Introduction to Effective Altruism
What have we found so far? And what does that mean for you?
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Key Ideas
This series of talks and articles covers the core ideas of effective altruism. We think it's a great place to start if you're interested in learning more.
… or see the contents below:
Principles
How should we work out how to do good?
Efficient Charity — Do Unto Others
The good is the enemy of the better.
Prospecting for Gold
A metaphor-driven introduction to key concepts in effective altruism.
The Moral Value of Information
Interventions which give us information might be more valuable than they seem.
What is EA really about?
It's easy to misunderstand effective altruism. This article from 80,000 Hours lays out some of the most common misconceptions and explains what the movement is really about.
We also address many common questions about EA, as well as objections to it, on this page of our site.
Promising causes
Selecting which problem to work on is crucial to having the biggest impact possible. These articles discuss a variety of problems, and why we might, or might not, want to focus on them.
Three Impacts of Machine Intelligence
What would change if we had advanced artificial intelligence?
Potential Risks from Advanced AI
Some things we could do to improve the development of artificial intelligence.
Biosecurity as an EA Cause Area
What can we do about threats from biotechnology?
Animal Welfare
Why you might, and might not, want to work on improving animal welfare.
Effective Altruism in Government
How to have an impact within government.
Global Health and Development
The cases for and against working on global health.
How valuable is movement growth?
How valuable is movement growth? And what is the best sort of growth?
The Long-Term Future
Effective altruism often emphasizes the long-term impact of different interventions. These articles explain why.
The Long-Term Future
Reasons to care about the long-term future, and reasons not to.
A Proposed Adjustment to the Astronomical Waste Argument
Caring about the future doesn't mean that we should focus only on narrow interventions.
Choosing a Charity
Giving What We Can, a community of impact-focused donors, offers an excellent set of giving recommendations (as well as advice on finding high-impact charities yourself).
You can also try this step-by-step guide to choosing a charity from 80,000 Hours, which provides advice on finding a high-impact career. In the guide, they explain:
- How to choose a promising cause
- How to evaluate a charity's funding needs
- Where to find expert donors whose advice you can follow if you'd prefer not to rely on your own research
Podcasts
Doing Good Better is a short podcast series which introduces effective altruism. It is centred around three questions: Why? How? and What?
In the 80,000 Hours Podcast, Rob Wiblin interviews experts from a range of fields about how best to tackle the world's most pressing problems.
Videos
Our YouTube channel features videos from Effective Altruism Global and EAGx conferences around the world.
We've created playlists for talks on a variety of topics; you can also check out a playlist featuring more than 100 talks from female, trans, and non-binary speakers, courtesy of WANBAM.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel
An introduction to effective altruism
Ajeya Cotra introduces some of the key ideas and principles behind effective altruism, in more detail than the TED talks on this page provide. If you have time to watch one video about EA, make it this one!
How can we do the most good for the world?
William MacAskill's 2019 TED Talk on the most important problems of our time.
The why and how of Effective Altruism
Peter Singer’s 2013 TED talk on the basics of effective altruism.
EA Global Talks
A selection of talks from the EA Global conference series. These cover a variety of concepts and resources related to effective altruism.
Books
Doing Good Better
An introduction to some of the key principles of effective altruism
www.effectivealtruism.org
The Most Good You Can Do
Describes the practical and philosophical impacts of the EA movement
www.thelifeyoucansave.org
The Life You Can Save
Argues that there is a moral imperative for the affluent to end poverty in low-income countries — and can be freely downloaded at the link above
www.thelifeyoucansave.org
The Precipice
On the greatest risks to the future of human civilization, and how we can prevent them
theprecipice.com
Superintelligence
Sets out Bostrom’s views on how artificial intelligence is likely to develop, and the risks that it will pose
www.amazon.com
Human Compatible
Superhuman AI would be very difficult to control, and could pose a severe threat to humanity. Russell holds that we can prevent the worst outcomes by rethinking how we design AI systems.
www.amazon.com
Other Research
In recent years, the effective altruism community has created a lot of good content. Unfortunately, some of that content can be hard to find. We have therefore put together a series of the best research from recent years, including ideas that aren't as widely accepted than the ideas above.
We designed this section for people who are already familiar with some of the core content, and want to understand the ideas in more depth.
How can you figure out which global problem is most pressing?
80,000 Hours compare problems in terms of scale, neglectedness, solvability, and personal fit.
80000hours.org
Hits-based Giving
Holden Karnofsky argues that high-risk projects might be the best bets.
www.openphilanthropy.org
Making Sense of Long-Term Indirect Effects
Indirect effects: very important, but hard to estimate.
Potential Risks from Advanced Artificial Intelligence: The Philanthropic Opportunity
Holden Karnofsky explains why the Open Philanthropy Project devotes unusually large resources to risks from advanced artifical intelligence.
www.openphilanthropy.org
Guide to working on AI policy in the United States
Niel Bowerman explains how to get involved in AI policy work in the United States. Many of his points might also apply to work in other countries).
80000hours.org
Reducing Risks of Astronomical Suffering: A Neglected Priority
David Althaus and Lukas Gloor discuss risks of astronomical suffering and how to mitigate them.
foundational-research.org
Report on Consciousness and Moral Patienthood
Luke Muehlhauser looks at the literature on animal consciousness and moral patienthood.
www.openphilanthropy.org
Why Are US Corporate Cage-Free Campaigns Succeeding?
Lewis Bollard describes how a small group of campaigners convinced over 200 US companies to stop keeping chickens in battery cages.
www.openphilanthropy.org
Using Evidence to Inform Policy
How can evidence-driven research ensure that effective policies are implemented?
How Much Evidence Is Enough?
Argues that we should pursue interventions which have not been conclusively proved, but that we should go on collecting evidence beyond that point.
Reasons to Be Nice to Other Value Systems
Brian Tomasik argues that we should work together even when we value different things.
foundational-research.org
The value of coordination
To do good well, we need to work with others. But how can we coordinate effectively?
80000hours.org
EA Community Building
What we might do to maximise the effective altruism community's impact.
Building an Effective Altruism Community
Effective Altruism Concepts
An encyclopedia of interesting ideas in effective altruism.
concepts.effectivealtruism.org
The EA Forum
The Effective Altruism Forum is an active platform for discussing topics in effective altruism, from scientific research to community building.
Some useful links:
- Get a weekly email with the best new posts
- Read the most popular posts of all time
- Find resources to help you read, write, and connect
Further Resources
The Effective Altruism Hub has a vast collection of material, including:
- A guide to major EA-aligned organizations
- Links to many of the biggest EA-related Facebook groups
- Ideas for talking about EA with other people
- A glossary of terms commonly used in the EA community
See the collection here.