Holden Karnofsky

TagLast edit: May 17, 2024, 7:39 PM by Nathan Young

Holden Karnofsky (born 1981) is an American philanthropist. He is a visiting scholar Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Further reading

Galef, Julia & Massimo Pigliucci (2011) Evidence-based philanthropy (Holden Karnofsky), Rationally Speaking, July 3.

Karnofsky, Holden (2021) The ‘most important century’ blog post series, Cold Takes, September 24.

Klein, Ezra (2021) Transcript: Ezra Klein interviews Holden Karnofsky, The New York Times, October 5.

Todd, Benjamin (2014) Interview: Holden Karnofsky on cause selection, 80,000 Hours, October 3.

Wiblin, Robert & Keiran Harris (2018) The world’s most intellectual foundation is hiring. Holden Karnofsky, founder of GiveWell, on how philanthropy can have maximum impact by taking big risks, 80,000 Hours, February 27.

Wiblin, Robert & Keiran Harris (2021) Holden Karnofsky on the most important century, 80,000 Hours, August 19.

External links

Cold Takes. Karnofsky’s blog.

Holden Karnofsky. Effective Altruism Forum account.

Related entries

cause prioritization | GiveWell | intervention evaluation | longtermism | Open Philanthropy

The ‘Wild’ and ‘Wacky’ Claims of Karnofsky’s ‘Most Important Century’

carboniferous_umbraculumApr 26, 2023, 3:45 PM

122 points

16 comments18 min readEA link

All Possible Views About Humanity’s Future Are Wild

Holden KarnofskyJul 13, 2021, 4:57 PM

217 points

47 comments8 min readEA link

(www.cold-takes.com)

My current impressions on career choice for longtermists

Holden KarnofskyJun 4, 2021, 5:07 PM

445 points

37 comments26 min readEA link

New blog: Cold Takes

Holden KarnofskyJul 13, 2021, 5:14 PM

85 points

17 comments1 min readEA link

Joining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Holden KarnofskyApr 29, 2024, 3:45 PM

228 points

14 comments2 min readEA link

A discussion of Holden Karnofsky’s “Most Important Century” series (Thursday 21 October, 19:00 UK)

peterhartreeOct 16, 2021, 8:50 PM

13 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

Hi, I’m Holden Karnofsky. AMA about jobs at Open Philanthropy

Holden KarnofskyMar 26, 2018, 4:32 PM

18 points

113 comments1 min readEA link

Important, actionable research questions for the most important century

Holden KarnofskyFeb 24, 2022, 4:34 PM

298 points

13 comments19 min readEA link

Rowing, Steering, Anchoring, Equity, Mutiny

Holden KarnofskyNov 30, 2021, 9:11 PM

94 points

32 comments18 min readEA link

This Can’t Go On

Holden KarnofskyAug 3, 2021, 3:53 PM

130 points

35 comments10 min readEA link

Conversation with Holden Karnofsky, Nick Beckstead, and Eliezer Yudkowsky on the “long-run” perspective on effective altruism

Nick_BecksteadAug 18, 2014, 4:30 AM

11 points

7 comments6 min readEA link

Summary of history (empowerment and well-being lens)

Holden KarnofskySep 28, 2021, 5:48 PM

62 points

11 comments11 min readEA link

Useful Vices for Wicked Problems

Holden KarnofskyApr 12, 2022, 7:19 PM

115 points

3 comments16 min readEA link

AI timelines by bio anchors: the debate in one place

Will AldredJul 30, 2022, 11:04 PM

93 points

6 comments2 min readEA link

Announcing The Most Important Century Writing Prize

michelOct 31, 2022, 9:37 PM

48 points

0 comments2 min readEA link

Holden Karnofsky: Open Philanthropy Project

EA GlobalAug 28, 2015, 8:37 AM

6 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

(www.youtube.com)

The Wicked Problem Experience

Holden KarnofskyMar 2, 2022, 5:43 PM

72 points

10 comments9 min readEA link

Comments for shorter Cold Takes pieces

Holden KarnofskyNov 3, 2021, 12:48 PM

48 points

167 comments1 min readEA link

Holden Karnofsky on building aptitudes and kicking ass

80000_HoursSep 23, 2021, 4:55 PM

10 points

0 comments137 min readEA link

Ideal governance (for companies, countries and more)

Holden KarnofskyApr 7, 2022, 4:54 PM

80 points

19 comments14 min readEA link

The Track Record of Futurists Seems … Fine

Holden KarnofskyJul 4, 2022, 3:47 PM

67 points

2 comments12 min readEA link

(www.cold-takes.com)

Holden Karnofsky’s recent comments on FTX

LizkaMar 24, 2023, 11:44 AM

149 points

2 comments5 min readEA link

Red-teaming Holden Karnofsky’s AI timelines

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 25, 2022, 2:24 PM

58 points

2 comments11 min readEA link

New series of posts answering one of Holden’s “Important, actionable research questions”

