Roles outside explicitly EA organisations are most people’s best career options.
Sometimes these roles aren’t as visible to the community, including to 80,000 Hours, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t highly impactful.
Many especially impactful roles require specific skills. If none of these roles are currently a great fit for you, but one could be if you developed the right skills, it can be worth it to take substantial time to do so.
You should use 80,000 Hours to figure out what your best career is and how to get there, not what “the” best careers are.
I’d add in different ways of having impact and how they generally compare as people often ask about why EA doesn’t do much in one of the following; career, donations, volunteering, influence/voting and personal consumption
Also some articles that I’ve shared quite regularly with people newer to EA.
I truly want Effective Altruism to flourish, but I am concerned with the EA handbooks, the backbone of the EA community, being too theoretical.
Donating and volunteering aside, there are be driving principles of EA which are not summarised as daily practices, and thus the EA community merely the theorise about them. Práctica principles such as decision making ratios between income, expense and donations or the exact tenants of thinking globally and acting locally (such as being aware of what actions will/won’t make positive/negative change). These are actionable practices distilled from the EA theory and they may go a long way towards helping individuals live altruism effectively and not just think about it.
The practice of the giving pledge, a daily practice distilled from an EA principle, is among the most galvanising and wide-spread ideas even beyond the EA community. In my undergraduate study of both marketing and psychology, I am learning the power of distilling theory into simplified, actionable steps. For this reason, it is no surprise the giving pledge is talked about in new cycles, suggested by celebrities and understood by the average person. On the other hand, I find it personally hard to keep up with the evolving, contrasting theory of EA’s global catastrophic risks, highest priorities, socialism vs capitalism debates and general philosophical questions. Reading about how nuclear weapons are an issue we should be aware of for half-a-dozen reasons doesn’t give me any idea as to what to do next. On the other hand, I’ve sent messages to my local MPs in Australia about investing in the Adani coal mines and have genuinely make a difference; I didn’t need to read an article to understand why and the practice seemed obvious, simple and easy to do.
There was a Facebook post on top 10 concepts for people to know in EA.
Here are some of the suggestions.
Cause neutrality
Scale, Neglectedness and Solvability framework
Maximising welfare
Moral patient-hood
Moral uncertainty
Moral trade
Longtermism
Hits-based giving
Worldview diversification
Earning-to-give
Comparative advantage
Epistemic principles
Crucial Considerations
I think some of the points in this 80,000 Hours article apply to EA in general
We’ve been wrong before, and we’ll be wrong again
Many of the questions we tackle are a matter of balance, and different people will benefit from considering opposing messages
Personal fit matters, so focus more on strategies than simple answers
There are disagreements within the community
Treat doing good as just one of many important goals in life
Also this one—Misconceptions of 80,000 Hours research (although maybe they wont be misconceptions if it is the first thing they read)
Roles outside explicitly EA organisations are most people’s best career options.
Sometimes these roles aren’t as visible to the community, including to 80,000 Hours, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t highly impactful.
Many especially impactful roles require specific skills. If none of these roles are currently a great fit for you, but one could be if you developed the right skills, it can be worth it to take substantial time to do so.
You should use 80,000 Hours to figure out what your best career is and how to get there, not what “the” best careers are.
I’d add in different ways of having impact and how they generally compare as people often ask about why EA doesn’t do much in one of the following; career, donations, volunteering, influence/voting and personal consumption
Also some articles that I’ve shared quite regularly with people newer to EA.
Why choose a cause and how to strategically choose a cause
6 tips on choosing an effective charity
Where I am donating this year
Giving Cheerfully
Effective altruism as question
I truly want Effective Altruism to flourish, but I am concerned with the EA handbooks, the backbone of the EA community, being too theoretical. Donating and volunteering aside, there are be driving principles of EA which are not summarised as daily practices, and thus the EA community merely the theorise about them. Práctica principles such as decision making ratios between income, expense and donations or the exact tenants of thinking globally and acting locally (such as being aware of what actions will/won’t make positive/negative change). These are actionable practices distilled from the EA theory and they may go a long way towards helping individuals live altruism effectively and not just think about it.
The practice of the giving pledge, a daily practice distilled from an EA principle, is among the most galvanising and wide-spread ideas even beyond the EA community. In my undergraduate study of both marketing and psychology, I am learning the power of distilling theory into simplified, actionable steps. For this reason, it is no surprise the giving pledge is talked about in new cycles, suggested by celebrities and understood by the average person. On the other hand, I find it personally hard to keep up with the evolving, contrasting theory of EA’s global catastrophic risks, highest priorities, socialism vs capitalism debates and general philosophical questions. Reading about how nuclear weapons are an issue we should be aware of for half-a-dozen reasons doesn’t give me any idea as to what to do next. On the other hand, I’ve sent messages to my local MPs in Australia about investing in the Adani coal mines and have genuinely make a difference; I didn’t need to read an article to understand why and the practice seemed obvious, simple and easy to do.