JoA🔸

• JoA🔸 12 Dec 2025 8:07 UTC

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Re­think epistemic stan­dards be­fore giv­ing that advice

  I think this point is potentially significant, but the post is clearly LLM-generated, and thus, most of the paragraphs don’t add much beyond the initial point of “there’s no Script of Truth and it depends on the person’s context”. In practice, I have no clear examples of people making wrong choices based on overconfident EA advice—in fact, my experience has been the opposite: people don’t want to give high-level advice, because they think it depends too much on the options that are available to me, and they couldn’t choose from there. Sure, counterexamples could exist, but this post hasn’t convinced me of this.

  I’d have found the post much more valuable if it had a few anonymized examples, rather than LLM-generated text to complete the main post.

You can be very helpful to first-timers at EA events

• JoA🔸 10 Dec 2025 16:40 UTC

  3 points

  1 ∶ 0

  on: I Donate be­cause I am Christian

  Such a lovely post, Nick! Made me chuckle, I really appreciate the eclectic sources and how you highlight uncertainties and nuances among Christians.

The world’s largest in­sect farm­ing com­pany has offi­cially gone bankrupt

• JoA🔸 7 Dec 2025 19:05 UTC

  8 points

  2 ∶ 0

  on: On­line EAGs are un­der­rated (FBB #11)

  Strongly agree with this post! EA Connect has been more useful to me than the two in-person EA conferences I’ve attended, and I estimate I’ve been far more useful (as a mentor, but not only) at EA Connect than at these other conferences.

  No awesome afterparty

  
  I wonder if say, links to post-conference games of Gartic Phone and the like could be a low-cost way to recreate that moment where everyone winds down (esp since the online conference feels more serious and formal) for those who would be interested. (Not confident it’s a good idea, just throwing it out there.)

• JoA🔸 2 Dec 2025 19:14 UTC

  12 points

  2 ∶ 0

  on: Poll: Wild an­i­mal vs Farm An­i­mal welfare

  (20% Wild Animal Welfare)
  Nice poll, but tough call! With the little we know, the effects of interventions on wild animals seem likely to outweigh those on farmed animals. However, we do not have a clear notion of how current wild animal interventions (even field-building and research) will affect wild animals in the long run (though this is also true of interventions that don’t aim to help wild animals).
  
  I do not think a “robust” and “safe” pick in animal welfare exists yet (that we’re aware of): under the current state of my uncertainties, I’m voting with my dollars on invertebrate welfare interventions (though those are still probably outweighed by effects on wild invertebrates). Though I’m gradually seeing the appeal of funding more research (especially on small wild animals).
  
  Slightly in favor of wild animal welfare here, because it seems likely that if we gain enough knowledge to find a robust intervention in animal welfare, it will target wild animals directly or indirectly (since they’re probably the dominant group of moral patients).

• JoA🔸 1 Dec 2025 18:23 UTC

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Subagents for Shrimp

  Nice post! Though it comes from another post of yours, I appreciated the paragraph about how “common sense” worldviews may suffer from fanaticism. Thank you for contributing to Shrimpact week!

• JoA🔸 30 Nov 2025 16:22 UTC

  7 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: My 2025 dona­tions (so far)

  I want people who have influence over the EA community (and humanity in general) to be making decisions from an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset

  In case you read the comments here: do you have a short form /​ a blog post on this (even from someone else) that you’d like to link to?

• JoA🔸 26 Nov 2025 9:12 UTC

  4 points

  1 ∶ 0

  on: a Fun Idea for at­tract­ing New Fun­ders: Pet Sitting

  Great post! It’s quite common to see solid ideas like this on the EA Forum, but seeing them executed is rare. And it’s a nice change to see a more in-person kind of outreach for effective giving, in particular for animals. I’m interested to see a follow-up learned on what you’ll have learned after giving season!

• JoA🔸 18 Nov 2025 15:57 UTC

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Angelina Li’s comment on: A list of re­sources on Cluelessness

  Were I to pick only one that’s at once rigorous and accessible, I’d say the first post in Anthony DiGiovanni’s sequence on Unawereness (20m read officially, but has some references and charts, so I’d say it probably takes 10 minutes to read it: 1. The challenge of unawareness for impartial altruist action guidance: Introduction

• JoA🔸 17 Nov 2025 21:19 UTC

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  on: How fea­si­ble is it to work at non-EA or­ga­ni­za­tions while still do­ing gen­uinely al­tru­is­tic work of AI risks?

