I appreciate this style of post! I’ll also flag that the Global Priorities Insitute has an FAQ-style list of responses to questions about longtermism, some of which link to research papers and further reading for those interested.
2ndRichter
Karma: 750
Key takeaways from Famine, Affluence, and Morality
I can’t say anything much beyond what’s already been said, but want to reiterate the deep gratitude for what you’ve done in this role. I have always felt heard and respected in conversations with you, even before working at CEA, and I appreciate how value-driven and kind you are in your work.
I really respect you making a choice that will be best for your health—while also making a choice on timing that will support the community’s health. Thank you for that thoughtfulness and all you’ve done for the community! Looking forward to seeing you around still.
Share the burden
World Malaria Day: Reflecting on Past Victories and Envisioning a Malaria-Free Future
This is by no means a comprehensive list—and some of these relate to points Shakeel already raised—but here’s a list of more wins from 2023, some more meta than others:
New Incentives hit 2 million infants served by their program. As of January 3, 2024, they’re now at 2,585,587 enrolled in total. Their 2023 enrollment exceeded all their previous years combined.
Giving What We Can launched a new pledge option for those with significant wealth to give away 10% of their total wealth, not just their income. They also launched effective giving groups in many communities.
Three charities were recognized and recommended by ACE for the first time, based on impact potential, cost-effectiveness, room for more funding, and organizational health: Legal Impact for Chickens; New Roots Institute; and Shrimp Welfare Project. (Faunalytics, The Humane League, and Wild Animal Initiative all retained their status as Recommended Charities after being re-evaluated this year.)
The recent Donation Election on the Forum raised $34,856, $12,847.75 going to Rethink Priorities, $11,351.11 to the Charity Entrepreneurship: Incubated Charities Fund, and $10,657.07 to the Animal Welfare Fund (EA Funds) after voting from 341 Forum users.
The Humane League “pushed the companies falling behind on their commitments to follow through on their promise” and “held 36 companies with global cage-free commitments accountable to reporting progress on their pledges.” Notably, 39.4% of the US egg-laying flock are free from cages, “(over ~120 million hens, up from ~5% when THL began this work in 2014.” (Source: Forum post from THL)
Against Malaria Foundation received its millionth donation in 2023. As of November 2023, their team is in the middle of a nine-month period to distribute 90 million nets to protect 160 million people in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. “The impact of these nets is expected to be, ± 20%, 40,000 deaths prevented, 20 million cases of malaria averted and a US$2.2 billion improvement in local economy (12x the funds applied).” (Source: Forum post from AMF)
Open Philanthropy added a new cause area to their Global Health and Wellbeing portfolio: Global Public Health Policy.
Vox’s Future Perfect 50 recognized several people related to the EA ecosystem and the valuable work they contribute.
Again, these are just some additional wins! I would love to hear from others about the work they appreciated from the past year or wins you’ve seen in your areas of work or interest.
(Edit note, Jan 4: I previously said AMF had already distributed 90 million nets. @tobytrem pointed out they are in fact part way through distributing these nets.)
Frances’ quick take here made me think about what skills are particularly important in my own line of work, communications. 80,000 Hours has a skill profile for communicating ideas that covers some crucial considerations when assessing fit for communications work; these are additional skills or aptitudes that I often think about when considering fit for communications work in the EA ecosystem in particular:
Translating between groups: Especially in an EA context, communications work can entail the translation of complex, nuanced ideas from one group of people into something more legible for a different group or audience. Being able to speak the language of different niche groups—like researchers or philosophers—and then being able to translate that into a different kind of language or format proves useful, especially when communicating with audiences that are less familiar with EA. This is when having a background or understanding of different audiences or groups can come in handy for communications work.
Stewardship mentality: As a communicator, you don’t always represent your own ideas or original work. Often you’re representing the work or ideas of others, which requires a sense of stewardship in service of representing that work or those ideas accurately and with nuance. This can look like double-checking stats or numbers before sharing a social media post or doing further research to make sure you understand a claim or piece of research you’re discussing.
Excitement about being in a support role: Some communicators, like social media personalities or popular bloggers, don’t necessarily require this aptitude; but full-time communications roles at many organizations in the EA ecosystem require this, in my opinion. Similar to having a stewardship mentality, I find it helps if you have excitement about supporting the object-level work of others. Feeling jazzed about the message or impact of a particular organization or cause area probably means you’ll do a better job communicating about it or supporting the communication efforts of others. Many types of communications work don’t receive direct, public credit—editing, ghostwriting, coordinating, filming, etc.—but they can be just as rewarding depending on your personality.
Recent and upcoming media related to EA
Interesting! I see it under “Opinions” on their homepage when I check now—maybe was something to do with them refreshing the content on the page at a certain point today when you checked, or something else.
It’s in the image on the lower far right— “After Bankman-Fried, effective altruists won’t be fooled again, Opinion by Zach Robinson.”
Thank you Thomas! I’m quite a visual person, so it helped me to draw these as I was thinking about this essay. I hoped they’d be helpful for others as well, so very glad you like them! :)