Global Risks Report 2021 - World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) released a January 19, 2021 article summarizing their report on the world’s greatest risks, including a chart on rankings by likelihood and impact. A source of information for the report was the WEF’s Global Risk Perception Survey which was given to WEF members.
What involvement does Effective Altruism have with the WEF if any?
There may be opportunities to engage and influence WEF communities like Global Shapers, which is their network of young people. One of the report’s academic advisers was the Oxford Martin School, which resides at the University of Oxford, a foremost center of effective altruism.
Do you think the WEF report is helpful for effective altruists who want to assess global risks? Or is their framework for assessment not in line with preferred methods in effective altruism? Should effective altruists want to influence this report or leave it alone as an independent assessment?
Thanks for the post. I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but Open Philanthropy gave WEF a $50k donation regarding AI risks last year, and there’s a position about AI in WEF on the 80kh job board. My answers: yes, it’s helpful—even if their assessment is not “according to EA standards,” which is not a problem (we can’t use only info from EA community). I think EAs should want to influence the report, because it seems to be influential and sort of aligned.