Updated ‘Psychology of EA’ course: reading, videos, and syllabus

In case you’re interesting in teaching EA classes: I’ve done a major overhaul of my ‘Psychology of Effective Altruism’ course that I’ve been teaching since 2018. The newly updated, complete syllabus (21 pages) is here. The class schedule, topics, readings, and videos, with complete links (which might be the most useful bits for other EAs) are copied and pasted at the end of this introductory text.

In 2018 I shared the first version of the syllabus in this post on EA Forum. That class assigned the William MacAskill (2016) book Doing good better as the main required textbook. It also included a pretty heavy load of fairly technical reading, including journal papers in moral philosophy and psychology, plus a lot of optional readings and videos. The focus was on psychological aspects of EA, such as moral psychology, utilitarian ethics, cognitive biases in cause prioritization and existential risk assessment, animal sentience and welfare, cognitive and moral enhancement, emerging neuro-technologies (whole brain emulations, robotics, extended reality), artificial intelligence, digital sentience, and career choices. We did not spend as such time on philosophical, governance, economic, or technical AI alignment issues.

I taught this initial version of the class 3 times, in 2018, 2019, and 2020, to about 8-12 students each year (mostly undergraduates, with one or two grad students each term). It got good reviews from students, the discussions were fun and spirited, and the term papers students wrote were pretty good. However, in retrospect, the required reading load was too demanding for the typical undergraduates at my university. And the MacAskill (2016) book is now somewhat outdated. I’ve also found that that is an increasing number of short, high-quality EA-related videos on YouTube that undergrads enjoy watching, and that serve as helpful complements to assigned readings.

So, in updating this course, I tried to be as realistic as possible about what my undergrads can actually handle in terms of readings and videos, and the depth and complexity of ideas they can follow. Most of my students are psychology majors, with very little background in moral philosophy, economics, cognitive science, computer science, or other typical EA fields. I teach at a large state university in New Mexico, USA, that includes students with a wide range of cognitive abilities, motivation levels, backgrounds, and ages. Many of them are first-generation college students, military veterans, parents with young kids, or recent immigrants with English as a second language.

The class meets once a week for the 15-week term, for a 2.5-hour class session. We meet in a small seminar room; most of the class time is spent discussing the readings and videos. I give a few mini-lectures using Powerpoint slides (available on request, if you email me: gfmiller@unm.edu )

I’d welcome any suggestions for good readings, videos, exercises, topics, etc for next time I teach this. Feel free to use, borrow, modify, and update any elements from my syllabus if you think they might be useful for your own teaching.

Below is the course schedule, including topics, readings, and videos, with links.

Schedule of topics and readings week by week

Note: Each reading includes word count and expected reading time (assuming 200 words per minute reading speed). Each video includes duration of content in minutes and seconds (mm: ss).

Class 1: Course overview and mechanics

Required videos: none
Required readings: none

Class 2: Introduction to Effective Altruism

Required videos:

Caring about future people is common sense. Will MacAskill on The Daily Show. (2022). Link. (11:56 mins).
Effective Altruism: A global movement of do-gooders (2022). Global News channel. Link. (9:23 mins)
Highlights from EA Global: San Francisco (2022). Centre for Effective Altruism channel. Link. (2:09 mins)
There are vast tragedies happening right now that we are failing to see (2021). Rational Animations channel. Link. (7:18 mins)
Longtermism: An idea that could save 100 billion trillion lives. (2021). Rational Animations channel. Link. (6:11 mins)

Required readings:

Four ideas you already agree with (2022) by Sam Deere. Link. (1,400 words; c. 7 mins)
What is Effective Altruism? (2020) by Centre for Effective Altruism. Link. (3,000 words; c. 15 mins)
500 million, but not a single one more (2014) by Jai. Link. (700 words, c. 4 mins)
The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better (2022) by Max Roser. Link. (1,200 words; c. 6 mins)
Jaeger, B., & van Vugt, M. (2022). Psychological barriers to effective altruism: An evolutionary perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 130-134. (3 pages, 1,500 words, 8 mins) Link

