The author of this forum post already links to that :)
gogreatergood
Karma: 21
Power of Int’l Women’s Day (March 8)
I Am The 1%
Power of Int’l Women’s Day (March 8)
Do mask mandates work? — Do RCTs?
This is a great post Julia. This helped me. I do a lot of volunteer work in my community and have been thinking about if I should give that up to attempt to devote more time to EA causes (even though I don’t want to), but I really should not do this. Don’t think I would be that effective with my extra time anyway, because something would be missing from my life. Much love.
I am using the same language here, that I present this project to the media and to others with. I thought this would be beneficial. You are seeing the same thing that the general public sees. Except (I hope) with a lot of background info and links to explain my thinking.
My language in that is not weaselly because it links to a page that shows exactly what I’m stating. It’s indeed, widely regarded, as one of the most effective charities in the world. By (as the linked page shows) The Life You Can Save; CharityWatch; Great Nonprofits; GuideStar; Charity Navigator.
Do you have any evidence that Fistula Foundation is NOT widely regarded to be one of the most effective charities in the world? Maybe you don’t think it is one of the most effective? But it’s widely regarded to be, and by some prominent and well-regarded third parties.
Your link here is exactly my same link that I put; I think you missed that. Yes I agree, that it may not be an upper elite ranked charity. And that’s why I linked to the same page. However, within this link that we both posted, they do state: “We think that Fistula Foundation may be in the range of cost-effectiveness of our current top charities. However, this estimate is highly uncertain for a number of reasons.” It seems to be well within a good range of high effectiveness. But if you are a stickler for elite effectiveness only, a great case can be made for that, to NOT donate to them, and fair enough. We seem in general agreement here. I’m not sure what I’m stating that’s false. It did not make the GiveWell cut after they looked into them. I agree.
+ I am in no way whatsoever affiliated with Fistula Foundation. Why do you think so? If you are going to donate less to them in the future, based just on the wording of this post from a random person you don’t know, and not based on the evidence of the work that they do, I’m not sure your reasoning on that.
+ I do hope you join me in skinny dipping on this day. I’m not sure why it’s ‘pandering’ for me to say that. However, if you don’t want to, that’s all good too!
Thank you for writing back your thoughts. Helps me to get the idea of why I am getting downvotes. I do hope to get some feedback on the project itself outside of the wording, if anyone has any ! Thank you again!
Nice post; awesome illustrations.
I really love the https://heyfocus.com/ site blocker (bonus: it tracks how much time I spend working through the day, and I can easily see my work progress in chart form by day, week, month, year).
Got that tip from this article: https://markmanson.net/attention-diet, which also lists other good site blockers, and tips for focus. (skip down to “Step 1” onward, and especially “Step 4″.)
Great link, helpful indeed, thank you.
(Way better than Scientific American’s unnuanced dismissal of RCTs / “hierarchy of evidence” in general.)
Miranda, (stumbled on these 3 posts of yours, when searching up a different post. )
Big props for putting an important idea to practice in real life. You rock !!!
Thank you Amber !
Wow. Read through your 2 comments here (and on the other forum post you linked to—where I also just commented). Thank you so much for taking the time to share the insights.
I especially like the idea of a site dedicated to this. There are a couple pages out there that I can find, namely on the IWD website itself, but nothing worth even linking to, in my humble opinion. Def room for something awesome to come along, and give a couple options for. (Maybe there could even be a section for effective giving within the US or developed countries too, although if it did, this should certainly be secondary and not as highlighted.)
It’s not too early for me to consider next year already… and if you (or anyone reading this) is possibly interested in helping a website come together (from site design—to simply being available for a little brainstorm)… let me know here or via DM.
One semi-simple way for a website to occur, would be to just encourage TLYCS—or some other org—to create such a page themselves… with the info (and site design) they already largely have on hand.
Aidan thank you so so much. It means a lot to hear back in detail like this from any EA people. I’m mostly out of any kind of direct contact with EA’s (aside from reading articles/videos) so it’s awesome to have any kind of conversation. Thank you for helping to expand my knowledge. I understand better how this is all estimated now, and the more I learn about GiveWell the more respect I have for them. Wow. It’s intense to come up with conversions like what they are doing.
