I am in the very early stages of creating a new EA podcast with the working title: Everyday EA. The podcast would be informal interviews with people in the EA community (broadly) who are not particularly well known, yet are doing valuable work, even if they aren’t yet the most successful person in their field. I’d like to use this session to get feedback on the initial idea, to talk to people who have podcasting experience, and to search for possible collaborators.
Details:
Many people in the community see the great research, writing, advocacy, and altruism of others and do not feel like they have enough to contribute so lose motivation to contribute at all. They only see the most successful people and think “I cannot achieve that”. This means that we are missing out on a large number of great minds who could help humans and animals now and in the future. I’d like to start a podcast project that promotes the voices of “everyday EAs”: relatable role-models in the EA community who, while not necessarily being at the very top of their respective field, are having a meaningful impact that should be celebrated.
Many people (especially EAs?) consume many hours of podcasts. The small number of EA-specific podcasts (The Future of Life Institute podcast, 80,000 hours podcast, to name a few. I compiled a longer list here.) mostly involve interviews with very successful people. I think there is space for a more approachable and relatable podcast.
Benefits to the EA community:
Create relatable role-models: Make EA relatable through conversations with people who share the listeners’ worries and feelings of inadequacy.
A platform for early-career EAs to promote their thinking/writing/skills to the EA community.
A platform to promote diverse experiences and thoughts to broaden the reach of EA.
Key questions and uncertainties:
Is a podcast the best way to address these problems?
How could the impact of the podcast be maximised? Episode length, themes, who to interview?
What level of knowledge should we assume in the audience?
Would you like to work on this project with me (as an interviewee, co-host, or producer)?
If you have any suggestions about this idea but cannot make it to the unconference, please reply to this comment or reach out to me via private message.
First session is my preference, but I am happy to be considered for either.
Creating an EA podcast is something I’ve been interested in for a while now too! I’m a big fan of long-form interview podcasts, like 80,000 Hours’ and the The Tim Ferriss Show. I like the idea of Everyday EA. I think though that Everyday EA should target interviewing people who are in the most engaged 1-10% of the EA community first though. There’s a lot of accomplished and inspiring people within EA who haven’t been in an 80K podcast or given an EAG talk yet, but can share a lot of great insights. I can suggest certain people.
I’d be interested to attend this, and I’d also be interested to help you develop the strategy for this podcast. I’m quite busy with work and other projects, but I’d like to see if it’s valuable for me to help.
Also, a key consideration here is audio quality. Given that most of the world is in lockdown, and because EAs are geographically spread out, I assume you’ll be conducting most of the interviews virtually. But a lot of EAs might not have access to a good microphone. And even if they did, you may have to ask them to record their audio on their end, and send it over to you after. (Anyone with experience recording virtual podcasts though could correct me on this!)
80K and other podcasts do some virtual interviews, and most of these have poorer audio quality than in-person ones. I and others would be less likely to listen to a podcast episode with poor audio quality.
Anyway, maybe you could make sure to interview EAs with access to a good microphone first, just to keep the quality high for the first few episodes. I actually have a podcast microphone, and I’d be willing to be an interviewee. Let me know any thoughts you have on this here or privately!
I agree with the paragraph about interviewing the most engaged people.
Thanks for your offer of help. If the response from the unconference is positive, I will be in touch with you to see if there is a way that you can contribute.
I agree with audio quality being a priority, especially with a remote interviewee. If the response from the unconference is positive, I was thinking of applying for funding for good quality hardware and software from e.g. the EA meta fund. As well as interviewing people who already have a good quality microphone, another option which I have hear other podcasters have success with, is to send a microphone to the interviewee by post and have them send it back (or to the next interviewee) after the interview.
I think you can get a good podcast microphone for ~$100. This is the microphone I have which was recommended by Tim Ferriss and others: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJOZS4 I haven’t tested it yet for a full podcast episode, but I think it’s pretty decent audio quality.
You can also just use Garageband as free software to start if you have a Mac. Tim Ferriss recommends using Auphonic to clean up the audio, but it doesn’t cost much either. I don’t think you’ll need to apply for the Meta fund for this, given that these costs are quite cheap, and they’re unlikely to give a grant that small.
Thanks for the feedback. A comment like this is useful at this stage as I’m trying to get an understanding for whether people would listen to this sort of thing.
The small number of EA-specific podcasts (The future of life podcast, 80,000 hours podcast, to name a few)...
I was going to link to this list of EA-related podcasts for readers who wanted a more comprehensive collection, and then I spotted that you’re the person who collected that list! It’s a good list—might be worth turning up your “willingness to shamelessly self-promote” dial :D
Also, I’d be happy to play the role of interviewee at some point, if you do end up doing this and would want to interview me.
I’ve added a link now. After all, I need to turn up my “willingness to shamelessly self-promote” dial if I’m going to get this podcast off the ground!
Thanks for your interest in being an interviewee. I’ll keep a log of those who are interested and will be in touch if the project has enough interest to get up and running.
I think this is a great idea. There’s definitely an ideal of what it means to be EA that is set by the demands of moral philosophy and by EA superstars. However, there is a limit to what most people (even the superstars) can reasonably accomplish. It could be helpful to highlight the struggle between the ideal and the practical, and what each guest is doing to try to improve.
I have professional experience in audio engineering so let me know if you have any questions on that front, and would love to be a guest at some point (you can see my project on this page.)
Thanks for the comment. I REALLY like the way you put it in the first paragraph. You’ve put the idea into better words than I could have done. If it goes down well at the unconference, I’ll be in touch. It will be helpful to chat to an audio engineer.
