The Effective Altruism Newsletter is a project of the Centre for Effective Altruism.

The Newsletter shares articles, opportunities, updates about the community, and important ideas on a monthly basis.

__[You can see the archives of the EA Newsletter here](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/)__

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Effective Altruism Newsletter

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## Articles and Community Posts

In light of large-scale natural disasters in the United States and [the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/no-one-is-paying-attention-to-the-worst-humanitarian-crisis-since-world-war-ii/2017/06/25/70d055f8-5767-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html), it’s a good time to revisit [GiveWell’s general advice on disaster relief giving](http://blog.givewell.org/2017/08/28/archive-6-tips-disaster-relief-giving/). Consider sharing this advice with friends and family as well.

For those interested in making millions to donate to charity, this [80,000 Hours podcast on quant trading](https://80000hours.org/2017/08/the-life-of-a-quant-trader-how-to-earn-and-donate-millions-within-a-few-years/) might be for you.

Are we worrying enough about [the most likely disaster to hit humanity within the next 20 years](https://80000hours.org/2017/08/podcast-we-are-not-worried-enough-about-the-next-pandemic/)? Not only do some believe that we aren’t sufficiently prepared for the next pandemic, but technological advances and globalization may, in fact, make us more susceptible than ever. Find out more in [this podcast](https://80000hours.org/2017/08/podcast-we-are-not-worried-enough-about-the-next-pandemic/). (Here’s some more background on [the 80,000 Hours podcast series](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1eg/ten_new_80000_hours_articles_aimed_at_the/).)

On the topic of biosecurity: The probability of human extinction from bioweapons may be low, the expected value of reducing the risk could still be large, since such risks jeopardize the existence of all future generations. FHI has published an [open access article](http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/hs.2017.0028) that includes a cost-effectiveness analysis of reducing low-probability, worst-case biosecurity scenarios.

“What if our entire approach to helping the world's poorest people is fundamentally flawed?” Learn about [how basic income changes lives](http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/08/07/541609649/how-to-fix-poverty-why-not-just-give-people-money) in this NPR story and then consider helping GiveDirectly run [the biggest, yet still underfunded, basic income experiment](https://www.givedirectly.org/basic-income) in history.

Cullen O’Keefe, President of the Harvard Law School EA group, argues in [this well-referenced piece](https://web.archive.org/web/20171018215117/https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/effectivealtruists/2017/08/03/sj-ea-extreme-poverty-as-a-social-justice-priority/) that people who care about social justice should also care about cause prioritization.

In his book [How to Create a Vegan World](https://smile.amazon.com/How-Create-Vegan-World-Pragmatic/dp/1590565703/) Tobias Leenaert makes the case for more pragmatism in animal advocacy. The book was inspired by EA and features a foreword by Peter Singer.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s a lot of surveying going on around effective altruism community. The results of the 2017 community survey are in and they are broken down into these two reports by Rethink Charity on [cause area preferences](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1e5/ea_survey_2017_series_cause_area_preferences/) and [community demographics](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1e1/ea_survey_2017_series_community_demographics/). If you are a group organiser, you can greatly help LEAN, CEA and EAF by completing[ the 2017 Local Group Survey](https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YYMWSN2).

## Spotlight: Doing Good Together

One theme that came out of last month’s EA Global conference in San Francisco was the importance of doing good together as a community. This idea is important for helping us all be more effective collectively.

The early EA community consisted of a small number of people with some interesting ideas about how to improve the world, but with limited resources and insufficient power to put those ideas into practice. In these circumstances, every individual needed to think carefully about _how can I do the most good_.

Things look very different today. There are now thousands of bright, committed people in the effective altruism community who want to use their time and money to have the biggest impact they can.

Rather than asking _how_ _I__ can make the biggest difference_, we need a portfolio approach to doing good that asks _how_ _we__ as a community_ can make the biggest difference. We need an approach that focuses on the achievements of the community as a whole and evaluates individual actions by the effect they have on the overall value of the community.

We now need to _specialize_ much more as a community and realize that the externalities of our actions are larger than before. With more people in the community it makes sense for more people to follow their comparative advantage, take risks and try out new things.

## Announcements

### EAG(x) Conferences

If you’re in Australia (or have always wanted to visit the other side of the world, dragons or no dragons), make sure to [register for EAGxAustralia](http://www.eagxaustralia.com/), which is taking place in Sydney from 22-24 September. There will also be a[retreat in the week following the conference](https://docs.google.com/forms/u/3/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLa1hUr59HkSHgd66X-jPnOFjPFtCTx48W_Br9p9kvew0KMg/viewform).

EAGxBerlin will be happening on 14-15 October. The two-day conference will feature both introductory and advanced talks and is suitable for English speakers. [Register now](http://eagxberlin.com/).

The final EA Global conference of the year takes place in London on 4-6 November. [Register now.](https://london.eaglobal.org/)

[](https://london.eaglobal.org/)

### Browser Extension

A new [browser extension](http://altruisto.com/) by Daniel Wyrzykowski lets you donate money to GiveWell-recommended charities by shopping at places like Barnes & Noble or Etsy. The donation is between 3% and 6% and does not involve additional costs on your side.

### Living on Less

LEAN is hosting the [Living on Less](https://livingonless.causevox.com/) fundraiser for the third year running! Sign up as individuals or teams to raise money for the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative. Those who are interested in learning more about Living on Less might enjoy [Luke Freeman’s blog post](http://www.lukefreeman.com.au/2017/02/20/what-ive-learned-living-on-less/) reflecting on his own experiences of the fundraiser.

### Animal Advocacy Research Fund

ACE is currently accepting [applications](http://researchfund.animalcharityevaluators.org/apply/) for the Animal Advocacy Research Fund. The application deadline is 20 October.

## Timeless Classics

Peter Singer’s [Coursera online course on effective altruism](https://www.coursera.org/learn/altruism) started again on 4 September. It’s free and requires a commitment for about 10-15 hours.