  Hi! My superficial understanding is that grantmakers in s-risks have a certain bar for what they’re open to funding, and that they generally have the capacity to fund a marginal independent researcher if their work is sufficiently promising. If, in the future, you seem like an individual with a track record that is good enough in funders’ views (maybe that can come through doing independent research, applying to fellowships, doing non-S-risk related research at AI labs, etc.), then receiving funding will be possible, as money does not seem to be the primary constraint (at leas that’s not what grantmakers in the field seem to think). But that is a high bar to pass.
  
  If you actually manage to save a 150,000$ per year, Macroscopic can advise you in donations to reduce S-risks, which would be a considerable contribution to a cause you seem to care about a lot. (I have no ties to Macroscopic, the information is publically available on their website)

• JoA🔸 17 Nov 2025 7:23 UTC

  7 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Can we re­gain in­no­cence and com­mon sense? Ex­plor­ing a rad­i­cally life-af­firm­ing stance

  Thank you for this post, Zlatko! Welcome to the forum, and well-done for your transparent criticism of a perspective you find repugnant. Many individuals prefer to call such perspectives “crazy” without justification. So reading this was a good way to start the week.

  I think this post is quite valuable, since it defends a point of view (that it’s not super cautious to just reduce the amount of net-negative lives) that seems somewhat common in EA, but is also rarely defended as such. Some thoughts (lengthy, but there’s a lot of content in your post!):

  • I think this is a much stronger point than arguing that many animal lives could simply be positive on a hedonistic utilitarian view (less repugnant, requires less arguments from implausible interpersonal tradeoffs)

  • In the takeaways, however, you don’t focus on what should be the biggest (drawing from your argument as only basis) from an EA perspective: that we should be in favor of actions that increase the numbers of lives. Then, it’s probably good to promote veganism as this seems to increase the farming of small animals on the margin. And to promote actions that reduce the amount of agricultural land, so that more wild animals can live there. Both of these actions seem fairly morally acceptable (especially if one realizes that wild animals have been there long before us, and that we may have some duties of preservation), compared to more “maximizing” takes on maximizing the amount of individual lives on earth. Doing this seems massively more important (on a numbers-scale), if one thinks life has positive value, than counteracting the small effects of lives not being lived caused by a few plant-based advocacy organizations (let alone wild animal advocacy, which doesn’t seem to have affected the world much for now).

  My crux for why I do not adhere to the argument personally:

  • I appreciated that you made a distinction between strong suffering that one may still accept, and extreme suffering. They also seem very different in my view, and the distinction is often glossed over in critiques on negative utilitarianism. You also say “Most suffering is not in that category.”, and I entirely agree.

    • However, I’m inclined to believe that most of the beings who life you discuss do contain extreme suffering, even if it’s a minority of the suffering they experience (imo, extreme suffering = mid-high ranges of disabling pain in the Welfare Footprint sense ?). Chronic hunger (more intense than one may think, Ctrl+F chronic hunger here), being eaten alive, being eaten from the inside by parasites, being suffocated to death over the course of half an hour, are all likely cases of extreme suffering to me. So the question is not just about whether there’s a strong positive value to a life containing suffering. but whether it’s such a strong positive value that it “outweighs” the experience of extreme suffering (you may be familiar with the sympathy-based argument against extreme suffering being outweighable).

  • More minor crux: you discuss animals still having a taste of potential positive experiences of life, but I’d be skeptical that we can draw a comparison between humans, even living in difficult conditions (let alone humans living a relatively sheltered life, like me), and hens who spend their entire life in a cage where they can’t spread their wings. I assume, eg, “tasting food” feels very different when you’ve only been able to eat it with a mutilated beak, than for humans who can sometimes eat sufficiently while being relatively untroubled, and thus really enjoy the food. And in the case of wild animals, it seems many die so shortly after birth that they may not even have a single occasion to eat, or appreciate their environment.

