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BMGF Malaria 2-10-14 (Public)
A conversation with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation malaria team on December 9, 2013 Participants • Alan Magill — Director, Malaria program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • David Brandling-Bennett — Senior Advisor, Malaria program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Bruno Moonen - Deputy Director, Malaria program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Alexandra Farnum — Program Officer, Global Program Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Meg Halverson — Consultant, Global Program Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Adrienne DiCasparro — Associate Program Officer, Giving Partnerships, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Cari Tuna — Co-Founder, Good Ventures • Holden Karnofsky — Co-Founder, GiveWell Note: This set of conversation notes was compiled by GiveWell and gives an overview of the major points made by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation malaria team. Summary GiveWell and Good Ventures spoke with members of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) malaria team about gaps in global malaria funding, BMGF’s strategy and projected timeline for malaria eradication, and other BMGF malaria activities. Gaps in global malaria funding GiveWell and Good Ventures asked the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) malaria team whether there is a need for funding of better data on bed net durability and bed net usage. There is not as much knowledge and data about bed net usage and bed net durability as there should be. A potential source of variability in bed net durability is that, currently, there are no globally established criteria for measuring the durability of bed nets, so it is possible that net durability standards differ between producers. The Results for Development Institute (R4D) is doing very good work on studying bed net durability. -
Givedirectly
GiveDirectly GiveDirectly provides unconditional cash transfers using cell phone technology to some of the world’s poorest people, as well as refugees, urban youth, and disaster victims. They also are currently running a historic Universal Basic Income initiative, delivering a basic income to 20,000+ people in Kenya in a 12-year study. United States (USD) Donate to GiveDirectly Please select your country & currency. Donations are tax-deductible in the country selected. Founded in Moved Delivered cash to 88% of donations sent to families 2009 US$140M 130K in poverty families Other ways to donate We recommend that gifts up to $1,000 be made online by credit card. If you are giving more than $1,000, please consider one of these alternatives. Check Bank Transfer Donor Advised Fund Cryptocurrencies Stocks or Shares Bequests Corporate Matching Program The problem: traditional methods of international giving are complex — and often inefficient Often, donors give money to a charity, which then passes along the funds to partners at the local level. This makes it difficult for donors to determine how their money will be used and whether it will reach its intended recipients. Additionally, charities often provide interventions that may not be what the recipients actually need to improve their lives. Such an approach can treat recipients as passive beneficiaries rather than knowledgeable and empowered shapers of their own lives. The solution: unconditional cash transfers Most poverty relief initiatives require complicated infrastructure, and alleviate the symptoms of poverty rather than striking at the source. By contrast, unconditional cash transfers are straightforward, providing funds to some of the poorest people in the world so that they can buy the essentials they need to set themselves up for future success. -
October 26, 2014
Animal Charity Evaluators Board of Directors Meeting Type of Meeting: Standard Monthly Meeting Date: October 26, 2014 In attendance: Chairperson: Simon Knutsson Treasurer: Brian Tomasik Secretary: Rob Wiblin Board Member: Sam BankmanFried Board Member: Peter Singer Board Member: S. Greenberg Executive Director: Jon Bockman Absent: Quorum established: Yes 1. Call to order: SK called the meeting to order at 9:05 am PST 2. Important questions document 1. In the philosophy document (and in the important questions document and the strategy plan, which refer to it): a. Edit the part about veganism, which can be seen as a method for benefiting animals rather than a vision or a philosophical position. b. Edit the part about wild animal suffering. The challenge is to balance bringing up an important idea with making a good impression on those who are not already aware of it or interested in it. Some board members think that we have been giving it too much space in these documents and others think it warrants that level of space because of the importance of the issue. i. Could interview others about wild animal suffering or invite them to guest blog about it. c. Improve general writing quality based on the comments from the board. 2. Consider writing a report that is as objective as possible on the important questions. 3. PS can help getting academics interested in effective animal activism. a. Has a contact at the Animal Studies Initiative at NYU – maybe this person could organize a conference b. Researchers studying persuasion might be interested (ACE or PS can encourage them) 4. -