Optional videos:

Welcome to Effective Altruism. Peter Singer. Ethics Lectures. (2022). Link. (6:39 mins)
Introduction to Effective Altruism for Christians. (2021). EA for Christians channel. Link. (5:00 mins)
The Egg: A short story by Andy Weir. (2019). Kurzgesagt. Link. (7:54 mins)

Class 3: Cause prioritization: Evidence-based analysis

Required videos:

Bjorn Lomborg: Global priorities bigger than climate change (2007). TED. (17:27 mins) Link
Why farmed animals? Cause prioritization explained. (2019). Animal Charity Evaluators. (2:14 mins) Link
What are the most important moral problems of our time? (2018). Will MacAskill TED talk. (11:54 mins) Link
Our top 3 lessons on how not to waste your career on things that don’t change the world (2018). 80,000 Hours. (6:45 mins) Link
Fable of the dragon-tyrant (2018). CGP Grey. (12:43 mins) Link

Required readings:

Scope insensitivity: Failing to appreciate the numbers of those who need our help. Animal Ethics. (1,300 words; c. 7 mins) Link
On caring. (2014). Nate Soares (‘So8res’), EA Forum (2,900 words; c. 15 mins) Link
Marginal impact (2022). Probably Good. (1,000 words; c. 5 mins) Link
Global priorities research (2022). Roman Duda for 80,000 Hours. (4,400 words; 22 mins) Link
EA Survey 2020: Cause prioritization. (2021). David Moss, EA Forum. (1,000 words, c. 5 mins). Link

Optional videos:

What is triage? (2017). ACCESS Specialty Animal Hospital. (1:18 mins). Link
The Eisenhower matrix: How to manage your tasks. (2012). Eisenhower. (2:24 mins) Link
One billion dollars. (2011). Gustavo A. Rios. (3:25) Link
Why die? (2017). CGPT Grey. (4:35 mins) Link
Why age? (2017) Kurzgesagt. (6:48 mins) Link

Class 4: Utilitarian philosophy and psychology

Note: This class is cancelled, due to Geoffrey being out of town; material for this class will be combined with Class 5

Class 5: Moral psychology, the moral circle, empathy, and dissonance

Note: This week includes some material that normally would appear in Class 4.

Required videos:

Philosophy: Utilitarianism: Peter Singer (2017) Hay Levels (2:54 mins) Link
Utilitarianism: Crash Course Philosophy #36 (2016) CrashCourse (10:00) Link
The psychology of morality (2022). Professor Dave Explains (16:49 mins) Link
Joshua Green on learning to use our moral brains (2012). CID Harvard (18:13 mins) Link
Why I’m against empathy: Paul Bloom (2022) Big Think (4:54 mins) Link
The moral roots of liberals and conservatives: Jonathan Haidt (2012). Ted-Ed. (18:39 mins) Link

Required readings:

A utilitarian FAQ (2000). Ian Montgomerie. (10,000 words; 50 mins) Link [Note: You only need to read the sections through ‘Common questions about utilitarianism’; you don’t need to read the 27 ‘Common criticisms of utilitarianism’)
Moral psychology for the twenty-first century (2013). Jonathan Haidt, J. of Moral Education, 42(3), 281-297. (7,000 words; 35 mins) Link
Empathy and its discontents (2016) Paul Bloom, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(1), 24-31. (4,700 words; 24 mins) Link
Is it time to take the ‘you’ out of utilitarianism? (2022) Charles Kenny, Center for Global Development. (1,600 words; 8 mins) Link

Optional videos:

