Note: if you claim a cause is a potentially or emerging major cause within effective altruism, I will investigate this claim. This will take the form of checking discourse on the cause takes place within effective altruism, or is at least taking place among those effective altruism trusts, such as among concerned experts in the relevant field of study or advocacy. This would be to prevent someone from using such a post on this forum as a bully pulpit for motivated and unjustified reasons. This would be at my own discretion, and full disclosure, I however don’t speak for the effective altruist community at large or in any official capacity.
I know a bit about the agriculture-affecting global catastrophic risks, asteroid/comet impact, super volcanic eruption, and nuclear winter. I also know quite a bit about the relevant interventions, especially alternate food sources: http://www.appropedia.org/Feeding_Everyone_No_Matter_What (disclosure: I coauthored the book). I have just submitted a probabilistic modeling paper that indicates alternate food interventions are significantly more cost-effective than global poverty interventions at saving lives in the present generation. I am happy to help on your project.
Hi, I’m still working on the draft, just wanted to let you know. After EA Global, I tried to map the full space of effective altruism organizations, which led me to notice trends in effective alturism I hadn’t noticed before. New Harvest was represented at EA Global, along with other biotech initiatives. I noticed some effective altruists think developing alternative food sources might be a great way to phase out and end factory farming. Also, New Harvest is working on cultured meat and knows and supports development and research into other alternate food sources. Thirdly, though I haven’t read much about it, the Open Philanthropy Project does consider food security an issue under the focus areas of “biosecurity” alongside risks from both natural and engineered pandemics. I’ve just read your essay on cause selection for the monthly blogging carnival, and I found it interesting. Nick Bostrom also worries about biotechnology developments as a catastrophic risk, but I don’t know if, e.g., the FHI’s and Open Phil’s concerns over engineered pandemics have much overlap with agriculture catastrophes except as both having a foundation in the life sciences.
Part of the reason my draft is taking so long is because I’m upgrading my thesis from “there are emerging causes for effective altruism” to “the current model of causes effective altruism uses is better ditched in favor of a new model of several overlapping foci, which different organizations converging on them”. This is a bolder thesis, one which I think could and I indeed shake up effective altruism as we conceptually conceive it. So, I’m taking more time to fine-tune my essay so it will be well received. Anyway, cross-cutting concern from multiple causes to research biotechnology and agriculture technology make it a keystone example. Environmental concerns, food security in the face of catastrophic risks, ensuring positve biotechnology innovation, mitigating factory farming with alternative food sources, and the potential for engineered foods to ease world hunger make this focus area one which covers all majors causes. Of course, how alternate food sources impact the world will be weighted differently by different causes, which we must still study, debate, and discern.
Anyway, I’m hoping an article on this forum for each new focus of effective altruism will be written up. So, I’ll be looking to you for help very much! I’ll contact you within the next two weeks with more questions.
Note: if you claim a cause is a potentially or emerging major cause within effective altruism, I will investigate this claim. This will take the form of checking discourse on the cause takes place within effective altruism, or is at least taking place among those effective altruism trusts, such as among concerned experts in the relevant field of study or advocacy. This would be to prevent someone from using such a post on this forum as a bully pulpit for motivated and unjustified reasons. This would be at my own discretion, and full disclosure, I however don’t speak for the effective altruist community at large or in any official capacity.
I know a bit about the agriculture-affecting global catastrophic risks, asteroid/comet impact, super volcanic eruption, and nuclear winter. I also know quite a bit about the relevant interventions, especially alternate food sources: http://www.appropedia.org/Feeding_Everyone_No_Matter_What (disclosure: I coauthored the book). I have just submitted a probabilistic modeling paper that indicates alternate food interventions are significantly more cost-effective than global poverty interventions at saving lives in the present generation. I am happy to help on your project.
Hi, I’m still working on the draft, just wanted to let you know. After EA Global, I tried to map the full space of effective altruism organizations, which led me to notice trends in effective alturism I hadn’t noticed before. New Harvest was represented at EA Global, along with other biotech initiatives. I noticed some effective altruists think developing alternative food sources might be a great way to phase out and end factory farming. Also, New Harvest is working on cultured meat and knows and supports development and research into other alternate food sources. Thirdly, though I haven’t read much about it, the Open Philanthropy Project does consider food security an issue under the focus areas of “biosecurity” alongside risks from both natural and engineered pandemics. I’ve just read your essay on cause selection for the monthly blogging carnival, and I found it interesting. Nick Bostrom also worries about biotechnology developments as a catastrophic risk, but I don’t know if, e.g., the FHI’s and Open Phil’s concerns over engineered pandemics have much overlap with agriculture catastrophes except as both having a foundation in the life sciences.
Part of the reason my draft is taking so long is because I’m upgrading my thesis from “there are emerging causes for effective altruism” to “the current model of causes effective altruism uses is better ditched in favor of a new model of several overlapping foci, which different organizations converging on them”. This is a bolder thesis, one which I think could and I indeed shake up effective altruism as we conceptually conceive it. So, I’m taking more time to fine-tune my essay so it will be well received. Anyway, cross-cutting concern from multiple causes to research biotechnology and agriculture technology make it a keystone example. Environmental concerns, food security in the face of catastrophic risks, ensuring positve biotechnology innovation, mitigating factory farming with alternative food sources, and the potential for engineered foods to ease world hunger make this focus area one which covers all majors causes. Of course, how alternate food sources impact the world will be weighted differently by different causes, which we must still study, debate, and discern.
Anyway, I’m hoping an article on this forum for each new focus of effective altruism will be written up. So, I’ll be looking to you for help very much! I’ll contact you within the next two weeks with more questions.