Evidence-Based Policy Cause Area Report
Evidence-Based Policy Cause Area Report AUTHOR: 11/18 MARINELLA CAPRIATI, DPHIL 1 — Founders Pledge Animal Welfare Executive Summary By supporting increased use of evidence in the governments of low- and middle-income countries, donors can dramatically increase their impact on the lives of people living in poverty. This report explores how focusing on evidence-based policy provides an opportunity for leverage, and presents the most promising organisation we identified in this area. A high-risk/high-return opportunity for leverage In the 2013 report ‘The State of the Poor’, the World Bank reported that, as of 2010, roughly 83% of people in extreme poverty lived in countries classified as ‘lower-middle income’ or below. By far the most resources spent on tackling poverty come from local governments. American think tank the Brookings Institution found that, in 2011, $2.3 trillion of the $2.8 trillion spent on financing development came from domestic government revenues in the countries affected. There are often large differences in the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of social programs— the amount of good done per dollar spent can vary significantly across programs. Employing evidence allows us to identify the most cost-effective social programs. This is useful information for donors choosing which charity to support, but also for governments choosing which programs to implement, and how. This suggests that employing philanthropic funding to improve the effectiveness of policymaking in low- and middle-income countries is likely to constitute an exceptional opportunity for leverage: by supporting the production and use of evidence in low- and middle-income countries, donors can potentially enable policy makers to implement more effective policies, thereby reaching many more people than direct interventions. -
Non-Paywalled
Wringing the Most Good Out of a FACEBOOK FORTUNE SAN FRANCISCO itting behind a laptop affixed with a decal of a child reaching for an GIVING apple, an illustration from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, Cari Tuna quips about endowing a Tuna Room in the Bass Library at Yale Univer- sity, her alma mater. But it’s unlikely any of the fortune that she and her husband, Face- By MEGAN O’NEIL Sbook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, command — estimated by Forbes at more than $9 billion — will ever be used to name a building. Five years after they signed the Giving Pledge, the youngest on the list of billionaires promising to donate half of their wealth, the couple is embarking on what will start at double-digit millions of dollars in giving to an eclectic range of causes, from overhauling the criminal-justice system to minimizing the potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence. To figure out where to give, they created the Open Philanthropy Project, which uses academic research, among other things, to identify high-poten- tial, overlooked funding opportunities. Ms. Tuna, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, hopes the approach will influence other wealthy donors in Silicon The youngest Valley and beyond who, like her, seek the biggest possible returns for their philanthropic dollars. Already, a co-founder of Instagram and his spouse have made a $750,000 signers of the commitment to support the project. What’s more, Ms. Tuna and those working alongside her at the Open Philanthropy Project are documenting every step online — sometimes in Giving Pledge are eyebrow-raising detail — for the world to follow along. -
Against 'Effective Altruism'
Against ‘Effective Altruism’ Alice Crary Effective Altruism (EA) is a programme for rationalising for the most part adopt the attitude that they have no charitable giving, positioning individuals to do the ‘most serious critics and that sceptics ought to be content with good’ per expenditure of money or time. It was first for- their ongoing attempts to fine-tune their practice. mulated – by two Oxford philosophers just over a decade It is a posture belied by the existence of formidable ago–as an application of the moral theory consequential- critical resources both inside and outside the philosoph- ism, and from the outset one of its distinctions within ical tradition in which EA originates. In light of the undis- the philanthropic world was expansion of the class of puted impact of EA, and its success in attracting idealistic charity-recipients to include non-human animals. EA young people, it is important to forcefully make the case has been the target of a fair bit of grumbling, and even that it owes its success primarily not to the – question- some mockery, from activists and critics on the left, who able – value of its moral theory but to its compatibility associate consequentialism with depoliticising tenden- with political and economic institutions responsible for cies of welfarism. But EA has mostly gotten a pass, with some of the very harms it addresses. The sincere ded- many detractors concluding that, however misguided, its ication of many individual adherents notwithstanding, efforts to get bankers, tech entrepreneurs and the like to reflection on EA reveals a straightforward example of give away their money cost-effectively does no serious moral corruption. -