## Updates

### 80,000 Hours

Last month, 80k mostly focused on planning the rest of the year, but also coached about 35 people and released an analysis of [which skills make you most employable](https://80000hours.org/articles/skills-most-employable/), [which jobs are highest-paid](https://80000hours.org/articles/highest-paying-jobs/), and podcasts on [quant trading](https://80000hours.org/2017/08/the-life-of-a-quant-trader-how-to-earn-and-donate-millions-within-a-few-years/?utm_content=bufferb7468&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) and [pandemics](https://80000hours.org/2017/08/podcast-we-are-not-worried-enough-about-the-next-pandemic/).

### Animal Charity Evaluators

ACE recently published a post introducing their new [experimental research division](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/introducing-aces-experimental-research-division/). Additionally, they recently added a [donation reporting form](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/donation-advice/donation-impact/report-a-donation/) to their site so that donors can report offline donations influenced by their recommendations.

### Centre for Effective Altruism

CEA recently ran an [Effective Altruism Global](https://www.eaglobal.org/) conference in San Francisco, an event that brought together the EA community to discuss the importance of working together as a community. The videos are [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8NnWYsybl_ZRMtaK7uBr4sN) (or click on the link in the Spotlight section above).

### Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

CSER's [Risk & the Culture of Science](http://cser.org/event/risk-the-culture-of-science-invitation-only/) workshop – on how to study and address global catastrophic risk within current scientific structures – was featured on The Naked Scientists’ podcast: [Can Science Mavericks Save the World?](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/existential-risk-and-maverick-science) Bonnie Wintle’s paper [Structured Expert Elicitation using the IDEA Protocol](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12857/abstract) on how to reduce bias in expert judgement was published.

### Foundational Research Institute

FRI’s new paper on [Multiverse-wide Cooperation via Correlated Decision Making](https://foundational-research.org/multiverse-wide-cooperation-via-correlated-decision-making/) argues that we can cooperate with agents in distant parts of the universe and that astronomical amounts of impact may be at stake in getting this right.

### Future of Humanity Institute

FHI published [three new papers](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/fhi-publishes-three-new-biosecurity-papers-health-security) on existential risk in the leading biosecurity journal Health Security, and Miles Brundage contributed to [A Brief Survey of Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.05866).

### GiveWell

GiveWell announced a [$2.6 million grant](http://www.givewell.org/charities/evidence-action/april-2017-grant) to Evidence Action to strengthen their operations. They also published [notes from a conversation](http://files.givewell.org/files/conversations/Living_Goods_05-31-17_(public).pdf) with its standout charity Living Goods and a [blog post](http://blog.givewell.org/2017/08/24/update-givewells-intervention-research-2017/) highlighting the programs they have researched so far in 2017.

### Open Philanthropy Project

The Open Philanthropy Project announced a [$2,500,000](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support) grant to the Centre for Effective Altruism for general support. They also announced a [number of grants](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants?field_focus_area_target_id_selective=531) to support farm animal welfare work in China and India.

### Raising for Effective Giving

In a new [transparency report](https://reg-charity.org/about/transparency/s1-2017/), REG outlined their highlights of the first half of 2017\. They moved $686,096 to their recommended charities.

### Wild-Animal Suffering Research

The Effective Altruism Foundation received a $30,000 grant from EA Funds to continue their wild-animal suffering research project. Their goals are to: (1) better understand wild-animal suffering; (2) raise awareness and promote concern for the cause area; and (3) identify viable policies to reduce this suffering. You can now read their [early work](https://was-research.org/research/), see their [research agenda](https://was-research.org/research-agenda/) and follow updates on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/wildanimalsufferingresearch/).

## Jobs

- [AI Policy Lead at the Future of Life Institute](https://futureoflife.org/job-postings/)

- [Research Analyst (Outreach Focus) at GiveWell](http://www.givewell.org/about/jobs/research-analyst-outreach-focus)

- [Director of Operations at the Open Philanthropy Project](http://waldronhr.com/searches/open-philanthropy-project)

- [Research, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at Future Advocacy](http://futureadvocacy.com/careers)

[](http://futureadvocacy.com/careers)

Furthermore:

- The Against Malaria Foundation, one of [GiveWell’s top charities](http://www.givewell.org/charities/against-malaria-foundation), is looking for [several volunteers](https://www.againstmalaria.com/newsitem.aspx?newsitem=Volunteers-Skilled-editors-sought) to help with reports.

- And if you are (or know) an academic polymath who wants to work on AI macrostrategy: the application deadline for [two new research roles](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/) at FHI has been extended to 29 September.

---
**Go forth and do the most good!**
[Let us know](http://bit.ly/1Nr6qD2) how you liked this edition and how we can improve further.

If you’re interested in past editions of this newsletter, [here is the full archive](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/) 

---
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## Get Involved in Effective Altruism
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*The Effective Altruism Newsletter is a joint project between the [Centre for Effective Altruism](https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/), and [.impact.](http://dotimpact.im/)* 

*This is an archived version of the EA Newsletter sent to 47,000 subscribers on September 9, 2017.*
_To see the full archives, [click here.](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/)_

EA Newsletter: September 9, 2017

Potential Risks from Advanced AI

Biosecurity as an EA Cause Area

EA Community Building

What Does (and Doesn't) AI Mean for Effective Altruism?

![EA Newsletter header](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/2hAHqllSrqawAeKCiS4mWK/8bd0647f44cf26a518f97dfd8964cf33/EA_Newsletter_header.jpg)
&nbsp;

Hey!

Are you going to [Effective Altruism Global](https://www.eaglobal.org/) in San Francisco this month? If so, some of us from the team will see you there!

Those of us missing out can find some diversion in this [early thread](https://www.facebook.com/groups/effective.altruists/permalink/722086321181061/) on EA Onion headlines, as well as [very real articles](http://www.theonion.com/article/you-still-die-one-day-52183) by the satirical magazine on [topics](http://www.theonion.com/article/gap-between-rich-and-poor-named-8th-wonder-of-the--18914) [close to EA](http://www.theonion.com/article/more-realistic-meat-substitute-made-soy-raised-bru-52436).

