At the moment I would say that in descending order that I am most interested in reducing animal suffering, alleviating global poverty, AI research and then Existential risk. Although I do find it hard to rank them so this order may change in the future.
I agree with you that only the best of the best philosophers are high impact, but I still feel as though a solid grounding in philosophical thought will be very helpful to me making an impact no matter what field I go into.
To answer a few of your questions, I would say that I am not that interested in running for an elected representative position currently. A think tank would be more interesting but I donāt think it would be an excellent personal fit. If I did complete a PhD program in education I would try to become an academic researcher. Regarding the arts/ābusiness double degree I would be most interested in starting my own charity or non-profit.
Thankyou for the link to 80,000 hours site. I am currently getting career coaching from them and I would highly recommend this process to anyone who is unsure of their career path.
As for the extended family jobs, I love my family but I think that they are most helpful in determining what not to do. The best description I can think of would be in David Graeberās āOn the Phenomenon of Bullshit jobs.ā Tried to link to this article but couldnāt find a way...
So far, I only have a couple of thoughts, and theyāre fairly general:
As much as I enjoy philosophy, I suspect that it would be less helpful than maths, physics, computer science, commerce, economics and most other academic subjects for most people, in most professional domains.
Starting an arts/ābusiness double degree sounds dubious as far as starting your own charity or nonprofit goes. If I wanted to start an effective nonprofit, I would be more inclined to work for one, or to get relevant commercial experience in a relevant area like sales, health or elsewhere.
Just to throw a plausible example out there (not a firm recommendation), have you considered data science? Whatās good or bad about it? What other career have you or havenāt you considered, and why?
Also, if you click āShow helpā, you can see how to make a linkāwith square and round brackets.
You make a good point about how philosophy will most likely be of limited use in a number of professional domains. I do think there is a distinction though between what is useful in these professional domains and what is useful for a career that focuses on doing the most good. In the latter I think that a degree in philosophy would be valuable, I mean at heart this quest is deeply philosophical. Further, my impression is that a number of significant members of the effective altruism movement have strong backgrounds in philosophy and I could see myself in a career within academia relating to this field. Although because I also enjoy philosophy I may be overestimating its importance so that I can justify formally studying it.
Yeah computer science and economics are certainly areas that I rank highly. These areas obviously give possibilities of high earning careers, but I donāt see myself as being satisfied with the earning to give approach. I would be more interested because in others ways they would provide a lot of career capital both in terms of getting towards my current vision while also keeping my options open. I would say presently I would be more inclined to computer science because I think that there would be more freedom there. Would you agree?
Thanks for your views about starting a non-profit, they were both helpful and informative. Do you have a view on the best degree to prepare for starting a non-profit? Or am I coming at this situation from the wrong angle? I think that the connections made at a university would be very helpful for starting a non-profit especially if this is combined with interning at non-profits over summer breaks.
I think that I recognise the broader point that you are making with your data science example (not trying to sound smug, I struggle with tone via this format) and I agree that I am still in the early stages of redirecting my career and could perhaps benefit from a more rigorous approach. As for data science itself, it would provide good potential earning possibilities and skills that will be very useful within a number of different fields because the sector of data will only expand. However, I think that the role impact of a data scientist is relatively low, that it would be too confining, would not really help me achieve my vision, has a quite high cost associated with its exploration and that therefore my overall job satisfaction would be limited.
Thankyou again Ryan. This has been very helpful to me. What are your thoughts?
Hey Kieran, I think that the main reason that philosophy is common in effective altruists is that effective altruism is, in-part, a philosophical idea, rather than as evidence that we are driven to study philosophy for its altruistic value. Rather, I think that effective altruists have left philosophy very commonly, and have entered it quite rarely. Obviously, thatās true for people in general, because there are more degrees in philosophy than jobs, but I suppose thatās just my point anyway...
Computer science and economics are both large fields with a lot of freedom, although computer science leads to better non-academic jobs.
For nonprofits in your interest areas, Iām not sure that a degree is very helpful, although software or business are generally pretty useful.
Iām not trying to make any wider point with the data science example. Rather, Iām just trying to get a map of what you do or donāt like about certain work-activities or certain jobs in order to apply those characteristics to other jobs. Itās like āsometimes a cigar is just a cigar!ā Itās just about getting a concrete idea of what you prefer to be doing!
And thatād be my final adviceāI think itāll be important to consider what concrete activities you actually want to do, and what aspect of āachieving your visionā you can get paid for.
Hi Ryan, Grateful for your insight.