EA Course: Overview and Future Plans
EA Course: Overview and Future Plans Note: I encourage you to first read the One Page Summary at the bottom and then skip to the sections you’re interested in. ❖ Background ❖ Goals ➢ For the class ➢ For the club ➢ Ideal student ❖ Class Structure ➢ Basics ➢ Giving games ➢ Final project ➢ Potential changes ❖ Course Content ❖ Advertising and Recruiting ❖ Speakers ❖ Financial Management ➢ Banking ➢ Sources of Money ➢ Financial management issues ■ Communication Issues ■ Payment Issues ■ Reimbursement Issues ➢ Potential changes ❖ Website ❖ Final Project ➢ Goals ➢ Winning project ➢ Potential changes ❖ Evidence of Impact ➢ Collection ➢ Outcomes ➢ Potential changes ❖ Future Plans ❖ Funding Goals ❖ One Page Summary Background ● Oliver Habryka and I taught a studentled class (“DeCal”) during the Spring 2015 semester at UC Berkeley called The Greater Good, on effective altruism ● The class was taught under the banner of Effective Altruists of Berkeley, a student organization we founded the previous semester ● Overall, I think it was a success and satisfied most of our initial goals (details below) Goals ● Goals for the class: ○ Primarily, we wanted to recruit people for our newly created Effective Altruists of Berkeley club ■ Having to engage with/debate EA for a semester beforehand would allow people to really understand if they wanted to become involved in it ■ It would also allow them to contribute to the club’s projects without having to be given a whole lot of background first ■ We also felt that going through a class together first would -
Givewell NYC Research Event, December 14, 2015 – Top Charities
GiveWell NYC Research Event, December 14, 2015 – Top Charities GiveWell NYC Research Event, December 14, 2015 – Top Charities GiveWell NYC Research Event, December 14, 2015 – Top Charities This transcript was compiled by an outside contractor, and GiveWell did not review it in full before publishing, so it is possible that parts of the audio were inaccurately transcribed. If you have questions about any part of this transcript, please review the original audio recording that was posted along with these notes. Elie: All right. Well, thanks everyone for coming. I'm Elie Hassenfeld. I'm one of Givewell's co- founders. This is Natalie Crispin. Natalie: Hi. I'm a senior research analyst at Givewell. Elie: We're really happy that you joined us tonight. I just want to quickly go through some of the logistics and the basic plan for the evening. Then I'll turn it over to Natalie to talk a little bit. Just first, like we do with pretty much everything that Givewell does, we're going to try to share as much of this evening as we can with our audience. That means that we're going to record the audio of the session and publish a transcript on our website. If you say anything that you would prefer not be included in the audio or transcript, just email me, [email protected] or [email protected] or just come find me at the end of the night, and we can make sure to cut that from the event. You should feel free to speak totally freely this evening. -
Cognitive Biases Nn Discussing Cognitive Biases with Colleagues and Pupils
The RSA: an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human capability so we can close the gap between today’s reality and people’s hopes for a better world. EVERYONE STARTS WITH AN ‘A’ Applying behavioural insight to narrow the socioeconomic attainment gap in education NATHALIE SPENCER, JONATHAN ROWSON, LOUISE BAMFIELD MARCH 2014 8 John Adam Street London WC2N 6EZ +44 (0) 20 7930 5115 Registered as a charity in England and Wales IN COOPERATION WITH THE no. 212424 VODAFONE FOUNDATION GERMANY Copyright © RSA 2014 www.thersa.org www.thersa.org For use in conjunction with Everyone Starts with an “A” 3 ways to use behavioural insight in the classroom By Spencer, Rowson, www.theRSA.org Bamfield (2014), available www.vodafone-stiftung.de A guide for teachers and school leaders at: www.thersa.org/startswitha www.lehrerdialog.net n Praising pupils for effort instead of intelligence to help instil the Whether you and your pupils believe that academic idea that effort is key and intelligence is not a fixed trait. For ability is an innate trait (a ‘fixed mindset’) or can be example, try “great, you kept practicing” instead of “great, you’re strengthened through effort and practice like a muscle really clever”. (a ‘growth mindset’) affects learning, resilience to n Becoming the lead learner. Educators can shape mindset setbacks, and performance. Mindset through modelling it for the pupils. The way that you (and parents) give feedback to Think about ability like a muscle Try: n Giving a “not yet” grade instead of a “fail” to set the expectation pupils can reinforce or attenuate a given mindset. -
GPI's Research Agenda
