good.
Today’s guest, Alexander Berger, leads Open Philanthropy’s ‘Global Health and Wellbeing’ programme, where he oversees around $175 million in grants each year, and ultimately aspires to disburse billions in the most impactful ways he and his team can identify.
In this conversation from 2021, Alexander explains the case in favour of adopting the ‘global health and wellbeing’ mindset, while going through the arguments for the longtermist approach that he finds most and least convincing.Full transcript, related links, and summary of this interview
This episode first broadcast on the regular 80,000 Hours Podcast feed on July 12, 2021. Some related episodes include:
* #22 – Dr Leah Utyasheva on the non-profit that figured out how to massively cut suicide rates
* #37 – GiveWell picks top charities by estimating the unknowable. James Snowden on how they do it.
* #83 – Jennifer Doleac on ways to prevent crime other than police and prisons
Series produced by Keiran Harris.
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