Just a very quick answer, but I’d be keen to have content that lists e.g. the most important 5-10 questions that seem to have the biggest effect on cause selection, since I think that would help people think through cause selection for themselves, but without having to think about every big issue in philosophy.
I think the main challenge is that it’s really difficult to pinpoint what these considerations actually are (there’s a lot of disagreement), and they differ a lot by person and which worldviews we want to have in scope. We also lack easy to read write-ups of many of the concepts.
I’d be interested in having another go at the list though, and I think we have much better write-ups than e.g. pre-2017. I’d be very interested to see other people’s take on what the list should be.
A flowchart like that seems like a good idea to me. I did briefly mention the possibility of some sort of flowchart in my post, although on reflection I actually think it could be even better than I first gave it credit. It can align people to the cause areas that fit their underlying views, whilst also countering potential misunderstandings that prevent people doing more good than they otherwise would. For example, in reality many people with person-affecting views might reject longtermism off the bat, but that global priorities project flowchart would guide those people, if they still care about people in the far future (like Arjun in my original post), to longtermist areas that may be robust to certain person-affecting views. I like that!
I would endorse a refresh of that flowchart, but think it would be helpful to have underlying content that people can look at if they want to understand the logic of the flowchart or make better decisions as they go along the flowchart. “Can we permanently improve society” is a pretty darned tough question for someone to answer, so it would be good to have some helpful easy-to-digest content for those who may want to read up on that a bit before actually giving an answer. It’s quite a different question to “Are future people just as valuable as present people” which seems more subjective, although even for this question there could be some useful content to link to.
I may have a bit more of a think about a list of questions. Thanks for raising it!
Just a very quick answer, but I’d be keen to have content that lists e.g. the most important 5-10 questions that seem to have the biggest effect on cause selection, since I think that would help people think through cause selection for themselves, but without having to think about every big issue in philosophy.
We tried to make a simple version of this a while back here: https://80000hours.org/problem-quiz/
This was another attempt: http://globalprioritiesproject.org/2015/09/flowhart/
OP’s worldview investigations are also about these kinds of considerations (more info: https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/ajeya-cotra-worldview-diversification/)
I think the main challenge is that it’s really difficult to pinpoint what these considerations actually are (there’s a lot of disagreement), and they differ a lot by person and which worldviews we want to have in scope. We also lack easy to read write-ups of many of the concepts.
I’d be interested in having another go at the list though, and I think we have much better write-ups than e.g. pre-2017. I’d be very interested to see other people’s take on what the list should be.
FYI I have had a go at a new flowchart here. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Is anyone working on this? I don’t want to overcommit but I’d like to contribute in any way I can.
A flowchart like that seems like a good idea to me. I did briefly mention the possibility of some sort of flowchart in my post, although on reflection I actually think it could be even better than I first gave it credit. It can align people to the cause areas that fit their underlying views, whilst also countering potential misunderstandings that prevent people doing more good than they otherwise would. For example, in reality many people with person-affecting views might reject longtermism off the bat, but that global priorities project flowchart would guide those people, if they still care about people in the far future (like Arjun in my original post), to longtermist areas that may be robust to certain person-affecting views. I like that!
I would endorse a refresh of that flowchart, but think it would be helpful to have underlying content that people can look at if they want to understand the logic of the flowchart or make better decisions as they go along the flowchart. “Can we permanently improve society” is a pretty darned tough question for someone to answer, so it would be good to have some helpful easy-to-digest content for those who may want to read up on that a bit before actually giving an answer. It’s quite a different question to “Are future people just as valuable as present people” which seems more subjective, although even for this question there could be some useful content to link to.
I may have a bit more of a think about a list of questions. Thanks for raising it!
(I believe an EA wiki type thing is currently in the works, so these sorts of efforts could perhaps be combined with that somehow.)