Whether hot or cold, we hope you have a great August!

The team

## Articles and Community Posts
 
Have you ever wondered whether it’s acceptable to take a harmful job if it allows you to indirectly help others? Well, so has 80,000 Hours, and now they’ve released [in-depth research and analysis](https://80000hours.org/articles/harmful-career/) on this topic!

A common question is how EAs should approach climate change and global warming. Stijn Bruers addresses this in his recent [blog post](https://stijnbruers.wordpress.com/2017/08/02/how-to-compensate-your-carbon-footprint/), laying out his own strategy for offsetting personal carbon emissions using EA principles.

Julia Galef identifies [categories for inefficiencies in the social value market](https://juliagalef.com/2017/07/28/inefficiencies-in-the-social-value-market/).  

Peter Hurford and Marcus Davis [research how long](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1c5/how_long_does_it_take_to_research_and_develop_a/) it takes to develop a new vaccine.

Ben West presents an argument for [why the future is probably positive](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1cl/an_argument_for_why_the_future_may_be_good/).

Daniel Dewey from the Open Philanthropy Project details his [current thoughts](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1ca/my_current_thoughts_on_miris_highly_reliable/) on the Machine Intelligence Research Institute’s Highly Reliable Agent Design agenda.

## Timeless Classics

Check out the [80-minute debate between Will MacAskill and Giles Fraser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qslo4-DpzPs) about whether effective altruism is the right way to lead an ethical life. It covers a lot of interesting tidbits, including why you should not give to disaster relief, how typical charities do a hundred times less good than the best charities and why you should first stop eating chicken and eggs if you want to reduce animal suffering through your diet.
 
[![e1460eebab25eb3e4a732dfe4f4ec6d7](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/6km1vBEXcsQcy80UuyEeku/84a17d2ede90c90a9d71a041dba7c6f8/e1460eebab25eb3e4a732dfe4f4ec6d7.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qslo4-DpzPs)

## Updates from EA Organizations

__80,000 Hours__

80,000 Hours continued their podcast with an interview about [OpenAI and how to become an AI researcher](https://80000hours.org/2017/07/podcast-the-world-needs-ai-researchers-heres-how-to-become-one/) with Dr Amodei. Apart from an analysis on [the ethics of harmful jobs](https://80000hours.org/articles/harmful-career/), new publications include a career review of [Machine Learning PhDs](https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/machine-learning-phd/), and an investigation of the economics literature on which professions have the [biggest positive spillovers](https://80000hours.org/2017/06/which-jobs-do-economists-say-create-the-largest-spillover-benefits-for-society/) to society.

__Animal Charity Evaluators__

ACE explained the process and rationale behind their [cost-effectiveness](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/charity-reviews/evaluating-charities/evaluation-criteria/our-use-of-cost-effectiveness-estimates/) estimates and have made updates to their [charity evaluation process](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/some-updates-to-our-charity-evaluation-process-2017/). They have updated their list of [funded projects](http://researchfund.animalcharityevaluators.org/funded-projects/) from the Animal Advocacy Research Fund.

__Centre for Effective Altruism__ 

This month, CEA has been focusing on the [EA Global San Francisco](https://sf.eaglobal.org/) conference happening this weekend. EA Global SF is one of the big community events of the year and is exploring how we can do good together as the community grows. They have also been reviewing over 700 [EA Grants](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/grants/) applications. They expect to announce the grants they are making to promising EA projects in the next couple of months.

__Centre for the Future of Intelligence__

CFI had their first conference. Keynote speakers included the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP (UK Digital Minister), Professor Stuart Russell (Berkeley), Baroness Onora O'Neill (Cambridge), Dr Claire Craig (Royal Society), and Professor Francesca Rossi (University of Padova, Italy). The entire event was [livestreamed](https://youtu.be/ExTDnppYB0w).

__Centre for the Study of Existential Risk__

The [“Black Sky” Infrastructure and Societal Resilience workshop](http://cser.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Black-Sky-Workshop-at-the-Royal-Society-Jan.-20171.pdf) report is online. [Gorm Shackelford](http://cser.org/about/who-we-are/gorm-shackelford/) joined CSER – he is using text and data mining to create a database of information on catastrophic risks and interventions. CSER hosted the [Decision Theory & the Future of Artificial Intelligence](http://cser.org/event/decision-theory-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-registration-coming-soon/) workshop with talks on The [Tragedy of the Uncommons: On the Psychology, Politics and Policy of Existential Risk](http://cser.org/event/the-tragedy-of-the-uncommons-on-the-psychology-politics-and-policy-of-existential-risk/) and on [Resource Allocation in Health Emergencies](http://cser.org/event/health-emergencies-resource-allocation-and-individual-health-security/).

__Future of Humanity Institute__

FHI’s AI safety team published [a paper](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/trial-without-error-towards-safe-rl-human-intervention/) on avoiding catastrophic events with human intervention, Nick Bostrom did [an interview with PBS](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/will-wiped-machine-overlords-maybe-need-game-plan-now/) explaining superintelligence concerns and FHI is hiring for [2 new research roles in macrostrategy](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/).

__Foundational Research Institute__

In [a new paper](https://foundational-research.org/tranquilism/), researcher Lukas Gloor introduces tranquilism as a theory for what makes experiences valuable or disvaluable. Tranquilism is an "absence of desire" theory that treats all states of contentment (such as meditation, flow states, or other forms of tranquility) as equally valuable as states of intense pleasure.

__Future of Life Institute__

FLI [interviewed Anthony Aguirre and Andrew Critch](https://futureoflife.org/2017/07/31/podcast-art-predicting-anthony-aguirre-andrew-critch/) about the art of predicting the future, what constitutes a good prediction, and how we can better predict the advancement of artificial intelligence.

__GiveWell__

GiveWell [published a blog post](http://blog.givewell.org/2017/07/12/mid-year-update-givewells-progress/) summarizing its progress in 2017. GiveWell also [described](http://blog.givewell.org/2017/07/06/deciding-whether-recommend-fistula-management-charities/) why it is considering fistula management charities as potential future top charities and its plans to partner with IDinsight, an international NGO, as part of this work.

