Woman // Christian // Canadian // Londoner // Married // Donates to Global Development // Works on Energy Policy
Khorton
Karma: 4,653
“I think ACE’s speakers probably did feel unsafe speaking at the conference, and I should have instead said there was no actual safety risk. ”
Perhaps you mean there was no physical safety risk (or you don’t believe in psychological safety as a concept)?
No one is enthusiastic about sexual harassment, and actively campaigning against racism has nothing in common with sexual harassment.
Hi Rob, I agree with your and Ryan’s point that the poverty/animals/future split is something that evolved because of EA’s history, and I can imagine a world with different categories of cause areas.
But something that I keep seeing missed is this:
“A good introduction to EA would, at the very least, include a wide range of steel-manned positions about how to do the most good that are held by sincere, thoughtful, individuals aspiring to do the most good.”
I’m really troubled by any “Introduction to EA” that suggests EA is about long-termism. A brief intro saying “by the way, some people have different views to the following 20 hours of content!” is not sufficient. This should be relabelled as an intro to EA long-termism if it remains in its current form.
In 2019, 22% of community members thought global poverty should be THE top priority; closer to 62% of people thought it should be one of several near-top priorities. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8hExrLibTEgyzaDxW/ea-survey-2019-series-cause-prioritization
Which “experts” are you asking us to defer to? The people I find most convincing re: philosophy of giving are people like Will MacAskill or Ajeya Cotra, who are both spoken in favour of worldview diversification and moral uncertainty.
I thought this survey was really well put together and I’m excited about the future of the working group!
Hong Kong linkup is a organisation for Brits to help their HK peers settle in. If you’d like a way to get to know the community of new HK immigrants, it’s probably a good option. I’ve signed up already. https://www.hklinkup.uk/
Can you please rename the EA Forum? Thank you
Hi rharris, if you have more experience in eg admin than in policy, it might make sense to apply for an administrative role to get some initial experience with the Civil Service. You’d be eligible to apply for other internally-advertised roles after you’ve passed your probation (normally six months) and you’ll be a more competitive applicant because of your Civil Service experience.
I’m glad to hear it. Good luck with your application!
It would be great if you could update this when you’ve posted some of your writing, to help potential donors decide whether to donate
I love how this is laid out and I’d love to see articles like this for other areas, if appropriate!
I think gift giving and receiving are very positive and worth doing! It’s good to make an effort to show you’ve been paying attention to what the people in your life enjoy and that you want to make them happy.
Hey 22tom, this depends a lot on which cause area you’re most interested in. For example, if you want to work on climate change, several departments could be good options (BEIS, DfT, DEFRA). If you’re interested in emerging technologies, DCMS could be a strong contender. Is there a particular cause you’re most interested in?
Hi Jacob, this kind of stress is very relatable for a lot of us. Many of us handle it by thinking about our time and finances once a year, deciding how much is for effective charity and how much is for us, and then sticking with that for the rest of the year.
For example, I donate 10% of the money I make to charity, and I use weekends and evenings to relax. Some people have a different standard—for example, donating everything above what they need for a basic life and only taking one day a week fully for themselves. Ultimately it’s up to you, but setting some limits for yourself can hopefully make these decisions less stressful for you!
One further thought: you’re very young. It would be great if you could get a part time job and donate £1000 this year—you could make a huge difference for someone! - but it’s probably better to spend this year setting yourself up for a good career later on. Doing well on your A-levels and getting into a good university or trade program, so that you can earn a good salary when you’re in your 30s and 40s, will probably allow you to help others more overall than working part-time now.
I also thought you might be interested in this blog series which a lot of us have found useful, called Replacing Guilt: http://mindingourway.com/guilt/
I’ve never seen a position that requires a Master’s. A Master’s in public policy is definitely a positive but relevent experience can be even more valuable.
The Civil Service will not take into account where you got your Master’s, so getting a very prestigious qualification won’t help you as much as it might at other organisations.
If you join the Civil Service and think a Master’s could help you do your job better, the Civil Service might subsidize your degree.
I regularly see people write arguments like “One day, we’ll colonize the galaxy—this shows why working on the far future is so exciting!”
I know the intuition this is trying to trigger is bigger = more impact = exciting opportunity.
The intuition it actually triggers for me is expansion and colonization = trying to build an empire = I should be suspicious of these people and their plans.