Joseph

Karma: 3,180

I have work experience in HR and Operations. I read a lot, I enjoy taking online courses, and I do some yoga and some rock climbing. I enjoy learning languages, and I think that I tend to have a fairly international/cross-cultural focus or awareness in my life. I was born and raised in a monolingual household in the US, but I’ve lived most of my adult life outside the US, with about ten years in China, two years in Spain, and less than a year in Brazil.

As far as EA is concerned, I’m fairly cause agnostic/cause neutral. I think that I am a little bit more influenced by virtue ethics and stoicism than the average EA, and I also occasionally find myself thinking about inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in EA. Some parts of the EA community that I’ve observed in-person seem not very welcoming to outsides, or somewhat gatekept. I tend to care quite a bit about how exclusionary or welcoming communities are.

I was told by a friend in EA that I should brag about how many books I read because it is impressive, but I feel uncomfortable being boastful, so here is my clunky attempt to brag about that.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, opinions are my own, not my employer’s.

Joseph Apr 18, 2025, 2:13 PM
24 points
7 ∶ 0
in reply to: Chris Leong’s comment on: casebash’s Shortform
I’d like to suggest a little bit more clarity here. The phrases you use refer to some knowledge that isn’t explicitly stated here. “in light of a recently announced startup” and “three people at the same org” make sense to someone who already knows the context of what you are writing about, but it is confusing to a reader who doesn’t have the same background knowledge that you do.

Joseph Apr 10, 2025, 10:07 PM
6 points
4 ∶ 0
on: My first year in Effective Altruism
You are definitly not the only person who has too much to read. My want to read list grows much faster than my ability to read: books, internet blog posts, academic papers, YouTube lectures… I read lots and I still can’t keep up! I found it helpful to keep a list (a spreadsheet, actually), and then I can prioritize things a bit better. But you definitly don’t have to read everything to “be a part of the club.” I also remind myself that it is a marathon, not a sprint.

Joseph Apr 10, 2025, 9:58 PM
6 points
4 ∶ 0
on: EA Reflections on my Military Career
I enjoyed this. This provided a glimpse into a world that is very different from what I’ve encountered previously, and I’m really glad that you chose to share it. I do think that there is some truth to what you mention about skill-building. I especially appreciate that you were candid about the perks and costs; a globe-trotting lifestyle can certainly have an appeal, but transience and lack of stability/community is something that is discussed less often.
The snippet about finding “socialising a lot more enjoyable in a headspace where I don’t need to prove myself” feels very relatable. I also became more more comfortable socializing once I felt secure. It took me a while to get there, but the feeling of not needing to prove oneself is very nice.
I’m also glad to see a mention of Turn The Ship Around, which is one of the best books I’ve read on leadership and communication in the context of managing people.

Joseph Apr 10, 2025, 2:53 PM
11 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Mo Putera’s comment on: Mo Putera’s Quick takes
A few thoughts. First, it is a really cute story, and I’m glad you shared it. It feels very Japanese.
Second, marketing and tourism aren’t often considered as major areas for economic development and growth (at least not in the popular press books I’ve read or the EA circles I’ve been in), but this is a simple little case study to demonstrate that having a mascot (or anything else that people like, from fancy buildings to locations tied to things people like) can drive economic activity. But it is also hard to predict in advance what will be a hit. I bet that lots of places have beautiful murals, cute animals, historical importance, lovely scenery, and similar attractions without having much of a positive return on investment. For me, the notable think about Tama’s story is how little money was needed to add something special to the local station. A lot of investments related to tourism are far more expensive.
A final thought, one that maybe folks more versed in economics can help me with. Should we consider this an example of economic growth? Is this just shifting spending/consumption from one place to another? Would people who spent money to ride this train otherwise would have spent that money doing something else: riding a different train, visiting a park, etc.

Joseph Apr 7, 2025, 11:40 PM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Joseph Lemien’s Shortform
I’m wondering if the idea of the Thucydides Trap could be considered an info hazard. The idea is that a rising power/country/nation naturally tends to cause military conflict with an established power/country/nation. Graham Allison popularized the idea. If he had chosen to not popularize the term, would fewer people hold the perspective that violent conflict is inevitable between the US and China. Is this somewhat a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Hard to state with any confidence, but considering how widespread the idea is (among foreign policy folks in the USA and China, at least), it at least strikes me as a reasonable hypothesis: as a result of learning about the Thucydides Trap people think that war is more likely, which in turn makes war more likely.

