Jack FitzGerald

Karma: 6

Hi!

I’m based in Dublin and I’m a regular attendee of Effective Altruism meetups here. I recently graduated with a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin. I’m now doing a Master’s in Economics and Data Analytics in UCD, which I am due to complete in 2025.

For the foreseeable future I am focused on maximising career capital, and I will most likely work in the private sector for a while. Eventually I would love to influence government policy, by working for government directly or for a relevant think tank.

Longtermism, global development and psychedelics are the topics which are closest to my heart.

Jack FitzGerald 13 Sep 2023 19:52 UTC
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on: Who should we interview for The 80,000 Hours Podcast?
Ajay Agrawal. He researches the potential economic impact of AI and is one of the authors of Power and Prediction, which offers a unique and surprisingly simple perspective on this subject.
If you enjoyed the Micheal Webb episode, then I think you would enjoy this interview too.

Jack FitzGerald 9 Sep 2023 21:29 UTC
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on: AMA: 80,000 Hours Career Advising Team
Hi, and thanks for doing this!
I’m curious what your perspective is on the value of economics as a major for those who don’t wish to pursue a PhD? In particular I’m curious about the following excerpt on choosing a major from https://80000hours.org/articles/college-advice/
“Putting all this together, and holding all else equal:
- We think it’s reasonable to aim for the most fundamental, quantitative option you can do, i.e. one of these in the following order: mathematics, economics, computer science, physics, engineering, political science/chemistry/biology (the last three are roughly equal).”
Personally I would’ve considered computer science, physics and engineering to be more quantitive than economics. Also in my experience these are considered harder majors as well, thus sending a stronger signal to employers.
(Disclaimer: I am studying economics myself, so perhaps I’m looking for some reassurance :))

Jack FitzGerald 10 Mar 2023 20:10 UTC
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in reply to: emre kaplan’s comment on: Open Thread: January — March 2023
I’m inclined to agree, although I was curious nonetheless. Also anecdotally it seems like an increasing number of people are basing their diet on calculated C02 emissions, so calculations based on suffering seem like they would be a useful counterpart.
Thanks for sharing the compilation!

Jack FitzGerald 10 Mar 2023 20:00 UTC
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in reply to: Lorenzo Buonanno’s comment on: Open Thread: January — March 2023
Both of those resources are excellent and exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Thank you so much!

Jack FitzGerald 9 Mar 2023 10:37 UTC
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on: Open Thread: January — March 2023
Hey everyone! First time poster here, but long time advocate for effective altruism.
I’ve been vegan for a couple of years now, mostly to mitigate animal suffering. Recently I’ve been wondering how a vegetarian diet would compare in terms of suffering caused. Of course I presume veganism would be better, but by how much?
With this in mind I’m wondering is there any resources that attempt to quantify how much suffering is caused by buying various animal products? For example dairy cows produce about 40,000 litres of milk in their lifetime, which can be used to make about 4000kg of cheese. With this in mind one could consider how much suffering a dairy cow endures in their lifetime and then quantify how much suffering they are responsible for each time they purchase a kilo of cheese.
My calculations are of course very imprecise and probably quite flawed, but I’m curious if anyone else has taken a more robust attempt at comparing the suffering caused by various animal products? I realize this may be hard since suffering is hard to quantify.
https://thehumaneleague.org/article/how-much-milk-does-a-cow-produce
https://faunalytics.org/how-to-quantify-animal-suffering/#:~:text=Number%20of%20days%20spent%20housed%2Fconfined%3A&text=Like%20estimating%20the%20number%20of,more%20suffering%2C%20all%20else%20equal.