__Open Philanthropy Project__

The Open Philanthropy Project announced several grants last month, including [$2,400,000 over four years to the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/montreal-institute-learning-algorithms-ai-safety-research) to support research to improve the positive long-term impact of artificial intelligence on society and [$500,000 to The Greenfield Project](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare/greenfield-project-general-support) to push for federal reforms to improve farm animal welfare.

__Raising for Effective Giving__

This year’s poker world championship – the World Series of Poker – has been highly successful for REG: REG supporter Benjamin Pollak finished 3rd for $3.5 million in the Main Event and pledged to donate $105,000 to effective charities; several other players are making major contributions as well. REG also published [a new website](https://reg-charity.org/).

![8b55cea4-25be-4e37-b39b-7e33aa04cea1](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/5PZZijWXjamu4WEUOi0uem/5725b0b9e4c043217f2fdbb368a624ae/8b55cea4-25be-4e37-b39b-7e33aa04cea1.jpg)

## Announcements

If you have a few moments, Help test two cool Slack plugins ([join the Rethink Charity team here](https://slackpass.io/rtcharity)!)
1) [Human swarms](https://rtcharity.slack.com/messages/C68HMH96C) for improved group predictions and decisions. The first test is on [Aug. 4](http://www.facebook.com/events/1789977024369984).
2) [Donation channels](https://rtcharity.slack.com/messages/C68P12MED) for peer-funding projects and insurance pools.

Also, don’t forget that [applications for EA Global in London](https://www.eaglobal.org/apply/london/) are open!

## Jobs

Make sure to check out the [FLI list of postings](https://futureoflife.org/job-postings/) and [80,000 Hours' job board](https://80000hours.org/job-board/)!

- [Director of Operations](http://waldronhr.com/searches/open-philanthropy-project) at the [Open Philanthropy Project](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/)
- [Controller](http://www.givewell.org/about/jobs/controller) and [Research Analyst, Outreach Focus](http://www.givewell.org/about/jobs/research-analyst-outreach-focus) at [GiveWell](http://givewell.org/)
- [Research Fellow](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/new-vacancy-research-fellow-ai-macrostrategy/) and [Senior Research Fellow](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/fhi-seeks-senior-research-fellow-ai-macrostrategy/) in Macrostrategy at FHI
- [Various Jobs at the Center for Global Development](https://www.cgdev.org/page/job-opportunities-0)

To keep on top of EA jobs, feel free to visit these [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1062957250383195/) and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5057625) groups as well.

![27df0366-a4cf-4bc9-ba61-facace67f66f](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/2qK5ut9VkoQQqkMwiWkMkS/e46319f1438c858cd62cdc51d3314774/27df0366-a4cf-4bc9-ba61-facace67f66f.jpg)

---
**Go forth and do the most good!**
[Let us know](http://bit.ly/1Nr6qD2) how you liked this edition and how we can improve further.

If you’re interested in past editions of this newsletter, [here is the full archive](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/) 

---
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## Get Involved in Effective Altruism
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&nbsp;
*The Effective Altruism Newsletter is a joint project between the [Centre for Effective Altruism](https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/), and [.impact.](http://dotimpact.im/)* 

*This is an archived version of the EA Newsletter sent to 45,566 subscribers on August 3, 2017.*
_To see the full archives, [click here.](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/)_


EA Newsletter: August 3, 2017

![EA Newsletter header](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/2hAHqllSrqawAeKCiS4mWK/8bd0647f44cf26a518f97dfd8964cf33/EA_Newsletter_header.jpg)
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Hey!

Right when people thought the world couldn’t get any worse, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times goes on to claim that “[2017 is likely to be the best year in the history of humanity](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/opinion/sunday/good-news-despite-what-youve-heard.html).”

“Every day, another 250,000 people graduate from extreme poverty, according to World Bank figures.”

While there are many things that are indeed still wrong with the world, it’s also good to keep the larger picture in mind.

For those interested in some more data, click on the image below.

Rock on!

The team

![9ac3d2f3-4121-4081-825f-d421ba17e8e6](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/1E0AVmRb3iwMKo4Mms4SSk/4126e516084475827f5e73688e971542/9ac3d2f3-4121-4081-825f-d421ba17e8e6.png)

## Articles and Community Posts
 
The videos from EA Global Boston are up! [All 27 of them](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL). If you just want to watch one for the moment, [this 24-minute talk](https://youtu.be/wBozU-FkMbI?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL) by Will MacAskill might be of particular interest: As the EA community grows, what we focus on changes from what __I__ should do to what __we__ should – and could – do.

How do we find the best non-profits to donate to? And can we apply start-up investing principles to non-profits? Peter Hurford looks into these questions here.

In this EA Forum [Ask Me Anything](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1c3/hi_im_luke_muehlhauser_ama_about_open/) post Luke Muehlhauser answers questions about his recent report on [consciousness and moral patienthood](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/2017-report-consciousness-and-moral-patienthood), which essentially investigates the question of “In general, which types of beings merit moral concern?”.

Is improving mental health a better and more cost-effective way to increase happiness/reduce suffering than fighting poverty? Have a look at [this post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/effective.altruists/permalink/1438844792838540/) in the EA Facebook group for more on this topic.

The 80,000 Hours team produced tons of research in the past few weeks, including a guide to [working in AI policy and strategy](https://80000hours.org/articles/ai-policy-guide/). More links below in the Spotlight and Updates sections.

![7d80e77d-2ab5-4782-9024-9c25de1fa716](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/1zeVxKNBqYE4wks8wYa2qg/da023f277347db7339765d519238bc22/7d80e77d-2ab5-4782-9024-9c25de1fa716.png)

## Spotlight: Ways to Get Involved in the EA Community

What would the EA community be without you? If you’re looking for ideas on what to do, read on:

- Here’s a [brand-new and highly comprehensive guide](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/get-involved/) of the many ways you could get more involved: from learning the basics, engaging with others to advancing the field, there’s something there for everyone.
 