Evan R. MurphyMay 12, 2022, 9:22 PM

9 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

Holden Karnofsky at EA Global: Reconnect

EA GlobalMar 20, 2021, 7:00 AM

6 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

(www.youtube.com)

History of Philanthropy Case Study: The Founding of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Holden KarnofskyMay 20, 2016, 3:30 PM

2 points

0 comments2 min readEA link

(www.openphilanthropy.org)

My favourite Holden Karnofsky essays (pre Cold Takes)

DMMFAug 31, 2022, 4:01 PM

20 points

1 comment1 min readEA link

Some Thoughts on Public Discourse

Holden KarnofskyFeb 23, 2017, 5:29 PM

71 points

37 comments12 min readEA link

The Most Important Century: The Animation

WriterJul 24, 2022, 10:34 PM

50 points

8 comments20 min readEA link

(youtu.be)

A Brief Summary Of The Most Important Century

Maynk02Oct 25, 2022, 3:28 PM

3 points

0 comments5 min readEA link

Two interviews with Holden

Benjamin_ToddOct 3, 2014, 9:44 PM

7 points

4 comments2 min readEA link

My notes on: Why we can’t take expected value estimates literally (even when they’re unbiased)

Vasco Grilo🔸Apr 18, 2022, 1:10 PM

15 points

0 comments3 min readEA link

Holden Karnofsky Interview about Most Important Century & Transformative AI

Dwarkesh PatelJan 3, 2023, 5:31 PM

29 points

2 comments1 min readEA link

How to Reform Effective Altruism after SBF Vox interview with Holden Karnofsky 1/23/2023

PeterJan 26, 2023, 11:12 PM

55 points

3 comments2 min readEA link

(www.vox.com)

Taking a leave of absence from Open Philanthropy to work on AI safety

Holden KarnofskyFeb 23, 2023, 7:05 PM

420 points

31 comments2 min readEA link

Some comments on recent FTX-related events

Holden KarnofskyNov 10, 2022, 10:23 PM

644 points

79 comments4 min readEA link

The value of cost-effectiveness analysis (David Thorstad)

smountjoyJul 29, 2023, 10:54 PM

20 points

6 comments1 min readEA link

(ineffectivealtruismblog.com)

My notes on: Sequence thinking vs. cluster thinking

Vasco Grilo🔸May 25, 2022, 3:03 PM

24 points

0 comments5 min readEA link

Tempi eccezionali

EA ItalyJan 17, 2023, 2:58 PM

1 point

0 comments3 min readEA link

(altruismoefficace.it)

[Opzionale] Tutte le possibili conclusioni sul futuro dell’umanità sono incredibili

EA ItalyJan 17, 2023, 2:59 PM

1 point

0 comments8 min readEA link

Le mie impressioni sulla scelta di una carriera per i lungoterministi

EA ItalyJan 18, 2023, 11:47 AM

1 point

0 comments27 min readEA link

No comments.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keys shown in yellow (e.g., ]) are accesskeys, and require a browser-specific modifier key (or keys).

Keys shown in grey (e.g., ?) do not require any modifier keys.

General
? Show keyboard shortcuts
Esc Hide keyboard shortcuts

Site navigation
h Go to Home (a.k.a. “Frontpage”) view
f Go to Featured (a.k.a. “Curated”) view
a Go to All (a.k.a. “Community”) view
m Go to Meta view
v Go to Tags view
c Go to Recent Comments view
r Go to Archive view
q Go to Sequences view
t Go to About page
u Go to User or Login page
o Go to Inbox page

Page navigation
, Jump up to top of page
. Jump down to bottom of page
/ Jump to top of comments section
s Search

Page actions
n New post or comment
e Edit current post

Post/comment list views
. Focus next entry in list
, Focus previous entry in list
; Cycle between links in focused entry
Enter Go to currently focused entry
Esc Unfocus currently focused entry
] Go to next page
[ Go to previous page
\ Go to first page
e Edit currently focused post

Editor
k Bold text
i Italic text
l Insert hyperlink
q Blockquote text

Appearance
= Increase text size
- Decrease text size
0 Reset to default text size
′ Cycle through content width settings
1 Switch to default theme [A]
2 Switch to dark theme [B]
3 Switch to grey theme [C]
4 Switch to ultramodern theme [D]
5 Switch to simple theme [E]
6 Switch to brutalist theme [F]
7 Switch to ReadTheSequences theme [G]
8 Switch to classic Less Wrong theme [H]
9 Switch to modern Less Wrong theme [I]
; Open theme tweaker
Enter Save changes and close theme tweaker
Esc Close theme tweaker (without saving)

Slide shows
l Start/resume slideshow
Esc Exit slideshow
→↓ Next slide
←↑ Previous slide
Space Reset slide zoom

Miscellaneous
x Switch to next view on user page
z Switch to previous view on user page
` Toggle compact comment list view
g Toggle anti-kibitzer