Currently working for a (UK) member of parliament and in an emerging tech strategy consultancy
Always happy to meet new people! This profile is open to messages from anyone.
Interested in:
Policymaking, Economics, All of the Charity Entrepreneurship /ā AIM Initiatives
Previously:
Research Intern for
Campaign contractor for UK MP Candidate
EA Oxford Community Organiser
Head of Speakers for TedXOxford2024
1.5 Generation immigrant extremely grateful for the opportunity to help others
Yeah the quality of life in Poland is ahead of most of the world, and in most comparisons thereās no equivalence in circumstances, The Poland vs developing economy GDP per capita differences range from ~10x (Nigeria) to 30x (Niger, CAR).
I re-examined my Syria example and I think many of the returnees could feasibly be individuals with very poor economic prospects in their host countriesāspecifically, those in the bottom quartiles of incomes in Lebanon, Iraq, or Jordan, which collectively host 1.6 million Syrians. Some of these individuals may have also lived in camps, which total 275,000 people (though these two figures overlap). For them and those who have left in the past few months of fighting, returning to Syria could offer an opportunity to start better lives and they are likely to be the bulk of the 1 million returnees in the first 6 months.
My argument for returns was more focused on the idea that if these developing countries experience economic booms, people might choose to return there, even if the countries are still somewhat poorer. But this would be a more long-term consideration, its hard to predict and brain-drains by definition make this less likely to happen. Nevertheless, this scenario seems particularly relevant to modern South American examples, like Guyana, about 50% of Guyanese people are part of the diaspora. If Guyanaās recent economic boom is sustained, well-redistributed, and if the government manages to defend their borders, (big asks I know) it could potentially bring many Guyanese back.
All the numbers are quite rough.
Itās a very thoughtful set of questions!
Firstly, I think you would be interested to know about Malengo which is a charity which is helping people in impoverished provinces in Uganda to enrol in German Universities and eventually settle there. They often seek out volunteers to mentor these propsective students, itās very rewarding.
Re brain-drain I have 4 thoughts.
TLDR they are
1) Lots of talent doesnāt flourish in their home countries
2) Advocating for specific visa-pathways can give much more win-win opportunities for all involved
3) Many people go back to home countries when they have the choice/ācredible opportunity to do so
4) Moral argument, my strong passport is awesome, I have a right to have options as to where I live, others deserve it too
Long version:
1) Is it really a brain drain if talent would be counterfactually lost? For every ambitious underemployed dishwasher in the US theres likely many more people who were born in the wrong place, time and/āor body/āsexuality/āreligious family to ever have a fair opportunity to grow and make an impact. Often itās simply ābrain allocationā and the remittances sent home can have a greater impact than if the immigrant would have not found a good role in the home country.
2) Advocating for policies of specialised visa pathways can largely by win-win without brain draining effects. Letās say hyopthetical rich country has a shortage of nurses and a developing country has a over-supply in nursing graduates (rare scenario ik) /ā can really up the amount of trained nurses in a few years. A specialised visa-pathways can heavily benefit both countries.
3) Often people will come back when given the chance. About half if not most of Polish nationals in the UK have left the country after 2018, largely back to Poland despite the UK still having a much larger GDP per capita. The UN predicts 1 million Syrians will return in the first ~7 months after the end of the civil war, in 14 years 6.7 million left the country, thatās quite a significant fraction for such a short amout of time. Many people want to be at their original home country in the long-term (Of course the UN prediction may be wrong). The perceived opportunities/ā trajectories within countries as well as the cultural ties make people to come back.
4) Thereās a moral argument here. My entire life was determined by my parentās freedom to move freely with European Union borders. Many of there peers did not make the same choice and stayed in Poland. Itās excellent that they had the right to make that choice. I believe people in developing states also should have that right, and its the responsibilities of Governments to give them reasons to stay.
Biology and/āor Biochemistry most likely (but iām not in this space myself). You also want to carefully consider who you want to be your supervisor when you write your masters thesis if you want to become a researcher.
A useful tip I use when it comes to these kind of career questions is finding the people 1 or 2 steps ahead of you and asking them for advice.
Are there any biohacking societies or students blogging about anti-aging research that you could reach out to? Finding someone who has gone down the path you want to follow and asking them for advice is very valuable, and theyāll likely be happy to give it.
Status: recollection of past reading on meat consumption elasticity a while ago and some claude fact-checking
AFAIK atleast in many developing economies (which collectively hold atleast >70% of the human population),an increase in disposable incomes leads to an increase in meat consumption.
I think the net effects in developed countries is the same, plant based meat consumption goes up but simulatounsly the lower income members of society eat more meat.
Most of this meat consumption increase relies on the cheapest meat of factory farmed chickens in particular so Iām not sure if I agree on the symbiosis here.
However, Sonnet 3.5 says that insect consumption broadly decreases with economic development so a weaker version of your claim could be closer to the truth
I think this challenging of career assumptions is especially valuable to people who are young or new to an area.
Iāve seen people before tunnel vision towards a particular path due to missing some details in the field as a whole and all their questions presupposed some sort of path.
Challenging this can help see the tradeoffs of decisions more clearly.
I think its excellent that you guys are working on publicly evaluating past grants! Also congrats to all the new hires especially Alejandro who I know as a very thoughtful and smart guy.
Careful curation is an act of service. I want to thank you for that.
If you havenāt already this sounds like a good question to ask on Lesswrong probably moreso than here.
The copyright banner at the bottom of their site extends to 2024 and the Google form for workshop applications hasnāt been deactivated.
I got a copy of the CFAR handbook in late 2022 and the intro had an explicit reference to self studyāalong the lines of āwe have only used this in workshops, we donāt know what the results of self study of this material does and it wasnāt written for self studyā
So I assume self study wasnāt common but I may be wrong
The people directory placed into the forum is such a great idea! Iāve stumbled on a few defunct or rarely updated EA directories and the working ones e.g. High impact professionals seem very useful. I hope it brings more opportunities to qualified people and builds up friendships and connections :)
Really well written! The reasoning transparency you practiced on the job was no joke
The CE incubation programme application calls for the submission of a personal weighted factor model of possible career paths ahead of you. I think this report is perfect for that sort of decision making.
In terms of prioritisation for a single person or a student I would really emphasise good criteria selection and weighting + the model itself can be iterated to help build more informed models.
Whilst I was constructing my own model it turned out that certain career paths had scores which were much more based on āvibesā in their reasoning than on experience and knowledge. It directed me to equalise my understanding of different options.
It also helped remove an emotional overlay people usually fall into when making these decisions in their head or even when writing down options or pros and cons. Something about putting a number for a wieght makes you consider your reasoning it much more closely. How much more do you care about Pay Vs Location Vs Amount you learn in the role? /ā get from the experience.
I love how this report addresses all of the uncertancies of the prioritisation process in a practical and granular manner!
Thanks Luke for the comment I think you might be one of the most qualified people around here for this question.
I just wanted to give the heads up that the Formally link is a dead end and the blog link doesnāt link directly to the post.
I tried finding the specific post but I likely missed it.
As someone who falls into the category of the student who would receive the same template talk I really appreciate you writing this up!
Theres a cool new tool that produces cute graphics and vectors out of text.