Joseph Apr 3, 2025, 3:05 PM
6 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Benevolent_Rain’s comment on: Ozzie Gooen’s Shortform
As a single data point: seconded. I’ve explicitly been asked by interviewers (in a job interview) why I left a “higher title job” for a “lower title job,” with the implication that it needed some special justification. I suspect there have also been multiple times in which someone looking at my resume saw that transition, made an assumption about it, and choose to reject me. (although this probably happens with non-EA jobs more often than EA jobs, as the “lower title role” was with a well-known EA organization)

Joseph Apr 1, 2025, 1:43 AM
7 points
3 ∶ 0
on: The EA University Groups’ Prisoner’s Dilemma!
I think you get the prize for the first April Fools post of 2025! Here is a cookie: 🍪

Joseph Apr 1, 2025, 1:42 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: Ozzie Gooen’s comment on: Ozzie Gooen’s Shortform
Could you describe a bit more what you mean here by “standoffishness?” Is it just that people aren’t very friendly and welcoming in a social sense?

Joseph Mar 31, 2025, 1:57 PM
8 points
2 ∶ 1
on: Joseph Lemien’s Shortform
For a crowd of people that often doesn’t take time off because there is more work to do, or thinks of triage in terms of deaths averted, it can be nice to see people have fun and be silly. I’m mentally preparing myself to see a dozen or more April’s fools posts with wordplay, teasing, and snark from various people.

If anybody wants to have serious discussions on the EA Forum, I recommend postponing for a few days.

Joseph Mar 30, 2025, 1:25 PM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: yz’s comment on: Ozzie Gooen’s Shortform
Sure. What I want to do is get input to figure out if there are any ideas in the draft (or versions of those ideas) that are worth sharing, which I would then make into a post. Some of the ideas in the draft are probably just ramblings or otherwise not really worth sharing

Joseph Mar 27, 2025, 12:38 AM
8 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Ozzie Gooen’s comment on: Ozzie Gooen’s Shortform
I actually have a draft of an EA Forum post that I’ve been sitting on for a while about this. So far I’m labelling the idea as something like “privileging the fortunate.” If anyone reading this would like to poke around my Google Doc and give me feedback, please let me know. I’d be very happy to have some help in transforming a rough collection of ideas into an EA Forum post.

EA Professional Development Book Club: Getting Things Done

JosephMar 26, 2025, 9:17 PM

10 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

Joseph Mar 24, 2025, 10:04 PM
5 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: Mo Putera’s comment on: Mo Putera’s Quick takes
Zooming out, regarding other examples of altruistic mistakes that we might be making, I think there are a lot of scenarios in which banning something or making something less appealing in one locations is intended to reduce the bad thing, but actually just ends up shifting the thing elsewhere, where there are even fewer regulations.
- One critique of the United States’s drug policy is that it doesn’t halt the production or trade of dangerous drugs, but simply pushes it elsewhere (the balloon effect).
- When a jurisdiction bans chicken farmers from using small cages, (such as California’s Proposition 2 from 2008) then it might just shift production elsewhere.
- Regarding immigration from Mexico to the USA, Bill Clinton implemented Operation Gatekeeper to discourage illegal immigration into the USA near Tijuana. But it actually just caused immigrants to shift from from crossing the border in one place to crossing in a different place. It also may have increased the number of illegal immigrants in the USA, because previously people came and left cyclically, but with stricter border control people instead came and stayed. While we could certainly argue that this isn’t altruistic, the general idea of taking action to reduce/halt a behavior actually resulting in that behavior continuing elsewhere applies.
- More mundane: a parent doesn’t want their child to engage in a particular behavior (smoking cigarettes, having sex, drinking alcohol, etc.), the child will then do it away from the home in a more dangerous context. My vague impression is that teenagers with parents who ban sexual activity tend to have less access to contraception and worse health outcomes (although I haven’t read the research on this).
- A little bit different, but a classic example of this kind of “poor reasoning about second order effects” is the cobra effect (or any similar incentive for extermination)
- Welfare traps

Joseph Mar 22, 2025, 3:04 PM
15 points
0 ∶ 0
on: “Actually local groups”—an easy way to meet fellow EAs from your neighborhood
I also want to give a shout out to the EA Anywhere community for those of us that don’t have neighborhoods. EA Anywhere’s Slack workspace isn’t as nice as living within walking distance of friends or getting together for lunch, but it is a really nice little community for those of us that would otherwise require a bus, two flights, and a train to meet in-person.
An additional upside: people from a variety of countries and cultures are there. If I recall correctly, the people who founded and ran EA Anywhere were from three very different countries.

Joseph Mar 21, 2025, 12:51 PM
4 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Bridging Worldviews: Tantric Retreat Centre Goes Earning to Give
Tantra and yin/yang are definitly not things I expected to read about on the EA Forum today, but bravo for managing to adapt the ideas and build bridges across cultural differences. This is a lovely example of tailoring communication to the intended audience. I think that a lot of us interested in and involved in effective altruism could learn from this.