- For those interested in working at EA organizations, be sure to check out this [new 80,000 Hours career review](https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/working-at-effective-altruist-organisations/) on this topic: Should you work at a non-profit in the EA community? Won’t you be replaceable? Where do you get started? The guide answers these questions and others.
 
- If you’re currently just interested to volunteer some of your time or are looking for help on specific tasks, here’s a new [EA Volunteering Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1392613437498240/) for you.
 
- Why bother with all of those effective altruists at all? Here’s the 80,000 Hours argument for [why to get involved with a community](https://80000hours.org/career-guide/community/#how-can-the-effective-altruism-community-boost-your-career) (and one community in particular..).
 
- Finally, make sure to check out this EA Global Boston talk by 80,000 Hours CEO Ben Todd on how we can [best work together as a community](https://youtu.be/S7SFq4v3tRo?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL).

![f1e9afc3-7a78-4f1a-811e-129fcbf3d107](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/MFHD1KG92M4u4mOCkuaOm/2801f5a8c0a0f370227a5e9b2b538779/f1e9afc3-7a78-4f1a-811e-129fcbf3d107.png)

## Updates from EA Organizations
 
__80,000 Hours__

80k published: a guide to [AI policy](https://80000hours.org/articles/ai-policy-guide/) and [Machine Learning PhDs](https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/machine-learning-phd/), a [survey of economics literature](https://80000hours.org/2017/06/which-jobs-do-economists-say-create-the-largest-spillover-benefits-for-society/) on which jobs do good, an analysis of [which jobs are highest-paying](https://80000hours.org/articles/highest-paying-jobs/), and [two](https://80000hours.org/2017/06/podcast-prof-david-spiegelhalter-on-risk-statistics-and-improving-the-public-understanding-of-science/) [podcasts](https://80000hours.org/2017/06/the-world-desperately-needs-ai-strategists-heres-how-to-become-one/). In the last two months, they have also coached over 70 people and were featured in [The Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/0/dont-follow-passion-think-twice-medicine-new-rules-choosing/).

__Animal Charity Evaluators__

ACE [received a grant](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/on-receiving-a-grant-from-the-open-philanthropy-project/) from the Open Philanthropy Project, which will enable them to make a long list of improvements. They [checked in](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/updates-on-select-recommended-charities-room-for-more-funding/) with their recommended charities to assess room for more funding, and are testing two new [fundraising strategies](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/ace-fundraising-restrictions/).

__Centre for Effective Altruism __

CEA ran EA Global Boston focusing on pushing the frontiers of effective altruism – the talks are up [on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL). CEA has launched [EA Grants](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/grants/), been supporting the creation of an EA institute to [harness the power of academia](https://youtu.be/ZpuJBLTfTTU?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL) and researching areas like [moral cooperation](https://youtu.be/roXYoAI949Y?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL).

__Centre for the Study of Existential Risk__

CSER co-founders [Jaan Tallinn](https://livestream.com/starmus/events/7520322/videos/158570668?utm_content=buffer9f014) and [Martin Rees](https://livestream.com/starmus/events/7520325/videos/158629689) spoke at the STARMUS Festival. Martin also spoke at a conference held in honour of CSER advisor Stephen Hawking’s 75th birthday. Executive Director of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute and CSER Research Affiliate Seth Baum gave a seminar on [Integrated Assessment of Global Catastrophic Risk and AI](http://cser.org/event/integrated-assessment-of-global-catastrophic-risk-and-ai-with-seth-baum/).

__Effective Altruism Foundation__

EAF published a [policy paper on evidence-based foreign aid](https://ea-stiftung.org/evidenzbasierte-entwicklungszusammenarbeit/) (German), providing recommendations for more effective government aid in Germany and Switzerland. They also published a [German landing page](https://effektiveraltruismus.de/) outlining the basic concepts of effective altruism.

__Foundational Research Institute__

Executive Director Max Daniel [presented on s-risks](https://foundational-research.org/s-risks-talk-eag-boston-2017/) at the Effective Altruism Global conference in Boston. S-risks are risks where an adverse outcome would bring about suffering on an astronomical scale, vastly exceeding all suffering that has existed on Earth so far. FRI also [launched a blog](https://foundational-research.org/launching-fri-blog/).

__Future of Humanity Institute__

FHI and co-authors released their [survey of AI timelines](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/will-ai-exceed-human-performance-evidence-ai-experts/) which got extensive [news](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2133188-ai-will-be-able-to-beat-us-at-everything-by-2060-say-experts/) [coverage](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607970/experts-predict-when-artificial-intelligence-will-exceed-human-performance/). A paper on macrostrategy and the ‘[aestivation hypothesis](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/aestivation-hypothesis-resolving-fermis-paradox/)’ was published. FHI published its [quarterly update](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/quarterly-update-summer-2017/) including individual researcher progress updates.

__GiveWell__

GiveWell published a [blog post](http://blog.givewell.org/2017/06/21/are-givewells-top-charities-the-best-option-for-every-donor/) discussing different giving options and their suitability for different types of donors; it believes its top charities are the best option for most donors, but that certain donors may find other opportunities that have a greater impact per dollar. As part of its Incubation Grants program, GiveWell [published a page on a $900,000 grant](http://www.givewell.org/charities/gui2de/january-2017-grant) to the Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation Development and Evaluation (gui2de) for its Zusha! Road Safety Campaign.

__Open Philanthropy Project__

The Open Philanthropy Project [ppublished a blog post](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/projects-people-and-processes) discussing approaches a small number of decision-makers can use to find and fund a large number of giving opportunities, and why it uses a “people-based” approach. In addition, Project Senior Advisor David Roodman [published an update](http://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/updating-my-risk-estimate-geomagnetic-big-one) to his risk estimate of a very large geomagnetic storm.

__Sentience Institute__

Sentience Politics is splitting into two independent organizations. Going forward, Sentience Politics will launch a ballot initiative for the abolition of factory farming in Switzerland while [Sentience Institute](https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/), a new think tank led by Kelly Witwicki and Jacy Reese, will be researching the most effective strategies to expand humanity’s moral circle. Read more here or have a look at [this EA Global Boston talk](https://youtu.be/TmxcDnV7DwE?list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL).

