Open thread: October - December 2024

Hi everyone, 

My name is Greg Kawere, I am a 39-year-old Zimbabwean and a technology researcher interested in AI Ethics, Data Journalism, and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems. 

I hope to create a vibrant EA community in Zimbabwe, particularly in the Chimbidzikai Village where I am based. Philosophically I come from the epistemology community so EA has always intrigued me. 

My professional life started as a Web Developer, then a journalist and I later transitioned to product management roles. 

I am building the Bikita Institute of Technology a free community college that trains out-of-school rural youth in STEM courses. 

Professionally I am trying to pivot to academia specifically AI ethics and governance through either a fellowship or studying for a Masters in AI Ethics. 

My work at BIT enables me to transform lives by empowering my community with in-demand  STEM skills that they can use to secure remote jobs. 

A bit of a background of Bikita, it's a rural district where people rely on small-scale agriculture and remittance for survival. 

Unfortunately, livelihoods have been compromised by extreme weather caused by climate change. This started with the Cyclone Idai floods of 2019 followed by the current El Nino induced droughts. 

I reason that if I can train the out-of-school youth in STEM courses that are internationally accredited and then help them secure remote jobs I could transform my community. 

This BIT project started when two local youths approached me about teaching them how to code in March 2024. We began operations from a solar-powered computer lab housed in a tent using Starlink for our internet.

I now have 20+ students and the community is helping me build a classroom block. I am trying to get BIT accredited by OTHM so that we can offer their Diplomas in IT, AI, Data Science, and Software Engineering. 

It's been a rollercoaster journey but I believe that if BIT can train 60 students per year who go on to graduate, in the next 5 years the impact on 300 lives and their families will be transformational to my community. 

That's enough sharing for the day

Enjoy

Hi everyone,

My name is Hans Erickson, I am a 65 year old IT professional that is semi-retired. I still own a small IT support company and have an employee who backfills for me, which allows me to travel. 

On a trip to Africa in 2022, I was on a safari and was taken through a remote Botswana village that was the home of our tour guide. He pointed out the school house as we passed through. I had been in Africa once before 15 years earlier participating in a technology conference in Lagos, Nigeria. In my research at the time, I discovered the appalling lack of internet connectivity to the majority of the continent. I asked our tour guide about this, and he confirmed the school had no internet.

I volunteered to set up Starlink internet for the school when the service became available. Just a month ago Starlink officially began service in Botswana. I reached out to my contact and the school administrator that he had connected me to. Because it is a government school, they required formal approval, so I have written letters and responded to questions, but still no approval. I am hopeful now that it is in the hands of their IT administrators that a final approval is coming.

There are approx. 150 students attending the school. My plan is to install the starlink dish, Ubiquiti AP's and remote monitoring equipment, connect everything, and supply some chromebooks for student and administration use. I will also configure a google school account, which provides robust tools for school administrators and students.

I have volunteered to support the starlink subscription for a three year period, after which I hope to convince local authorities or Starlink to continue the service.

I only read the 'Doing Goog Better' book after having made this agreement. In the interest of effective altruism, I was hoping to learn from someone the metrics that would be most beneficial to track for a project like this. I am aware that risks are involved with providing high speed internet in a rural setting, but I am not sure exactly what those risks might be. 

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi everyone! I'm Joanna, 25 year old from Poland. My main EA interests are factory farming, wild animal suffering and s-risks. 

I've been thinking of myself as a negative utilitarian for a long time, but the extent of my contribution was being a silent, resigned vegan. I hit rock bottom in September this year after reaching a conclusion that my life is probably a net negative for the world and that I unwittingly cause more suffering than my life is worth. I got support from a community built around David Pearce's 'Hedonistic Imperative' and that's how I learned about EA, so I guess you could say it saved my life. 

Since then I've been volunteering for Anima International and offering skilled volunteering for other EA-aligned animal advocacy orgs as a graphic designer (feel free to contact me if you need some graphic design done!)