Joseph Mar 19, 2025, 8:18 PM
8 points
1 ∶ 0
on: I made an infographic for the Introduction to Effective Altruism post (feedback welcome!)
I love seeing this kind of initiative, and it is great that the skills you have allow you to contribute in such a clear way.

Joseph Mar 18, 2025, 6:24 PM
8 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: MichaelDickens’s comment on: MichaelDickens’s Shortform
I think it is admirable to strive for that. I also notice the tendency within myself to be uselessly nitpicky with well actually. Recurse Center’s social rules have provided some small inspiration for me: https://www.recurse.com/social-rules

Joseph Mar 14, 2025, 2:51 PM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Why do EA longtermists not discuss the alleged problem of cognitive decline?
My best guess is that most EAs have never heard of this argument, and that the few who have heard of it think that it isn’t accurate. It conflicts with their informal impressions/anecdotes, and it also conflicts with what they’ve learned about the world and society changing during the past few years.
If I did think it was accurate and really believed that human intelligence was getting worse over time, here are some thoughts that would probably come along with that:
- Does average/mean intelligence even make sense?
- Maybe we should do something about public schooling?
- Anything relating to restricting dumb people from having babies feels pretty unpalatable to me, so even if it was completely convinced that was the right choice, I’m not confident I would pursue it. I’m willing to accept sub-optimal results along some metric in exchange for having rights; I don’t want to naively optimize.
- We probably shouldn’t look at a trend of a decade or two and assume that it will continue in a linear fashion. (relevant XKCD)
- People were on average dumber 50 years ago (and 100, and 500), and human civilization still managed to survive, thrive, and develop. So maybe it would just be a yo-yo effect over the course of a couple centuries, and humans get smarter, then dumber, then smarter again, repeatedly? I can’t say this with any confidence, but it does seem accurate that if the human average went down by 5 IQ points over the next few decades, it wouldn’t cause civilization to collapse.
- Maybe this is somewhat similar to poor people having lots of kids, and as they get wealthier they have fewer kids? So maybe as people get more education they have fewer children also? So we should make sure that kindergarten and elementary schools are good quality.

Joseph Mar 14, 2025, 2:36 PM
3 points
1 ∶ 0
on: Why do EA longtermists not discuss the alleged problem of cognitive decline?
The phrasing here is a bit tricky, since Bouke De Vries seems to be stating (from my brief skim of his article and of) not that people are getting less smart, but that less smart people are reproducing faster than smart people.
Overall, this seems like the kind of social science issue where most of us haven’t read the research and barely grasp the meaning, and yet people tend have opinions on it anyway. I’d take a more cautious approach and wait either A) until I’ve read through some of the literature to have sufficient context to actually understand it, or B) until someone with good contextual knowledge of the research can write a summary.
As an example of how our ignorance of the research can lead us astray, some of the sources Bouke De Vries cites (Egeland, 2022, Lynn and Harvey, 2008) don’t seem to fully support the argument that “residents of many Western countries as well as high-income non-Western ones are becoming less intelligent.” Even the book he cites (Dutton and Woodley of Menie, 2018) seems to have overly simplistic and fallacious arguments, such as claiming that the Concord no longer flies between London and New York because we are too dumb to figure out how to make it fly, rather than the decision to stop it due to high operating costs.
But maybe the facts really do support Bouke De Vries argument and my quick skim of a dense academic article is leading me astray, because I don’t have the context to fully understand.

Joseph Mar 11, 2025, 2:44 PM
2 points
2 ∶ 0
on: Avoiding some 1:1 Pitfalls at EA Global/x
“we had nothing in common, they couldn’t explain why they chose to set up a meeting with me.”
To add on to this: even without any non-platonic vibe, I had a few people (single digits, maybe between 2 and 6 people?) reach out to me on Swapcard without any reason/justification and without any explanation. People requested a meeting without any context about what they want to meet about. In my mind, this is very similar to strangers attempting to add me on LinkedIn without any message; they are just “collecting contacts” through a kind of fear of missing out, or they think being connected to me might be useful someday. I try to respond with a polite way of figuring out what they want, such as “can I help you?” or “what can I do for you?”, but I do wish that people would be more clear about why they are requesting a meeting (or a connection).
To be clear, this was only a few individuals. The majority of people that reached out to me seemed to do a fine job of providing justification for why they wanted to meet and providing context.

Joseph

EA Pro­fes­sional Devel­op­ment Book Club: Get­ting Things Done

EA Professional Development Book Club: Getting Things Done