Thanks for the positive feedback Matt! I have to say, as someone outside the world of academia/ai/economics/nonprofits etc I sometimes find the face of EA a little dry and quite ‘heady,’ so I wanted to express the joyful feeling I had when I found out there was a way I could be more certain of my actions having a positive impact on the world! Every year when I donate I feel a great sense of satisfaction and purpose to know that there are highly effective ways to improve the lives of others, and that I can contribute to that. I think that’s a message worth sharing!
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Thanks for the feedback Linda! That’s really useful to know, can you identify any way it might have been more successful in doing that for you? I imagine it’s hard to know because you DO already know about EA, but any guesses would be appreciated!
I wonder if it’s even possible to change someone’s mind in a three minute youtube vid? I was hoping more to spark interest for people to investigate further and make their own mind up.
One of my doubts about this vid is that it maybe tries to talk about too many different arguments, where it might have been more impactful if it focussed on just one message.
Cheers for the kind words Nathan, and for all the feedback!
In actual fact I didn’t make the video with children in mind originally, more as just a playful and colourful celebration of the work of TLYCS. I totally see how it comes across as aiming at kids (it’s cartoons and puppets, fergoodnesssake), and I think based on feedback TLYCS received they’ve decided to use it this way. I really hope it isn’t construed as being patronising, though I can see how it might!
I’m totally up for exploring other tones and ways to discuss ideas around EA, I think there are many creative ways to do this. I hope to do more projects in the future to help promote EA ideas and organisations (I’m busy with other work and new baby right now) and I’m excited about the different ways to do that.
Thank you kindly Peter! I’m hoping I might be able to do more EA related video making in the future.
Thanks alex! A lot of love went into it from all involved :)
I Want To Do Good—an EA puppet mini-musical!
I enjoyed this, thanks! I just wanted to try and articulate a thought regarding failure. It feels simple in my head but I’m finding it hard to express it clearly!
It’s something like: a failure is only a failure if looked at in isolation. If instead it’s seen as part of a wider collection of failures and successes it is a necessary part of trial and error that helps move towards overall success.
If a project a person is working on turns out to be a dead end compared to another project that turns out to be highly impactful, the person working on the dead end project might feel a sense of disappointment and failure. “My project was a total dud. What a waste of time! I suck compared to the other person!”
But if it is part of a wider collection of projects and actions (the EA community as a whole) every failure that can be shared with the community is a useful exploration that the community as a whole can learn from. So even a failure can benefit the collective progress towards making a large positive difference.
Maybe it’s a mindset shift—to avoid seeing it as a race where there are winners and losers, people who did the most good and people who didn’t; and instead see it as a collaborative effort where we are all working together for a shared goal, and every effort counts towards the overall progression of the movement. Every win is a win for everyone (humanity!), and every failure is a useful learning point we can learn from and build upon.
With that in mind I would love to read more accounts of things people in the EA community have tried that didn’t work out, for whatever reason! I’ve read some accounts before and I always enjoy it. Not only is it useful to share that knowledge so others can avoid similar dead ends or mistakes, but it also helps me remember that other people try and fail, and are not perfect magical superhumans. It gives me courage that, even if they might not work out, I can try things too.
Yeah ALLFED sprang to my mind too.
There’s a bit more about the actual production process in this article: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43zdag/this-startup-is-making-food-mostly-out-of-air-and-electricity
Also a bit of discussion around how feasible it will be to scale up.
New protein alternative produced from CO2
Thanks Kit! I look forward to reading them.
When climate change risks are discussed on this forum I mostly see it framed in terms of whether or not it is an existential risk. Considering a large part if EA is focused on reducing global poverty and the suffering of all living creatures I’m surprised not to see the potential impact of climate change in these areas discussed more often.
Is it possible that the potential of climate change to increase global poverty and suffering (of both humans and animals) is large enough to warrant more preventative attention within EA?
It’s all very well that the likelihood of existential risks are small but if a huge amount more living beings will suffer or die as a result of climate change that seems like a future worth even more coordinated effort to avoid.
As an example: at the moment charity evaluators like Give Well and The Life You Can Save recommend charities like Against Malaria Foundation as an effective way to deal with a disease like malaria. But climate change could massively increase insect born diseases which means the scale of the problem will get loads worse. Isn’t it worth putting more effort into preventing a problem from developing than treating a symptom when it’s too late?
Or would the argument that “enough other people are working on this” still outweigh these potential risks in terms of where EA energy is directed?
N.B These are actual questions, not necessarily arguments. I don’t feel like I know enough about the subject and I’d like to know more!
A lil update here, I’ve been in talks with two EA related organisations so far and have one project in the works already, so that’s very exciting! I’ll update more as things develop. Thanks for your help and suggestions, everybody!
Heheh it can go two ways, eh? Sometimes it’s fun but sometimes it’s cringy… a fine line to tread! But it could work depending on the project :)
thanks for the suggestion! I’ll check it out :)
I’ve considered RadicalxChange, part of what encouraged me to post on this forum was that podcast actually. I’m going to get in touch with them once I’ve read Radical Markets and can understand it a bit better.
Thanks for your thoughts! I’d not thought of it from a startup point of view, but yeah it makes sense to compare as, like you say, they optimise vigorously.
Yeah great stuff! I’ll investigate, thanks Mappy!
hmm, very interesting! Thanks for the pointer, I’ll investigate. And thanks about the vids!
Thank you Kevin, I’ll check em out!
THANK YOU so much for this thoughtful reply Aaron, I really appreciate it! Some responses to your thoughts:
1. You ever heard the screenwriting rule “show, don’t tell”? YA JUST DID IT with this friendly response! :)
2. That’s actually really encouraging to read! I don’t usually tell people about my giving practise because it feels a bit ego driven—like, “ooh aren’t I a good person!” etc. It can feel quite solitary at times as I mostly work alone. So it’s a helpful boost to read your encouragement, thank you!
3. Cheers! I’ve been focussing more on music production over the last few years but I’m itching to make higher quality video work, especially if it can have a positive impact. I don’t even think the work has to be musical every time: overall I’m interested in conveying information in a playful manner—whatever that may be.
4. Yep that was my concern, so perhaps this method is not suitable for sharing ideas about EA itself.
5. Yes! I will do that! Already, looking through the list on The Life You Can Save, I can see plenty of charities where this kind of communication could be beneficial. Very exciting! I will start contacting them this week.
And yep totally get you on the need to work with others and check things through for maximum facts(imum). I’ll definitely post in here for input (probs not Facebook, I think I’m gonna leave soon). I think ultimately it would be great to find an EA aligned producer to team up with with. If that describes anyone who reads this, please get in touch. Maybe in the long term this could grow into a production company that makes playful videos to help improve the world.
Thanks again Aaron, great food for thought!
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback Linda, and for taking the time to watch the video so many times! I appreciate it!
It’s all good food for thought and I’m going to mull on it. I have to say I agree with your last point that when the purple character suddenly accepts TLYCS and changes his mind it feels too easy and unrealistic. This has been bugging me too, but I only noticed it when it was too late to change! Still, it’s all good learning and hopefully the next project like this I work on I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned to good effect :)
Thanks again for your time and consideration!