  Thanks again for this post, and perhaps more importantly, for opening your perspectives and donating outside of your preferred cause area! That’s not so common in EA, and I think this can be valuable for making progress in doing good impartially.

• JoA🔸 15 Nov 2025 18:57 UTC

  0 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: His­tor­i­cal EA fund­ing data: 2025 update

  This is super insightful, thank you!

• JoA🔸 15 Nov 2025 9:39 UTC

  12 points

  8 ∶ 0

  on: If wild an­i­mal welfare is in­tractable, ev­ery­thing is in­tractable.

  This going in my personal best-of for Forum posts of 2025! You explore crucial considerations and possible responses in a clear and transparent way, with pleasant sequencing. I find it very helpful in order to be less confused about my reactions in the face of backfire effects.

• JoA🔸 13 Nov 2025 21:12 UTC

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Zoe L’s comment on: EA Has a Brand­ing Problem

  Hi Zoe! It’s thrilling to meet others with interest in invertebrate welfare (doesn’t happen every day), and congratulations again for donating to a cause that is rarely considered appealing! Unsurprisingly, there’s really no consensus on what one should do for animals in the face of AGI. However, there’s a lot of exchange around what AI could mean for animals on the Sentient Futures slack, and if you have some thoughts you want to share about this, I’m sure there are many members there (including me) who’d be happy to read your current takes on the topic!

• JoA🔸 13 Nov 2025 21:09 UTC

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  on: How to Virtue Sig­nal the “Right” Way

  Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this important topic! I enjoyed reading it, and I loved the reference to the supporter/​fan framework from Mjreard.
  
  My feelings: the EA community is somewhat better than average at 1-2, most definitely better at 4 in certain cases (and I think cultivated meat is a good example, as EA circles very often argue for it on non-animal welfare grounds). I agree that 5 is an EA failure mode (I’m on the obsequious /​ sycophant side, I’m a bit cowardly and think being “fully transparent” about your values often leads to unproductive conflict), and 3 is something where improvement could be made (though it’s hard-ish for longtermist causes, or even when you care about animals—heck, even discussing the welfare of cute mice seems to backfire).
  
  Again, this is an important topic, since how we influence others positively could have a large impact, and taking a few hours to think about how to do it right is certain worth it.

• JoA🔸 7 Nov 2025 22:41 UTC

  3 points

  1 ∶ 0

  on: 12 Th­e­ses on EA

  3. The psychology of professional sports is surprisingly healthy.

  This thesis is one of the most insightful community-related things I’ve read on the forum. I’d love to read more about if and hear if you think there’s anything actionable on the margin (highly de-emphasize careers within EA orgs in outreach material, especially now that top impact may have moved elsewhere, eg, in high-impact non-EA roles?). Thanks!

• JoA🔸 7 Nov 2025 20:16 UTC

  4 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Why I Think All The Species Of Sig­nifi­cantly De­bated Con­scious­ness Are Con­scious And Suffer Intensely

  In the spirit of thanking whoever helped you, this post was what finally convinced me to substantially donate (1,500$+ since then) to charities working on limiting the growth of insect farming when I read it in February of 2025. And yet, I had already substantially engaged with work on insect suffering, especially from Tomasik. Not sure what pushed me over the edge, but this post really managed to make take in the current evidence as worthy of influencing my priorities.

• JoA🔸 7 Nov 2025 20:07 UTC

  12 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: In­com­pa­ra­bil­ity Im­plies Nihilism

  I’m not well-learned enough on this, but it seems that you would appreciate this very cool recent post which (badly summarized) kind of explains how one can still have forms of moral action-guidance even if some sound moral theories (in your post, a form of impartial consequentialism?) imply that “none of our actions matter” : Resolving radical cluelessness with metanormative bracketing.

• JoA🔸 6 Nov 2025 16:10 UTC

  4 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: EA Sum­mit 2025: Paris—Retrospective

  Really cool! Love these breakdowns that go into the weeds of measurable impact.
  
  “Programming: Some more focus on EA’s past achievements would have been beneficial in making a more compelling case for the movement as a whole.”
  
  I intuitively agree (“track record” seems like one of the strongest arguments for EA (obligatory Scott Alexander reference), especially in global health and farm animal welfare), but I wonder what makes you say that. Was it something you heard in the feedback form?