The psychology of moral grandstanding: Brandon Warmke (2019). Big Think. (7:18 mins) Link
Why moral people tolerate immoral behavior: Liane Young (2020) Big Think (5:04 mins) Link
Why your brain loves feeling outraged and punishing people’s bad behavior: Molly Crockett (2017) Big Think (6:46 mins) Link
Born good? Babies help unlock the origins of morality (2012). CBS News (13:32 mins) Link

Class 6: Effective charities, ethical consumerism, and virtue-signaling

**Term paper stage 1 due in class: Provisional title, abstract, and bibliography

Required videos:

How to find the highest impact charities (2021). Giving What We Can (12:49 mins) Link
Ethical consumerism (2022) Ethical consumer (2:59 mins) Link
What makes a company ethical? (2022) Ethical consumer (7:26 mins) Link
Effective altruism and virtue signaling: Diana Fleischman interviews Geoffrey Miller (2019). Geoffrey Miller channel. (40:29 mins) Link

Required readings:

Process for identifying top charities (2022). GiveWell. (2,100 words; 10 mins) Link
Why is it so expensive to save lives? (2022). GiveWell (800 words; 4 mins) Link
What are the best charities to donate to in 2023? (2023) Giving What We Can (1,800 words; 9 mins) Link
Miller, G. F. (2012). Sex, mutations, and marketing. EMBO Reports, 13(10), 880-884. (2,700 words; 14 mins) Link
Conspicuous consumption will be considered unthinkable 50 years from now (2019) Peter Singer in Vox. Link (700 words; 4 mins) Link

Optional videos:

What charity really means (2016). The School of Life (4:50 mins) Link
Consumer ethics (2016) Isaac Manley (3:21 mins) Link
Why invest ethically? (2020). Wealthify. (1:50 mins) Link
Sustainable selves (2019, based on a 2013 book chapter) Geoffrey Miller channel (22:10 mins) Link
Waste is good (2019, based on a 1996 essay) Geoffrey Miller channel (41:48 mins) Link

Class 7: Global poverty and health

Required videos:

A selfish argument for making the world a better place: Egoistic altruism (2018) Kurzgesagt (7:14 mins) Link
Poverty & our response to it (2017) CrashCourse (8:53 mins) Link
Overpopulation & Africa (2019) Kurzgesagt (7:42 mins) Link
Is giving money directly to the poor a good idea? (2015) ReasonTV (8:20 mins) Link
Cash transfer recipients in Kenya tell their stories (2020) GiveDirectly (3:12 mins) Link
Cardano Africa: A vision for Africa with Charles Hoskinson (2021) Input Output (8:37 mins) Link
Bed nets for Benin (2020) Bill Gates (3:25 mins) Link
The most gruesome parasites: Neglected tropical diseases (2016) Kurzgesagt (5:42 mins) Link
The fly catchers fighting river blindness (2016) Al Jazeera English (3:00 mins) Link

Required readings:

Global health and development (no date) Jess Whittlestone. Effective Altruism. (4,000 words; 20 mins) Link

Optional videos:

Extreme poverty: Choices (2014) USAID Video (2:12 mins) Link
There is only one way out of poverty (2017) PragerU (4:10 mins) Link
A counterintuitive solution to poverty: Stop trying to eradicate it: Efosa Ojomo (2019) TEDx Talks (9:25 mins) Link
Why is it so hard to escape poverty? Ann-Helen Bay (2022) TED-Ed (4:45 mins) Link
Joy Sun: Should you donate differently? (2014) TED (7:39 mins) Link
Universal basic income explained: Free money for everybody? (2017) Kurzgesagt (10:05 mins) Link

Class 8: Existential risks: Psychology and practicalities

Required videos:

