I just realised that, during the AMA that spawned this post of yours, I forgot to mention a comment I wrote last year explaining roughly how I got “up to speed” on EA ideas more broadly. This isn’t quite an answer to the question you asked, but seems similar, so I’ll copy it below.
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I can’t remember in great detail what I did (and especially the order and causal attributions). But here’s my rough guess as to what I did, which is probably similar to what I’d recommend to others who are willing/keen to invest a bunch of time to “get up to speed” quite thoroughly:
I started mainly with the 80k career guide (now the “old career guide”), problem profiles, career profiles, and other 80k articles I found via links (including their older blog posts)
I’d now recommend the Key Ideas article rather than the career guide
I listened to every episode of the 80k podcast
I started going through the sequences (Rationality: AI to Zombies) on LessWrong, mainly via the “unofficial” podcast version
But I only finished this around February this year [2020], after getting a job at an EA research org, so the latter parts probably weren’t key to my journey
But I’d still definitely recommend reading at least a substantial chunk of the sequences
I watched on YouTube basically all the EA Global talks since 2016, as well as a bunch of other EA-related videos (see here for where to find such videos)
I selected these based on how relevant they seemed to me, how highly the people recommended them, and how many of those 3 people recommended the same book
I’ve now listened to/read 30-38 (depending on what you count) EA-relevant books since learning about EA, most of which were recommended by one of those people. I should probably share my list in a shortform comment soon.
ETA: I’ve now made that shortform comment and then adapted it to a top-level post, putting the books in roughly descending order of perceived/remembered usefulness-to-me.
I read a lot of EA Forum and LessWrong posts
I think I basically bookmarked or read anything that seemed relevant and that I was linked to from elsewhere or heard mentioned, and then gradually worked through those bookmarks and (separately) the list of most upvoted posts based on what seemed most relevant or interesting
I looked at most major EA orgs’ sites and read at least some stuff there, I guess to “get a lay of the land”
E.g., FHI, Center on Long-Term Risk (named FRI at the time), GPI, Charity Entrepreneurship, Animal Charity Evaluators …
I started listening to some other podcasts I’d heard recommended, such as Slate Star Codex, EconTalk, and Rationally Speaking
I found the first of those most useful, and Rationally Speaking not super useful/interesting, personally
I applied for lots of jobs, and through the process learned more about what jobs are available and what they involve (e.g., by doing work tests)
Probably other things I’m forgetting
I think this process would now be easier, for a few reasons. One that stands out is that the tagging system makes it easier to find posts relevant to a particular topic. Another is that a bunch of people have made more collections and summaries of various sorts than there previously were (indeed, I made an effort to contribute to that so that others could get up to speed more efficiently and effectively than I did; see also).
So I’d probably recommend people who want to replicate something like what I did use the EA Forum more centrally than I did, both by:
reading good posts on the forum (which are now more numerous and much easier to find)
finding on the forum curated lists of links to the large body of other sources that are scattered around elsewhere
(I expect more sequences on the EA Forum will also help with this.)
I just realised that, during the AMA that spawned this post of yours, I forgot to mention a comment I wrote last year explaining roughly how I got “up to speed” on EA ideas more broadly. This isn’t quite an answer to the question you asked, but seems similar, so I’ll copy it below.
---
I can’t remember in great detail what I did (and especially the order and causal attributions). But here’s my rough guess as to what I did, which is probably similar to what I’d recommend to others who are willing/keen to invest a bunch of time to “get up to speed” quite thoroughly:
I started mainly with the 80k career guide (now the “old career guide”), problem profiles, career profiles, and other 80k articles I found via links (including their older blog posts)
I’d now recommend the Key Ideas article rather than the career guide
I listened to every episode of the 80k podcast
I started going through the sequences (Rationality: AI to Zombies) on LessWrong, mainly via the “unofficial” podcast version
But I only finished this around February this year [2020], after getting a job at an EA research org, so the latter parts probably weren’t key to my journey
But I’d still definitely recommend reading at least a substantial chunk of the sequences
I watched on YouTube basically all the EA Global talks since 2016, as well as a bunch of other EA-related videos (see here for where to find such videos)
I started listening to some audiobooks recommended by Wiblin, Beckstead, and/or Muehlhauser
I selected these based on how relevant they seemed to me, how highly the people recommended them, and how many of those 3 people recommended the same book
I’ve now listened to/read 30-38 (depending on what you count) EA-relevant books since learning about EA, most of which were recommended by one of those people. I should probably share my list in a shortform comment soon.
ETA: I’ve now made that shortform comment and then adapted it to a top-level post, putting the books in roughly descending order of perceived/remembered usefulness-to-me.
I read a lot of EA Forum and LessWrong posts
I think I basically bookmarked or read anything that seemed relevant and that I was linked to from elsewhere or heard mentioned, and then gradually worked through those bookmarks and (separately) the list of most upvoted posts based on what seemed most relevant or interesting
I looked at most major EA orgs’ sites and read at least some stuff there, I guess to “get a lay of the land”
E.g., FHI, Center on Long-Term Risk (named FRI at the time), GPI, Charity Entrepreneurship, Animal Charity Evaluators …
I started listening to some other podcasts I’d heard recommended, such as Slate Star Codex, EconTalk, and Rationally Speaking
I found the first of those most useful, and Rationally Speaking not super useful/interesting, personally
See also this list of podcasts
I subscribed to the main EA Newsletter
I now also subscribe to the EA London newsletter, and find it useful
I read everything on Conceptually
I read some stuff on the EA Concepts site
I applied for lots of jobs, and through the process learned more about what jobs are available and what they involve (e.g., by doing work tests)
Probably other things I’m forgetting
I think this process would now be easier, for a few reasons. One that stands out is that the tagging system makes it easier to find posts relevant to a particular topic. Another is that a bunch of people have made more collections and summaries of various sorts than there previously were (indeed, I made an effort to contribute to that so that others could get up to speed more efficiently and effectively than I did; see also).
So I’d probably recommend people who want to replicate something like what I did use the EA Forum more centrally than I did, both by:
reading good posts on the forum (which are now more numerous and much easier to find)
finding on the forum curated lists of links to the large body of other sources that are scattered around elsewhere
(I expect more sequences on the EA Forum will also help with this.)