A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR THE GLOBAL PRIORITIES INSTITUTE Hilary Greaves, William MacAskill, Rossa O’Keeffe-O’Donovan and Philip Trammell February 2019 (minor changes July 2019) We acknowledge Pablo Stafforini, Aron Vallinder, James Aung, the Global Priorities Institute Advisory Board, and numerous colleagues at the Future of Humanity Institute, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and elsewhere for their invaluable assistance in composing this agenda. 1 Table of Contents Introduction 3 GPI’s vision and mission 3 GPI’s research agenda 4 1. The longtermism paradigm 6 1.1 Articulation and evaluation of longtermism 6 1.2 Sign of the value of the continued existence of humanity 8 1.3 Mitigating catastrophic risk 10 1.4 Other ways of leveraging the size of the future 12 1.5 Intergenerational governance 14 1.6 Economic indices for longtermists 16 1.7 Moral uncertainty for longtermists 18 1.8 Longtermist status of interventions that score highly on short-term metrics 19 2. General issues in global prioritisation 21 2.1 Decision-theoretic issues 21 2.2 Epistemological issues 23 2.3 Discounting 24 2.4 Diversification and hedging 28 2.5 Distributions of cost-effectiveness 30 2.6 Modelling altruism 32 2.7 Altruistic coordination 33 2.8 Individual vs institutional actors 35 Bibliography 38 Appendix A. Research areas for future engagement 46 A.1 Animal welfare 46 A.2 The scope of welfare maximisation 48 Appendix B. Closely related areas of existing academic research 51 B.1 Methodology of cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis 51 B.2 Multidimensional economic indices 51 B.3 Infinite ethics and intergenerational equity 53 B.4 Epistemology of disagreement 53 B.5 Demandingness 54 B.6 Forecasting 54 B.7 Population ethics 55 B.8 Risk aversion and ambiguity aversion 55 B.9 Moral uncertainty 57 1 B.10 Value of information 58 B.11 Harnessing and combining evidence 59 B.12 The psychology of altruistic decision-making 60 Appendix C. -
194 William Macaskill. Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work That Matters, and Make Smarte
Philosophy in Review XXXIX (November 2019), no. 4 William MacAskill. Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices About Giving Back. Avery 2016. 272 pp. $17.00 USD (Paperback ISBN 9781592409662). Will MacAskill’s Doing Good Better provides an introduction to the Effective Altruism movement, and, in the process, it makes a strong case for its importance. The book is aimed at a general audience. It is fairly short and written for the most part in a light, conversational tone. Doing Good Better’s only real rival as a treatment of Effective Altruism is Peter Singer’s The Most Good You Can Do, though MacAskill’s and Singer’s books are better seen as companion pieces than rivals. Like The Most Good You Can Do, Doing Good Better offers the reader much of philosophical interest, and it delivers novel perspectives and even some counterintuitive but well-reasoned conclusions that will likely provoke both critics and defenders of Effective Altruism for some time to come. Before diving into Doing Good Better we want to take a moment to characterize Effective Altruism. Crudely put, Effective Altruists are committed to three claims. First, they maintain that we have strong reason to help others. Second, they claim that these reasons are impartial in nature. And, third, they hold that we are required to act on these reasons in the most effective manner possible. Hence, according to Effective Altruists, those of us who are fortunate enough to have the leisure to write (or read) scholarly book reviews (1) should help those who are most in need, (2) should do so even if we lack any personal connection to them, and (3) should do so as efficiently as we can. -
“Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014
1 “Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014 2 “We all know we must die. But that, say the immortalists, is no longer true… Science has progressed so far that we are morally bound to seek solutions, just as we would be morally bound to prevent a real tsunami if we knew how” - Bryan Appleyard 1 “The moral argument for cryonics is that it's wrong to discontinue care of an unconscious person when they can still be rescued. This is why people who fall unconscious are taken to hospital by ambulance, why they will be maintained for weeks in intensive care if necessary, and why they will still be cared for even if they don't fully awaken after that. It is a moral imperative to care for unconscious people as long as there remains reasonable hope for recovery.” - ALCOR 2 “How many cryonicists does it take to screw in a light bulb? …None – they just sit in the dark and wait for the technology to improve” 3 - Sterling Blake 1 Appleyard 2008. Page 22-23 2 Alcor.org: ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ 2014 3 Blake 1996. Page 72 3 Introduction Biologists have known for some time that certain organisms can survive for sustained time periods in what is essentially a death"like state. The North American Wood Frog, for example, shuts down its entire body system in winter; its heart stops beating and its whole body is frozen, until summer returns; at which point it thaws and ‘comes back to life’ 4.