“Everyday EA”—A new EA podcast
Summary:
I am in the very early stages of creating a new EA podcast with the working title: Everyday EA. The podcast would be informal interviews with people in the EA community (broadly) who are not particularly well known, yet are doing valuable work, even if they aren’t yet the most successful person in their field. I’d like to use this session to get feedback on the initial idea, to talk to people who have podcasting experience, and to search for possible collaborators.
Details:
Many people in the community see the great research, writing, advocacy, and altruism of others and do not feel like they have enough to contribute so lose motivation to contribute at all. They only see the most successful people and think “I cannot achieve that”. This means that we are missing out on a large number of great minds who could help humans and animals now and in the future. I’d like to start a podcast project that promotes the voices of “everyday EAs”: relatable role-models in the EA community who, while not necessarily being at the very top of their respective field, are having a meaningful impact that should be celebrated.
Many people (especially EAs?) consume many hours of podcasts. The small number of EA-specific podcasts (The Future of Life Institute podcast, 80,000 hours podcast, to name a few. I compiled a longer list here.) mostly involve interviews with very successful people. I think there is space for a more approachable and relatable podcast.
Benefits to the EA community:
Create relatable role-models: Make EA relatable through conversations with people who share the listeners’ worries and feelings of inadequacy.
A platform for early-career EAs to promote their thinking/writing/skills to the EA community.
A platform to promote diverse experiences and thoughts to broaden the reach of EA.
Key questions and uncertainties:
Is a podcast the best way to address these problems?
How could the impact of the podcast be maximised? Episode length, themes, who to interview?
What level of knowledge should we assume in the audience?
Would you like to work on this project with me (as an interviewee, co-host, or producer)?
If you have any suggestions about this idea but cannot make it to the unconference, please reply to this comment or reach out to me via private message.
First session is my preference, but I am happy to be considered for either.
Creating an EA podcast is something I’ve been interested in for a while now too! I’m a big fan of long-form interview podcasts, like 80,000 Hours’ and the The Tim Ferriss Show. I like the idea of Everyday EA. I think though that Everyday EA should target interviewing people who are in the most engaged 1-10% of the EA community first though. There’s a lot of accomplished and inspiring people within EA who haven’t been in an 80K podcast or given an EAG talk yet, but can share a lot of great insights. I can suggest certain people.
I’d be interested to attend this, and I’d also be interested to help you develop the strategy for this podcast. I’m quite busy with work and other projects, but I’d like to see if it’s valuable for me to help.
Also, a key consideration here is audio quality. Given that most of the world is in lockdown, and because EAs are geographically spread out, I assume you’ll be conducting most of the interviews virtually. But a lot of EAs might not have access to a good microphone. And even if they did, you may have to ask them to record their audio on their end, and send it over to you after. (Anyone with experience recording virtual podcasts though could correct me on this!)
80K and other podcasts do some virtual interviews, and most of these have poorer audio quality than in-person ones. I and others would be less likely to listen to a podcast episode with poor audio quality.
Anyway, maybe you could make sure to interview EAs with access to a good microphone first, just to keep the quality high for the first few episodes. I actually have a podcast microphone, and I’d be willing to be an interviewee. Let me know any thoughts you have on this here or privately!
Strongly agree on the importance of audio quality. Cool idea!
I agree with the paragraph about interviewing the most engaged people.
Thanks for your offer of help. If the response from the unconference is positive, I will be in touch with you to see if there is a way that you can contribute.
I agree with audio quality being a priority, especially with a remote interviewee. If the response from the unconference is positive, I was thinking of applying for funding for good quality hardware and software from e.g. the EA meta fund. As well as interviewing people who already have a good quality microphone, another option which I have hear other podcasters have success with, is to send a microphone to the interviewee by post and have them send it back (or to the next interviewee) after the interview.
I think you can get a good podcast microphone for ~$100. This is the microphone I have which was recommended by Tim Ferriss and others: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJOZS4 I haven’t tested it yet for a full podcast episode, but I think it’s pretty decent audio quality.
You can also just use Garageband as free software to start if you have a Mac. Tim Ferriss recommends using Auphonic to clean up the audio, but it doesn’t cost much either. I don’t think you’ll need to apply for the Meta fund for this, given that these costs are quite cheap, and they’re unlikely to give a grant that small.
I want to listen to this podcast!
Thanks for the feedback. A comment like this is useful at this stage as I’m trying to get an understanding for whether people would listen to this sort of thing.
I was going to link to this list of EA-related podcasts for readers who wanted a more comprehensive collection, and then I spotted that you’re the person who collected that list! It’s a good list—might be worth turning up your “willingness to shamelessly self-promote” dial :D
Also, I’d be happy to play the role of interviewee at some point, if you do end up doing this and would want to interview me.
I’ve added a link now. After all, I need to turn up my “willingness to shamelessly self-promote” dial if I’m going to get this podcast off the ground!
Thanks for your interest in being an interviewee. I’ll keep a log of those who are interested and will be in touch if the project has enough interest to get up and running.
I think this is a great idea. There’s definitely an ideal of what it means to be EA that is set by the demands of moral philosophy and by EA superstars. However, there is a limit to what most people (even the superstars) can reasonably accomplish. It could be helpful to highlight the struggle between the ideal and the practical, and what each guest is doing to try to improve.
I have professional experience in audio engineering so let me know if you have any questions on that front, and would love to be a guest at some point (you can see my project on this page.)
Thanks for the comment. I REALLY like the way you put it in the first paragraph. You’ve put the idea into better words than I could have done. If it goes down well at the unconference, I’ll be in touch. It will be helpful to chat to an audio engineer.
Sounds good! Yes, please stay in touch!