Coleman

Karma: 61

Hi! Thanks for checking out my EA Forum Bio! My name is Coleman; I am the President of Cornell Effective Altruism, a Global Catastrophic Risk researcher, and a science communicator with a focus on AI, emerging technology policy, societal health/resilience, ethics, and long-term flourishing. In addition to my passion for community building and speaking with various folks (both seasoned veterans and completely new to EA/GCR), I am interested in improving clearing thinking surrounding this century’s greatest challenges, in part through expanding upon the systemic risk approach.

My academic background is in Cognitive Science, Ethics, and Politics. My favorite thinkers from history are Aristotle, Hegel, and I especially admire the work of Derek Parfit, Vikctor Frankl, and the recent empirical studies out of Cornell’s Purpose and Identity Lab.

Currently projects (updated semi-regularly):

Expansion of The X-Risk Podcast + Expanding our team (Feel free to reach out via cjs386@cornell.edu if interested in learning more about our production & research assistant roles)
Ongoing research on the underpinnings of cooperation and policy with Matthew Gentzel of LongView
Resilience research with Luke Kemp and Nathaniel Cooke.
Guest lecturing at Undergraduate/Graduate Student Groups on X Risk

Coleman 30 May 2023 16:23 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: New Video: What to Eat in a Global Catastrophe
Great video, you two!

Coleman 27 Mar 2023 15:49 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Introducing Artists of Impact
Wonderful project. We have needed something like this for quite a while and I am thrilled to see it happening!

Coleman 27 Mar 2023 15:42 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Introducing Artists of Impact
Wonderful project. We have needed something like this for quite a while and I am thrilled to see it happening!

Coleman 14 Mar 2023 21:01 UTC
2 points
1 ∶ 0
on: More Centralisation?
Would you say more organizational support would make for a broader equilibrium for EA-organizational needs…
Perhaps a ‘Nash-Equilibrium’?

Coleman 21 Nov 2022 15:07 UTC
19 points
7 ∶ 1
on: Beyond Simple Existential Risk: Survival in a Complex Interconnected World
The promotion of pluralism allows for greater epistemic checks and balances in a way that seems unparalleled in good thinking.
Thank you so much for bringing these ideas to the forefront, Gideon. Absolute legend.

Coleman 20 Jul 2022 19:45 UTC
1 point
0 ∶ 0
on: Who’s hiring? (May-September 2022)
21st Talks, a growing existential risk and EA-focused media organization with a podcast and youtube channel, is looking for a content admin/research assistant.
The role is not currently fully funded but the content admin will receive royalties.
The responsibilities include taking over the reins of strategizing potential podcast guests and setting up interviews via writing the guest directly or their PR team.
We are looking for someone who is also able to meet once a week to go over that upcoming content, and plan monthly content calendars, along with someone proficient in working on public communication-focused research projects.
The role will be 5 hours a week and should be a lot of fun. Current university students who are looking to be involved in EA communication seem like great fits. Bonus points if you’re in or near Ithaca NY where our current production team (Coleman Snell, Justin Dmelio) attends university.
More details are available to anyone interested. You can shoot me an email at cjs386@cornell.edu, using the subject line “21st Talks Content Admin Inquiry”!
Have a great rest of your week!

Coleman 25 Apr 2022 16:22 UTC
1 point
0 ∶ 0
on: EA can be hard: links for that
Thank you for this list! I research communication within EA and a large factor in ineffective communication is neglectedness around emotive responses when discussing these topics (I call the sum of these emotive responses the ‘lean out effect’).
All of these readings are super useful for my research so thank you so much for striving to metabolize your experience into something that can help other community members. Feel free to reach out and schedule a 1-on-1 and thank you again!

Coleman 18 Apr 2022 22:15 UTC
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Corporate governance reform efforts?
Hi! I am interested in this kind of research and I study behavioral science, and psychology at Cornell. I also do public/industry communication for X-Risk and EA, so I would love to connect and discuss what you have in mind!

Coleman 14 Apr 2022 15:39 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: How should people spend money to be more productive?
In line with Khorton’s answer, life coaching
Especially from someone within Effective Altruism, who understands one’s longterm goals, having an individual to sit down with each week and talk through any and all issues is well worth the pay. When coupled with journaling, the issues that would otherwise impact one’s EA work can be majorly minimized.
Even issues that may seem small or insignificant on the surface, if they are recurring, can be extremely taxing on one’s sustainable EA motivation. The life coaching widely accessed within EA needs to extend far beyond just direct aspects of the career.
If you’re interested in life coaching on better achieving your goals, romance sustained motivation, etc… feel free to DM me. I’d be happy to chat about options beyond just therapy!