The 4 greatest threats to the survival of humanity (2022) TED-Ed (5:23 mins) Link
The precipice: Existential risk and the future of humanity: Toby Ord (2020) Centre for Effective Altruism (20:12 mins) Link
Doomsday Machine author Daniel Ellsberg says Americans have escaped self-annihilation by luck (2017) PBS NewsHour (7:00 mins) Link
How synthetic biology could wipe out humanity: Rob Reid (2019) TED (16:36 mins) Link
Psychology of existential risk and longtermism: Stefan Schubert (2019) Centre for Effective Altruism (26:58 mins; Note: you only need to watch the first 19 minutes, before the Q&A) Link [Note 2: A full transcript of this video is available here]
Why alien life would be our doom: The great filter (2018) Kurzgesagt (9:35 mins) Link

Required readings:

The case for reducing existential risk (2017/2022) by Ben Todd, 80,000 Hours. (7,200 words; 36 mins) Link

Optional videos:

Peter Singer: Extinction risk & Effective Altruism (2014) Science, Technology, (6:57 mins) Link
Existential risk: Managing extreme technological risk (2017) CSER Cambridge (13:01 mins) Link
Effective altruism, existential risk, and existential hope: Max Tegmark (2017) Centre for Effective Altruism (35:10 mins) Link
Everything might change forever this century (or we’ll go extinct) (2022) Rational Animations (32:34 mins) Link
Engineered viruses are the new biological weapons (2019) Seeker (9:18 mins) Link

Class 9: Artificial Intelligence as an X-risk: Psychology and ethics

Required videos:

The power of intelligence (2023) Rational Animations. (Based on a 2007 essay by Eliezer Yudkowsky). (7 mins) Link
What is Artificial Intelligence? (2019) Simplilearn (5 mins) Link
Journalist had a creepy encounter with new tech…. (2023) CNN (7 mins) Link
Slaughterbots (2019) Dust (8 mins) Link
Aligning AI systems with human intent (2022) OpenAI (4 mins) Link
Is AI a species-level threat to humanity? (2020) Big Think. (17 mins) Link

Required readings:

Preventing an AI-related catastrophe (2022) Benjamin Hilton for 80,000 Hours. Note: just read up to the section header ‘What you can do concretely to help’ (about ²⁄₃ of the way through the essay). (9,700 words; 49 mins) Link
AI alignment with humans… but with which humans? (2022) Geoffrey Miller for EA Forum. (900 words; 5 mins) Link

Optional exercise:

If you haven’t already spent some time using Chat GPT, please use this link and sign up for an account. Once you’re verified, spent a few minutes asking it some challenging questions, and see how it does.

Optional readings:

AI Principles from the 2017 Asilomar Conference (2017) Future of Life Institute (700 words; 4 mins) Link
AI Alignment (2023) Wikipedia. (4,800 words; 24 mins) Link
The religion problem in AI alignment’ (2022) Geoffrey Miller for EA Forum (3,300 words; 17 mins) Link

Optional videos:

Deep learning in 5 minutes (2019) Simplilearn (6 mins) Link
Science fiction movies: Ex Machina (2014), Her (2013), Transcendence (2014), I, Robot (2004), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Moon (2009)
Documentary movies: Do you trust this computer? (2018) Trailer Full Movie, iHuman (2020) Trailer, AlphaGo (2017) Trailer Full Movie, The Social Dilemma (2020) Trailer, We Need to Talk about AI (2020) Trailer, In The Age of AI (2019) Full Movie

Class 10: Moral and cognitive enhancement

**Term paper stage 2 due in class: Revised abstract, outline, and bibliography

Required videos

The scientific and ethical elements of human enhancement (2016) Pew Research Center (3:37 mins) Link

Peter Singer: Suffering, ethical progress, & moral enhancement (2014) Science, Technology, & the Future (6:55 mins) Link
Moral enhancement: Julian Savulescu (2016) Science, Technology, & the Future (3:08 mins) Link
Smart drugs: Dave Asprey (2019) Big Think (4:25 mins) Link
Couples therapy with MDMA? Brian Earp & David Rabin (2021) The Doctors (4:58 mins) Link
Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now (2011) TED (8:23 mins) Link
About genomic prediction (2022) Genomic Prediction (4:57 mins) Link