I'm also trying to decide what to do with my 80.000-n hours, but the more I read the less certain I am (and there wasn't much certainty to begin with). I've worked as a senior artist for the gamedev industry, so my skillset is pretty narrow and mostly redundant due to AI. So far I've finished some courses (mainly on effective animal advocacy and nonprofit work) and I'm now learning data science, economics and biology. 

Giving status: monthly donations to ACE and Otwarte Klatki (Anima International); planning to take the GWWC pledge when I have stable income (I'm currently freelancing and in the process of transitioning to a more impactful career path)

degree of initiation into EA: I'm currently halfway through the EA Handbook and 3/4 through the 80.000 Hours career planning course; I've read 'Doing Good Better', '80.000 Hours', 'Map and Territory', 'Hedonistic Imperative', 'Thinking, fast and slow', 'Famine, affluence and morality'; started reading 'Animal Liberation Now', but it was too brutal. I also finished AAC's effective animal advocacy course. 

Favourite EA forum post: on the fence between https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Dtr8aHqCQSDhyueFZ/the-possibility-of-an-ongoing-moral-catastrophe-summary and https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RZEvk6cBtBg2mpgwS/trigger-warning-violence-animal-vs-human-welfare-sharing

Favourite EA book: 'Doing Good Better', (or, if I can go a bit wider, 'Map and Territory')

What I can offer: volunteering as a graphic designer, I'm also pretty good at tedious labour (like data cleanup) in google sheets.

Hoping to: get more clarity regarding career path and building skills useful for the movement.

Interests outside EA: metalearning, PKMs, productivity, psychology, art (the practical side of it)

Glad to be here!

Hi everyone!

I'm Andre, I'm 25 and am currently living in Ireland. I found the EA community after reading the book The Life You Can Save, which resonated strongly with me! So much so that I'm currently reconsidering my plans and will possibly change careers to something with a positive impact (I currently work in the assisted/autonomous driving industry). I've been learning about the EA movement every since I found out about it, and I'm looking forward to the next session of the EA Introductory Program and to meeting people in the community.

A fun fact about me is that I actually come from a small Portuguese island in the Atlantic. From my childhood home it would take me 15 minutes to either get to the sea or to get lost in a mountain - I think that because of this, I now love the natural world.

Anyway, looking forward to learning more about the community and meeting some of you :D

Hello everyone! 

I am a political theorist at Uppsala University, Sweden. Similarly to how I am interested in niche ethical ideas like EA, my research is focused on rather neglected (or weird) political ideas. In particular, I am interested in ‘geoism’ or ‘Georgism’, which combines the economic idea that unequal landownership is a root cause of many social problems with the normative idea that such landownership is unjustified since land was not created by anyone. Hence, geoists argue that taxes should be shifted to land and other naturally occurring resources. Earlier this year I defended my Ph.D. thesis on the relationship between geoism and anarchism. I recently received a postdoc grant to keep on researching geoist political theory in the coming years, being partly based in Oslo and Blacksburg, VA. 

In terms of cause area, I really appreciate the wide diversity within EA. But perhaps due to my interest in political theory, I have an extra soft spot for questions concerning institutional and systemic change. This is presumably where my own comparative advantage is, but I also think that it matters massively in terms of ripple effects and global capacity growth. At some point, I want to write up an exploration of land reform as a potential high-impact cause area, and the use of community land value trusts as a way to implement these ideals. The final chapter of my thesis explores some related ideas.

I was first introduced to EA ideas in a university philosophy course in 2018. My New Year's resolution for 2022-23 was to try donating 10% of my income to effective causes for at least a year. I had previously found that smaller trials, like Veganuary, are much more doable than any permanent commitment. During this time I also thought a lot about whether to take any public pledge or just to keep on donating anonymously. I eventually became convinced that the potential social contagion effects provide a really important reason to be public with pledges. I wrote some of these considerations down in this essay, which was published at GWWC last month. I also used this occasion to sign the 🔸 10% Pledge. 

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, and thank you all for the good that you do!

Hi everyone, I'm Awang, 43 year old from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I’m drawn to Effective Altruism because it offers a practical, thoughtful way to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. I’m inspired by its commitment to using reason and compassion to make meaningful change, ensuring that every effort is grounded in fairness, transparency, and tangible outcomes.