__The Life You Can Save__

The Life You Can Save has released its [2017 Strategic Plan](https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/Strategic-Plan-2017-The-Life-You-Can-Save.pdf), which presents growth to date and goals for growing the organization and effective giving over the next three years.

![b1882218-c4ed-4988-9634-ca9d122b69da](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/3PZLdP0ds4s8OsGQEEeEEQ/af4b6624035204090d6ed861d19a7735/b1882218-c4ed-4988-9634-ca9d122b69da.png)

## Timeless Classics

Not only is effective altruism (well, the promotion of it) currently only [the second-most pressing](https://80000hours.org/articles/cause-selection/) issue in the world according to 80,000 Hours. It’s perhaps also [the most exciting](http://effective-altruism.com/ea/8h/effective_altruism_as_the_most_exciting_cause_in/).

If you ever wonder about [all the ways humanity could go extinct](http://www.nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html), make sure to study Nick Bostrom’s classic analysis on the subject. Sweet dreams.

## Announcements

__Animal Charity Evaluators__

Applications are now open to attend ACE’s [research workshop](https://animalcharityevaluators.org/about/events/2017-research-workshop/) on Effective Animal Advocacy. The deadline to [apply](https://docs.google.com/a/animalcharityevaluators.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfuYfksl5Bcxjn4VQWSu4vou0iGUdwaLL-H9sEwkyCiKXMp2g/viewform) is July 31.

__Center for Applied Rationality__

CFAR is hosting a small, limited-attendance workshop ahead of EA Global San Francisco. If you’re interested in attending, [apply here](http://rationality.org/workshops/apply)!

__EA Global Conferences__

If you haven’t already, send in your applications for [San Francisco](http://effectivealtruism.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=52b028e7f799cca137ef74763&id=76219d492d&e=496d7a38bf) (11-13 August) and [London](http://effectivealtruism.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=52b028e7f799cca137ef74763&id=c6fd7eb84b&e=496d7a38bf) (3-5 November).

## Jobs

Make sure to check out [80,000 Hours' jobs board](https://80000hours.org/job-board/)!
 
- [Data and Analytics Associate and Senior Software Engineer at GiveDirectly](https://givedirectly.recruiterbox.com/)
- [Various jobs at GiveWell, incl. Research Analyst and Controller](http://www.givewell.org/about/jobs)
- [Director of Operations at the Open Philanthropy Project](http://waldronhr.com/searches/open-philanthropy-project)

To keep on top of EA jobs, feel free to visit these [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1062957250383195/) and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5057625) groups as well.

![686aed71-74c3-46e4-aed5-eef377187e3e](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/31wCvTDolqm4mIKcq8CqaU/9e737eabb952ed91825a2171de86fe49/686aed71-74c3-46e4-aed5-eef377187e3e.png)

---
**Go forth and do the most good!**
[Let us know](http://bit.ly/1Nr6qD2) how you liked this edition and how we can improve further.

If you’re interested in past editions of this newsletter, [here is the full archive](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/) 

---
&nbsp;
## Get Involved in Effective Altruism
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### [The Pledge](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/join/)
Join 2,150+ others and pledge 10% of your income to effective charities.
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Find a fulfilling career that does good.
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### [The Community](http://effective-altruism.com/)
Learn from others and discuss EA on the EA Forum.
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&nbsp;
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*The Effective Altruism Newsletter is a joint project between the [Centre for Effective Altruism](https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/), and [.impact.](http://dotimpact.im/)* 

*This is an archived version of the EA Newsletter sent to 44,587 subscribers on July 7, 2017.*
_To see the full archives, [click here.](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ea-newsletter-archives/)_


EA Newsletter: July 7, 2017

The Moral Value of Information

Using Evidence to Inform Policy

*In this 2017 talk, [IARPA](https://www.iarpa.gov/) director Jason Matheny talks about how effective altruists can have an impact through entering government. He draws widely from his own experience in the US government. At the very end you will find an added section on what you can do to help.*

[embed src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g05om2NJwco&list=PLwp9xeoX5p8Pi7rm-vJnaJ4AQdkYJOfYL&index=18"]

![White space](//images.contentful.com/ohf186sfn6di/6qfcWguGKA4iMAkSyC2y2I/db61ba390e9466baa6ee2d25f0d3d63c/Whitespace.png)

*The below transcript is lightly edited for readability.*

I don't have any slides just because they're much harder to get through government review, which will be a big part of my talk today on what to do and not to do in government. It's great to see so many young people who are thinking about career options. I feel like I'm close to dying now, so there's only so much good remaining I can do, unless I'm cryonically preserved and resuscitated later. You all have so many decades left to do an enormous amount of good with your lives, so thank you for spending at least 50 minutes of that life to think about options in government.

I'm going to describe a few different paths to doing good within government that don't rely on spending an entire career in government. It might be a two-year stint, or a five-year stint, but still allowing you to accomplish a huge amount of good. 

I'm going to talk about three things. The first is how I came into government. The second is the roles for EAs working within government. The third is some practical advice on picking jobs within government, whether short-term or longer-term.

My own route was sort of circuitous in that I started working in college, planning to become an architect. Shortly after I graduated, I found an orphan copy of the [1993 World Bank World Development Report](https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5976), which both dates me and dates a lot of my perspective on problems of altruism. The report was really focused on how you can do cost-effectiveness analysis on health and development. For me, this was the first time I was ever exposed to an argument about how cheaply you can save lives and significantly reduce suffering. This was one of the first reports that looked at the cost per [DALY](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability-adjusted_life_year) averted for a range of different health interventions. I thought this application of cost-effectiveness analysis to health and development was pretty eye-opening. For one, it showed that you could save millions of live for less than about $1,000 per life. But it also showed that there were tremendous differences between the most and the least cost-effective interventions, so that our decisions about what to invest in have a huge impact.