Required readings

Hendricks, S. (2021) Moral enhancement explained: Can science make us better people? Big Think. (1,200 words; 6 mins) Link
Dresler, M., et al. (2019). Hacking the brain: Dimensions of cognitive enhancement. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 10, 1137-1148. (5,500 words; 28 mins) Link
Miller, G. (2013). Chinese eugenics. Edge.org Link (1,000 words; 5 mins) Link

Optional videos

What will humans look like in 100 years? Juan Enriquez (2016) TED (15:45 mins) Link
Max More: Transhumanism and the Singularity (2012) Science, Technology, & the Future (20:43 mins) Link
Psychedelics are fueling a mental health revolution (2020) Bloomberg Originals (11:42 mins) Link
Cognitive enhancement: Anders Sandberg (2016) Science, Technology, & the Future (15:44 mins) Link
Genomic prediction, IVF, and the first baby screened for polygenic disease risk: Steve Hsu (2021) Foo Camp. (6:54 mins) Link
Genetic engineering will change everything forever: CRISPR (2016) Kurzgesagt (16:03 mins) Link

Class 11: Ethics of robots, brain emulations, and virtual reality

Required videos:

This is how Boston Dynamics robots evolved in 10 years (2012-2022) (2022) Wefiliates (1:23 mins) Link
Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses now work with Spotify (2022) CNET Highlights (3:00 mins) Link
Ready Player One (2018): the Oasis scene (2018) TrashPanda Movie Clips (4:48 mins) Link
Blade Runner 2049 scene (2017) FelixB (4:16 mins) Link
What would happen if we upload our brains to computers? Robin Hanson (2017). TED (12:16 mins) Link
Is reality real? The simulation argument (2017) Kurzgesagt (8:45 mins) Link

Required readings:

Jacy Reese Anthis (2023) Key questions for digital minds. Sentience Institute (2,000 words, 10 mins) Link
Holden Karnofsky (2021) Digital people FAQ. Cold Takes. (4,600 words, 23 mins) Link

Optional videos

Are we living in a simulation? Zohreh Davoudi (2019) TED-Ed (4:23 mins) Link
Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the Simulation Hypothesis (2020) StarTalk (7:52 mins) Link
Whole brain emulation and neuromorphic AI with Anders Sandberg (2016) Science, Technology, & the Future (10:43 mins) Link
Several ‘Black Mirror’ episodes concern life as an Em (an uploaded mind): ‘San Junipero’, ‘USS Callister’, ‘Hang the DJ’, ‘White Christmas’,
Best movies about Ems, androids, and post-humans: The Matrix (1999), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), I, Robot (2004), Free Guy (2021)

Class 12: Animal sentience and welfare I

Required videos:

You can prevent animal suffering. Here’s how (2022) Giving What We Can (10:07 mins) Link
What is sentience? (2020) Animal Ethics (10:59 mins) Link
How do animals experience pain? Robyn J. Crook (2017) TED-Ed (5:06 mins) Link
Do insects feel pain? (2018) Draw Curiosity (7:07 mins) Link
What fish feel when they are killed for food (2020) NowThis News (3:00 mins) Link
Wild animal suffering: An introduction (2020) Animal Ethics (10:09 mins) Link

Required readings:

Understanding evolution made me vegan (2013) Diana Fleischman. Dianaverse. (2,000 words; 10 mins) Link
Animal ethics and evolutionary psychology: 10 ideas (2020) Diana Fleischman. Dianaverse (2,800 words; 14 mins) Link
Past interventions with promising future welfare applications (2022) Amy Klarup for Wild Animal Initiative (1,400 words, 7 mins) Link

Optional videos:

Why the insect brain is so incredible: Anna Stockl (2016) TED-Ed (4:22 mins) Link
Invertebrate sentience (2020) Animal Ethics (12:08 mins) Link
Should vegans care about wild animal suffering? Jacy Reese Anthis (2021) Humane Hancock (8:25 mins) Link