This year, my experiences working with marginalised communities in Borneo, who still struggle with basic necessities like electricity, clean water, and proper roads, have deeply shaped my perspective.

That reality hit harder when I saw how the three factors of framework of high-impact causes; scale, neglectedness, and tractability, perfectly encapsulate the challenges they face.

For years, I was a silent reader on the EA forum, quietly absorbing ideas as part of my favourite pastime. But it was only after spending time in East Malaysia that their significance truly hit me. Seeing the resilience of these communities while facing systemic neglect made me realise that I have to do more.

It’s remarkable to think that, despite being less than a thousand kilometres apart and divided only by the South China Sea, I could truly understand and feel the depth of empathy only after setting foot in East Malaysia.

We share the same national songs, watch the same TV shows, and belong to the same country, yet the weight of their struggles became tangible to me only now.

I may have gathered some of the information needed to prepare myself for the world’s pressing problems that may come knocking, but for many, the language barrier leaves them unprepared and unaware.

So the question then arises: is ignorance truly bliss, or is it the opposite?

So here I am, possibly late to the party, but finally ready to swap my digital anonymity for a spot in the metaphorical standing room only (or at least the comments section).

Hi everyone, just wanted to introduce myself to EA. My name is J.K. Lund and I operate the Risk & Progress newsletter. Given that we likely live in a "time of perils," every person alive today has "extraordinary altruistic leverage" to help build a better future. Based on this idea, I started Risk & Progress to educate myself and others about the risks and opportunities facing humanity. 

Risk & Progress is a hub for essays that explore risk, human progress, and your potential. My mission is to educate, inspire, and invest in practical concepts that promote a better future for all. Subscriptions are free but paid subscribers gain access to the full archive, including the Pathways of Progress essay series.

This is gradually culminating in an essay series called Pathways of Progress, which I may offer as an ebook eventually. Pathways of Progress is an essay series comprising 50+ curated works about human progress. At over 50,000+ words, Pathways brings together knowledge from 120+ sources, and over 4 years of research. This collection is organically expanded and refined as new research emerges. 

Long term, I would like to turn this work into a course and perhaps a children's book that can inspire a future generation to seek a hopeful future.

I look forward to learning from everyone here and featuring you at Risk & Progress.

Hello everyone. I’m Lokesh, 20M from India. I'm a student and my main interests are in reducing animal suffering and helping kids educate. 

I’ve been a part of an NSS (National Service Scheme) project of my college (IIT Madras in Chennai) for two years. We partner with an NGO, Shiksha Prayas based in Haryana --which teaches underprivileged students (aged 14-17, in class 8th-10th) in the outskirts of New Delhi-- to mentor the kids alongside their teachers. The mentoring is done mainly on phone calls and occasionally some fun, informative events are also organised. Despite of all the efforts, it doesn’t seem like there is any outcome coming from what we’ve been doing from our end (mentoring). [Teaching by the teachers are the centers is certainly producing visible results.]

I would like to know if anyone has reflected on the ways to help underprivileged kids in the community, here. Is the above method not workable, or we’re missing something? Are there any resources on it?

Thankyou very much for you time.

Hello all, 

I am 41 years old and have subscribed to the Forum for over a year now but have never posted. I was raised in the US but have been living and teaching in China since 2017. I teach engineering students how to write and took this job because it offered more money than I thought possible. While I plan to donate ~95% of that money (I live frugally), I still feel like my life has little impact. Now more than ever, in the wake of the recent US election, I have been sick with the feeling that I am not doing enough for the world. Instinctively, I care most about climate change, but this priority is not based on any rational analysis. I do not consider myself well versed in EA theology, but I listen to podcasts like 80,000 Hours and Clearer Thinking, and I've been a long-time devotee of Peter Singer (philosophy major). In any case, I want to become more active on this forum with the hope of finding a more impactful direction for my life. Very grateful to everyone here contributing to our common goals. 

The religious iconography in this post tickles me :)