I ended up deciding not become an architect, or else I'd be giving a talk on effective altruism in architecture. I decided to instead go into global health, and worked for several years on global infectious diseases - especially malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV in South Asia, but also in East Asia. It was in 2002 that I made another career shift. This was the same year that the first virus was synthesized from scratch, *de novo*. It turned biology into something more closely approximating computer science, or an engineering discipline. You could now take the chemical constituents of DNA and create a new genome. 

At that time, the technology was fairly primitive. The longest virus that you could assemble was polio. That wasn't too much to worry about. We already had vaccines for polio. We knew how to control polio. But I and most of the people who I had worked with had worried that somebody would apply this technology to recreate smallpox - to recreate the [1918 influenza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic) that killed over 50 million people in one year. Or, they could make something much worse than any naturally occurring virus, since there are limits to nature's ingenuity that might be outpaced by human ingenuity.

So I moved from working on naturally occurring global infectious diseases to working on defences against engineered threats. That work then led me to places like [the Future of Humanity Institute](https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/), thinking about how we wrestle with risks from emerging technologies. I thought about ways that I could have an impact on this area. One way seemed to be doing research myself, but I didn't think I was especially smart in doing that research. It seemed like there were people who were smarter than me, like Nick Bostrom, who could be doing that research. I thought: how could I deliver more funding to people who were smarter than me? That's why I joined government.

I came to IARPA to put a multiplier effect on my effort and the effort of other researchers. My goal was to set up a budget in which I could fund important research in a range of areas including risk assessment, technical forecasting, work on biosecurity, nuclear security, cyber security, and assessments of future risks from things like autonomous weapons or AI accidents. The work that I've done at IARPA has convinced me that there's a lot of low-hanging fruit within government positions that we should be picking as effective altruists. There are many different roles that effective altruists can have within government organizations. 

I'm going to tell you about a few of them. I'll limit it to the three areas that I have some background in, which are global health, animal welfare and catastrophic risks. But I think that government is in general a place that has leverage over a variety of different pressing societal issues. Thus if I'm leaving out some topics that's not because I think government doesn’t have influence on those topics. It's just because I'm ignorant.

In global health, government funding has an enormous impact on the development of new vaccines, antivirals, and antibiotics, as well as other therapies. Much of that work is conducted at the [National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases](https://www.niaid.nih.gov/), that funds basic and applied research in infectious diseases, as well as the development of new therapies. The [FDA](https://www.fda.gov/) has an important role determining which kinds of drugs and vaccines are ultimately introduced. Despite being a regulatory agency, they make really interesting innovations, incentive systems, and reward systems, including things like priority review vouchers that can accelerate the introduction of new vaccines for important diseases. And there are places like [the Fogarty Center at the National Institutes of Health](https://www.fic.nih.gov/Pages/Default.aspx), which does things like economic analysis of international health interventions. Then there are the more operational arms of the US government, like the [Centers for Disease Control](https://www.cdc.gov/) and [the US Agency for International Development](https://www.usaid.gov/), that have direct impacts on health and development overseas.

In animal welfare, [the USDA](https://www.usda.gov/) has an important role to play in establishing policies that govern some treatments of animals. They also have a small research budget, some of which is used - and a larger amount of which could be used - to develop better, healthier alternatives. State legislatures also have a big role to play in animal welfare as they can pass laws surrounding animal handling and slaughter. 

Then on catastrophic risks where I've spent most of my time, governments have a very significant role. A lot of those risks are influenced by government decisions, both positively and negatively. Multiple organizations work on preventing nuclear war, biological warfare, or accidents, as well as cyber warfare, and the misuse of various emerging technologies. I’ll go through a few of the most important of those organizations. First you have [the National Security Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Council), a part of the White House that informs national security decision making, including decisions about war. Another is [the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp), which looks at emerging technologies and risks associated with them. That office has groups that examine a range of important technologies, including AI, bio-technology, and neuroscience among other topics. 

Within [the Department of Defense](https://www.defense.gov/), there is [the Office of Net Assessment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Net_Assessment), which in my view is one of the most unusual organizations within government, as well as one of the most important. It looks at long-range security issues that could be decades in the making. For example, what changes in future weapon systems are likely to disrupt deterrents? What would be the consequences of strategic miscalculation with nuclear weapons? 

[The Defense Threat Reduction Agency](http://www.dtra.mil/) within the Department of Defense is the lead agency responsible for countering chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons. [The Federal Emergency Management Agency](https://www.fema.gov/) is responsible for considering worst-case scenarios that could affect the US and developing mitigations against them. Then there are many others that deal with very specific threats such as the [Defense Department's Strategic Command](http://www.stratcom.mil/), which is responsible for the United States’s nuclear weapons and their safety. [BARDA](https://www.phe.gov/about/BARDA/Pages/default.aspx), which is a part of [Health and Human Services](https://www.hhs.gov/), is responsible for developing medical countermeasures against bioterrorism. The intelligence agencies like [CIA](https://www.cia.gov/index.html) and [DIA](http://www.dia.mil/), assess how advanced a particular group's biological weapons program is, or their ability to access disruptive technologies, or the likelihood of industrial accidents, for example in foreign biology labs.

Across all three of the EA topics that I mentioned, in global health, in animal welfare, and in catastrophic risks, one cost-effective route to having an impact is to affect the funding of new technologies that could in some ways obviate the need for certain kinds of harmful technologies or reduce the risks of technologies by making sure they're sufficiently protected through safety engineering. For funding scientific and technological research, there are a few important organizations within government. There's the [White House Office of Management and Budget](https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb), which helps to set the White House budget requests. Often we'll find even fairly junior folks who are putting their weight on multi-billion dollar decisions. It really is extraordinary that even fairly junior positions can have incredible influence. If you think of this just in terms of an expected value calculation, even a 10% probability of affecting a $10 billion decision means a billion dollars in expectation, and can be hugely consequential on topics such as nuclear safety, biological safety, future of autonomous weapons and so forth.