Class 13: Animal sentience and welfare II

Required readings:

Farmed animal fundamentals (2023) Faunalytics (1,300 words, 7 mins) Link
The ethical case for eating oysters and mussels: part 1 (2013) Diana Fleischman. Dianaverse (1,200 words, 6 mins) Link
The ethical case for eating oysters and mussels: part 2 (2013) Diana Fleischman. Dianaverse (1,500 words; 8 mins) Link
UK passes its own animal sentience act after leaving EU (2022) Andrew Rowan. WellBeing International. (1,100 words, 6 mins) Link

Required videos

Why meat is the best worst thing in the world (2018) Kurzgesagt (8:48 mins) Link
Why is chicken so cheap? (2019) The Economist (6:23 mins) Link
What if the world became vegan? (2017) BBC Earth Unplugged (5:58 mins) Link
Why are vegans so annoying? (2017) Thinking Out Loud (7:31 mins) Link
Rethinking the future of lab-grown meat (2022) Seeker (9:04 mins) Link

Optional

Can lab-grown steak be the future of meat? (2022) Insider Business (8:14 mins) Link – good
Why are vegetarians annoying? (2016) vlogbrothers (3:54 mins) Link

Class 14: Career choices and life strategies

Required readings

80,000 Hours (2022). The highest-impact career paths our research has identified so far. (1,600 words; 8 mins) [Note: It’s OK to just read the material in this post, but also feel free to do some deeper dives on some of the recommended career paths that sound interesting, by clicking on the ‘read more’ links] Link
Todd, Benjamin (2021). Personal fit: Why being good at your job is even more important than people think. 80,000 Hours. (1,600 words; 8 mins) Link
Fastest growing occupations (2021) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (200 words; 2 mins) [Plus, click on a few specific occupations to learn more] Link
ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace (2023) Business Insider (1,700 words; 9 mins ) Link

Required videos:

How to find fulfilling work (2015) The School of Life (5:12 mins) Link
What are you doing with your life? (2021) Kurzgesagt (9:35 mins) Link
The rise of the machines: Why automation is different this time (2017) Kurzgesagt (11:40 mins) Link

Optional videos:

9 best jobs for the future (2022) Tae Kim (15:17 mins) Link
Want to change the world? Start with your career: Amarins Veringa (2022) TEDx Talks (14:20 mins) Link
The big debate about the future of work, explained (2017) Vox (9:02 mins) Link
Will AI take our jobs? Sam Altman and Lex Fridman (2023) Lex Clips (9:57 mins) Link
The School of Life has many excellent videos about work and careers in its ‘Work + Capitalism’ playlist

Optional readings:

Starter Guide (2022) 80,000 Hours. (A free 155 page pdf book on career strategies).
I also recommend taking advantage of the free one-on-one career advice calls that 80,000 Hours offers. This can be helpful whatever stage you’re at in thinking about your future career Link

Class 15: Last day of class: The future of altruism

**Term paper stage 3 due in class: Final term paper

Required videos

Past predictions of the future every decade (2020) Hochelaga (10:02 mins) Link
China never sleeps: Rise of the megacities (2021) Reporterfy Media (3:26 mins) Link
Can we make the future a million years from now go better? (2022) Rational Animations (9:56 mins) Link
The Egg: A short story by Andy Weir. (2019). Kurzgesagt. Link. (7:54 mins)
Grand Central Station: Street Lovingkindness (2015) Sharon Salzberg (1:47 mins) Link

Optional videos

Everything might change forever this century (or we’ll go extinct) (2022) Rational Animations (32:34 mins) Link
Longtermism: An idea that could save 100 billion trillion lives (2021) Rational Animations (6:11 mins) Link
Why age? Should we end aging forever? (2017) Kurzgesagt. (6:48 mins) Link
What if humanity is among the first spacefaring civilizations? (2022) PBS Space Time (20:49 mins) Link