At the moment I would say that in descending order that I am most interested in reducing animal suffering, alleviating global poverty, AI research and then Existential risk. Although I do find it hard to rank them so this order may change in the future. I agree with you that only the best of the best philosophers are high impact, but I still feel as though a solid grounding in philosophical thought will be very helpful to me making an impact no matter what field I go into.
To answer a few of your questions, I would say that I am not that interested in running for an elected representative position currently. A think tank would be more interesting but I donāt think it would be an excellent personal fit. If I did complete a PhD program in education I would try to become an academic researcher. Regarding the arts/ābusiness double degree I would be most interested in starting my own charity or non-profit. Thankyou for the link to 80,000 hours site. I am currently getting career coaching from them and I would highly recommend this process to anyone who is unsure of their career path.
As for the extended family jobs, I love my family but I think that they are most helpful in determining what not to do. The best description I can think of would be in David Graeberās āOn the Phenomenon of Bullshit jobs.ā Tried to link to this article but couldnāt find a way...
Please let me know your thoughts.
Hey Kieran,
So far, I only have a couple of thoughts, and theyāre fairly general:
As much as I enjoy philosophy, I suspect that it would be less helpful than maths, physics, computer science, commerce, economics and most other academic subjects for most people, in most professional domains.
Starting an arts/ābusiness double degree sounds dubious as far as starting your own charity or nonprofit goes. If I wanted to start an effective nonprofit, I would be more inclined to work for one, or to get relevant commercial experience in a relevant area like sales, health or elsewhere.
Just to throw a plausible example out there (not a firm recommendation), have you considered data science? Whatās good or bad about it? What other career have you or havenāt you considered, and why?
Also, if you click āShow helpā, you can see how to make a linkāwith square and round brackets.
Hi Ryan,
You make a good point about how philosophy will most likely be of limited use in a number of professional domains. I do think there is a distinction though between what is useful in these professional domains and what is useful for a career that focuses on doing the most good. In the latter I think that a degree in philosophy would be valuable, I mean at heart this quest is deeply philosophical. Further, my impression is that a number of significant members of the effective altruism movement have strong backgrounds in philosophy and I could see myself in a career within academia relating to this field. Although because I also enjoy philosophy I may be overestimating its importance so that I can justify formally studying it.
Yeah computer science and economics are certainly areas that I rank highly. These areas obviously give possibilities of high earning careers, but I donāt see myself as being satisfied with the earning to give approach. I would be more interested because in others ways they would provide a lot of career capital both in terms of getting towards my current vision while also keeping my options open. I would say presently I would be more inclined to computer science because I think that there would be more freedom there. Would you agree?
Thanks for your views about starting a non-profit, they were both helpful and informative. Do you have a view on the best degree to prepare for starting a non-profit? Or am I coming at this situation from the wrong angle? I think that the connections made at a university would be very helpful for starting a non-profit especially if this is combined with interning at non-profits over summer breaks.
I think that I recognise the broader point that you are making with your data science example (not trying to sound smug, I struggle with tone via this format) and I agree that I am still in the early stages of redirecting my career and could perhaps benefit from a more rigorous approach. As for data science itself, it would provide good potential earning possibilities and skills that will be very useful within a number of different fields because the sector of data will only expand. However, I think that the role impact of a data scientist is relatively low, that it would be too confining, would not really help me achieve my vision, has a quite high cost associated with its exploration and that therefore my overall job satisfaction would be limited.
Thankyou again Ryan. This has been very helpful to me. What are your thoughts?
Hey Kieran, I think that the main reason that philosophy is common in effective altruists is that effective altruism is, in-part, a philosophical idea, rather than as evidence that we are driven to study philosophy for its altruistic value. Rather, I think that effective altruists have left philosophy very commonly, and have entered it quite rarely. Obviously, thatās true for people in general, because there are more degrees in philosophy than jobs, but I suppose thatās just my point anyway...
Computer science and economics are both large fields with a lot of freedom, although computer science leads to better non-academic jobs.
For nonprofits in your interest areas, Iām not sure that a degree is very helpful, although software or business are generally pretty useful.
Iām not trying to make any wider point with the data science example. Rather, Iām just trying to get a map of what you do or donāt like about certain work-activities or certain jobs in order to apply those characteristics to other jobs. Itās like āsometimes a cigar is just a cigar!ā Itās just about getting a concrete idea of what you prefer to be doing!
And thatād be my final adviceāI think itāll be important to consider what concrete activities you actually want to do, and what aspect of āachieving your visionā you can get paid for.