There are [the Congressional Appropriations Committees](https://appropriations.house.gov/) (link to [senate page](https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/)) that approve the budgets from the White House. Here, too, you find even fairly junior staffers that have an incredible impact. Then there are the organizations that take the budgets that they've been given and freely decide how to allocate them. Those include places like [the National Institutes of Health](https://www.nih.gov/), [the National Science Foundation](https://www.nsf.gov/), as well as the ARPAs - the intelligence [IARPA](https://www.iarpa.gov/) where I work, [DARPA](https://www.darpa.mil/), [HSARPA](https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/hsarpa) and [ARPA-E](https://arpa-e.energy.gov/). At those organizations the program managers, who are typically in their 30s say, have come out of graduate school programs and a science or engineering discipline. They've spent a few years working in a lab, sometimes within academia or within industry. Then they spend a term-limited time in the government, usually not exceeding five years. They're given an extraordinary amount of latitude. They're given a budget of several tens of millions of dollars with the expectation, the trust, that they will invest that money as cost-effectively as possible in solving a particular technical problem. For IARPA, those problems are often associated with reducing the risks of emerging technologies. 

As one example, we have a brilliant biologist at IARPA, John Julias, who runs a program called [Fun GCAT](https://www.iarpa.gov/index.php/research-programs/fun-gcat), which is focused on developing new systems for screening the sequences that go into DNA synthesizers. Can you determine whether this is a safe sequence or a dangerous sequence? That's the kind of work that we really need program managers to do, and we've entrusted John with a +$50 million budget which he uses to fund work here at Harvard, at MIT, and at many other universities and companies in order to advance this goal of reducing risks from synthetic biology. It's much more money I think than at least I could've expected to earn in my lifetime, but we give it, we entrust it, to a program manager to spend as wisely as possible - with the rigor of spending a quarter of that money on testing and evaluation to figure out whether the investments that we're making are actually making a difference, and whether we can accurately assess the risks from, say, a novel sequence. Those are program managers. 

Agency directors can further direct hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to key projects. Again, even if those are only, say, 10% as effective as funding that would be given outside of a bureaucracy, the expected value of those investments is quite large and can have a dramatic impact. Within government, there are also other levers that one can pull. At IARPA, we've not only been able to erect a large budget on reducing catastrophic risks, but we've also been able to engage in policy discussions. We've led groups within the White House on the long-term impacts of AI and of biotechnology. We co-led the White House AI R&D strategy, and we've advised the National Security Council on other emerging technologies. There are some decisions that are made only by governments, and some of those decisions are highly consequential. They include decisions like going to war, or what weapon systems will be fielded, or how technologies will be embedded within larger critical systems. It makes sense to engage more effective altruists within these positions where they can influence those decisions.

One can also have influence on the outside, working as a contractor within a government agency. Most of the people who work at IARPA are contractors rather than government employees. The amount of expertise that we have to draw on is too vast to hire them all ourselves directly, especially with short-term positions. So we hire computer scientists, and biologists, and chemists, and physicists, and neuroscientists, and sociologists, political scientists, and cognitive psychologists, because we need them all. We also need lawyers, and we even need philosophers. We have a program on applied philosophy called [CREATE](https://www.iarpa.gov/index.php/research-programs/create), which is a program to develop new systems for argumentation and informal reasoning that can lead intelligence analysts to make better judgements. 

So we need lots of help. We need them from lots of places including contractors, but also think-tanks. There are a range of think-tanks that inform the policy-making process that sometimes have a quite deep influence on administration. For instance, [the Heritage Foundation](http://www.heritage.org/) has a substantial influence on the current administration, while past administrations have been influenced by other think tanks such as [Brookings](https://www.brookings.edu/), [the Center for a New American Security](https://www.cnas.org/), [the Center for Strategic and International Studies](https://www.csis.org/), and Harvard's own [Belfer Center](https://www.belfercenter.org/). There are many others that help shape the decision-making of government leaders. Hence, that's another way you can have an influence on government.

I'm going to close in my final few minutes just by providing some general advice if you're interested in pursuing a job, whether short-term or long-term, within government. I would recommend really thinking about opportunities to move across and among the different sectors of society, government, industry, academia, and NGOs, because there's a need for horizontal transfer of knowledge and best practices. If all of our folks within government have come from government straight out of school, that will prevent us from being able to adopt best practices from industry or from academia. So there really is a need I think for continuous cycling throughout a career, bouncing around between the different sectors in order to bring knowledge across them.

My first suggestion is to reach out to [80,000 Hours](https://80000hours.org/), which I think has been pulling together some advice about government jobs (see below). I think one of the pieces of advice is at least to consider it as an option, because we are nowhere near the saturation point of effective altruists going into government positions. There are fairly junior positions across government that have a high potential impact that we have trouble recruiting for.

My second suggestion is to get to know the people who work within the organizations where you'd like to work. You can learn a lot about those organizations, their structure, and their staff just from online websites as well as Wikipedia. You can find the biographies of some of the people whose careers you might want to mimic. One strategy is just to reverse engineer their biography. Figure out what the steps are that seem critical in getting to the positions that you would like to have in the future. On that point, many of these people are lawyers, but just as many of them are scientists and engineers, and we do need more philosophers in government as well. But I think you'll find the diversity of talent that we need is ever growing. There's a particular intersection between policy and technology that is extremely difficult to recruit for. So for people who are still picking their major or their concentration for a thesis, if you look at the science policy of blank, pretty much any of the topics that are critical on our list have not been saturated with attention. There's still lots of low-hanging fruit to pick.

My last suggestion is to reach out to me, especially if you're interested in pursuing a job, short-term or long-term, in national security or reducing global catastrophic risks. Mostly because I really need the help. That's it.

### What can you do to help?

[80'000 Hours' job board](https://80000hours.org/job-board/) lists government jobs of interest to effective altruists. You can also find advice on how to help in the 80,000 Hours’ articles on [improving institutional decision-making](https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/improving-institutional-decision-making/), [party politics](https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/party-politics-uk/), and [policy-oriented civil service](https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/policy-oriented-civil-service-uk/) (the two latter with a UK focus).