I did struggle a bit with the $586 number and how I phrased it:
1. I am aware that this is not enough to literally “save a life,” as in from death. But, it is a life saved, as in the woman’s life is suddenly saved from her physically, mentally, and socially injured life.
2. I am aware that although the $586 IS the average cost of a fistula surgery (at least according to the organization, but they are also vetted by The Life You Can Save and a bunch of others), there are overhead costs that may or may not be included in that number.
That being said, I did still stick to run with the $586 since it is the actual cost of the procedure and after-care, etc… and since if that woman did have that money and was near enough to the doctor, that WOULD be enough to “save her life.” (Of course I also have to admit, that I do also like the jarring headline aspect.)
If you have any additional thoughts, def let me know. If not, thank you again!!!
Yo Aaron thank you so so much for taking the time to reply to me with all this info!!! Super helpful!!!
I didn’t know about Live Below the Line, that is great to know about. I’m going to look into what people have done with that before I attempt any other projects. Totally get the negative feedback around that idea, which is obviously related to my own take.
As for my quote “if you think this lifestyle is a little odd, you are out of touch with how most people in the world live”—I have to counter that I did have a tent and sleeping bag, thus was able to survive in below freezing temperatures. So I didn’t mean that I was homeless or without shelter. I meant just that I had the basics. (Even though of course, I had more than the basics since this was just for a week, I live in a wealthy area, etc, etc.) That line was also somewhat me addressing just about everybody who thought I was being really weird for even attempting this idea… really it is how most people live (in a very general sense), so it’s not THAT weird.
THANK YOU AGAIN. Any further thoughts def let me know. I suddenly love EA forum!!
Bro they just changed that statement now, seemingly from me posting this? Idk.
Look:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221222171814/https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-global/events/ea-global-london-2023
″we recommend attendees to be double-vaccinated with WHO-approved vaccines.”
“Existential Risks scholars might find it attractive to put an office inside the Chicxulub crater ;)”
^That is a great idea.
Yucatan is beautiful, and additionally seems a ripe place for EA to gain beautiful perspective from. Didn’t know all this. Thanks to all of you, for writing up this nice piece.
LOVE this post. The Julia Wise one you link to is my fav. And now this is an excellent pairing for that. I will be sure to share when I see people doing what you describe, or worrying about it, which will be sooner than later !!!
Thank ya Thomas!!
If anyone happens to ever read this post in the distant future… I’d like to say, my “side point” at the end of this, was poorly thought out / poorly written / unkind.
Also, this post as a whole could have been framed a little better. I see some ‘background’ ideas that I could have included for better context, for one.
But in general I think it’s better to leave up eh writings than delete it, so I’m not going to edit or delete this.
If you are not liking that one study, because it doesn’t do a risk-benefit for both sides… then just refer to the other studies I link more prominently to, which do.
If you think it is “terrible reasoning” to not do a risk-benefit of both sides, before making explicit or implicit statements… we are certainly on the same page… This is my issue with EAG’s recommendation.
Handstands are not in the same ballpark as hospitalization for permanent heart damage. Perhaps I take this more seriously because I know people this happened to. Just like I also know people who died from covid. -- Let’s keep on top of the available risk-benefit basics, and realize that the situation today is much different than 1, 2, and 3 years ago.
Also, yes, this is just a little fine-print statement from EAG, but I see the same statements and logic elsewhere, it seems embedded.
Thank you Monica for taking some time out of your day to engage with me and my ideas and links, and for keeping an eye on the viewpoints we have in common, our similarities. I appreciate you. And I think you are making good points.
Tool by Jon Haidt for reducing polarization: openmindplatform.org
It’s a free, interactive course, which takes only ~1.5 hours total.
You can use it individually, or you can start your own group and be able to track your students’ progress.
I just finished it yesterday, highly recommend.
Fun Fact: Someone from OpenMind did a lightning talk about it at EAGxBoston 2019.
Interesting article, thank you.