Coleman 28 Mar 2022 19:49 UTC
1 point
0 ∶ 0
on: Why I am looking for an executive assistant
Hi Max,
This may be a silly question but I have been thinking quite a bit about exactly some of the points you brought up in your piece above due to a recent expansion of my EA Communication Organization requiring me to take on my own assistant.
I am curious, would you recommend finding a part-time assistant for other people involved in EA who recognize that their work could become significantly more effective with even a part-time assistant? I am thinking of how often I see responses like “So sorry for the long response, I want to prioritize this and dropped the ball on responding because I have been so busy with {x responsbility}...”
Given how opportunity distribution works, there is a connection between the importance of work and the effectiveness of the specific individual at said work and the number of opportunities they are presented with. Do you think this creates a condition where many EA’s who are doing well at what they are aiming to do ought to have more readily available access to for example part time assistants?

Coleman 25 Mar 2022 1:43 UTC
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: The BEAHR: Dust off your CVs for the Big EA Hiring Round!
What options may there be for part-time (full-time students who are highly EA forcused/motivated)?

Coleman 22 Mar 2022 15:49 UTC
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: EA directory of ideas
Hey! I am interested in EA communication and idea rendering. At Cornell, I have been brainstorming some work in with a knowledge system called a Zettlestracken using software that visually plots / generates connections between ideas/notes.
Perhaps the system I have started to design may be useful for this. Feel free to reach out to me if you’re interested! I’ll DM you my email!

Coleman 10 Mar 2022 17:55 UTC
1 point
0 ∶ 0
on: Hello from the new Content Specialist at CEA
Hi! Congratulations on the new position!
I was curious, MetaCulus and similar sites have been really useful recently for many EA’s. Would there be anyway to create a similar system on EA here to do group sourced elicitation for possible ethical outcomes? It might super power the EA Forum’s ability to make rational comments!

Coleman 25 Feb 2022 18:34 UTC
1 point
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on: How Asia Works Reading Group
Hi! I was wondering if there might be an alternative time for this event? Given that this weekend is Stanford’s X-Risk Conference, I know many EA’s (myself included) who might love to attend this but will be busy or zoomed out with the Stanford conference.

Coleman 31 Dec 2021 21:59 UTC
6 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Two Podcast Opportunities
Hi! My name is Coleman, I am an X—Risk and EA Podcastor, YouTuber, and speaker. I would absolutely love to work on either project idea with you and your team!
Feel free to directly message me here.

Coleman 13 Dec 2021 22:20 UTC
13 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Response to Recent Criticisms of Longtermism
A wonderful piece, Avital. I am eager to write a full response after finals subside. But until then, just wanted to say that it is a fantastic piece. It gave context and responses to several major claims that I have been seeking more clarity on for quite a while. Without a doubt, it is where I’ll be sending folks who are curious about defenses of Longtermism from now on. Brava!

Coleman 9 Dec 2021 18:25 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: EA Internship & Research Opportunities for Undergraduates
Hi! This is a super interesting idea and I am incredibly grateful you’re doing it!
I am a science communicator for existential risk and effective altruism and my audience is made up mostly of undergraduates who are interested in EA and X-Risk. I would absolutely love to let my audience know about your internship board once it is live or work and help you all out in any way I can to get information out there on it!
Furthermore, I would be super happy to have the heads of your project on the podcast for a brief chat about the obstacles young people face to getting into the field for upcoming videos on the topic!

Coleman 8 Dec 2021 22:35 UTC
1 point
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on: Potential EA NYC Coworking Space
Very interesting idea! I may be preaching to the choir but the importance of a physical space to not only work but also gather for social gatherings (official and otherwise) is a key feature to robust community building. So I am super eager to see how it turns out!
I am a student at Cornell up in Ithaca but travel to NYC once or twice a month and would love to have the ability to stop by somewhere where a ton of EA’s are doing working, and chatting for a cup of coffee and a good chat! I have had the chance to meet with folks from other New York State and Boston Universities. It seems that generally, a lack of physical spaces for people to meet inter-collegiately seems to be a major point of frustration for many of us EAs.