35 Interactive Learning Modules Relevant to EAs / Effective Altruism (that are all free)

By spencerg @ 2024-06-23T17:57 (+72)

Hi all! For quite a number of years now at Clearer Thinking we've been developing free, interactive, online learning modules on a wide variety of topics. I wanted to create a list of which of these tools are most relevant to EAs and to Effective Altruism itself, in case you find them useful (for yourself, or for sharing with others). Here's the list, organized by topic:

1. Calibration, prediction and knowledge practice

• Calibrate Your Judgment - this program contains thousands of question sets to help you become adept at making well-calibrated judgments. It also tracks your progress over time so you can see how you improve!
• Predict Psychological Correlations - test how accurate your understanding of psychology is by practicing and improving your ability to make predictions.
• Retrocaster - take the challenge to identify the correct global trends on a variety of topics - from Africa's future population to the evolution of CO2 emissions in the US.
• Biosafety Quiz - uncover the history of pandemics, test your biosafety knowledge, and learn essential steps to safeguard humanity's future.
• Long-Term Future Quiz - get a glimpse into the opportunities that may await humanity if we can avoid disasters such as nuclear war and extreme climate change. Invite your imagination to take flight with 11 multiple-choice questions.
• Artificial Intelligence Quiz - test your knowledge of artificial intelligence and some of the risks it poses.
• The Common Misconceptions Test - Separate fact from B.S. in this fun quiz that asks you to identify the misconceptions among 30 common beliefs.
• World's Biggest Problems Quiz - test your knowledge of some of the world's most pressing problems: global health, animal welfare, and existential risks to humanity.
• Political Bias Test - learn to spot your political biases and test your policy knowledge
• Charity Effectiveness - see if you can guess which social interventions had a positive effect, a negative effect, or no effect, based on a short description.
• Guess Which Experiments Replicate - Can you guess which of these high-profile experiments were legit?
• Improve Your Frequency Predictions - a quick quiz to test your ability to estimate the frequency of events and compare your scores to others'.

2. Sharpening Your Thinking

• Nuanced Thinking Techniques - Learn to recognize 3 common binary thinking traps and learn the nuanced thinking techniques you can use to combat them.
• The Question of Evidence - there is more to interpreting evidence than you might think. Learn to improve your predictions by understanding evidence on a deeper level using Bayes' rule.
• Can You Detect Weak Arguments? - Find out how well you can spot misleading rhetoric and recognize your own bias using real-world examples
• Faulty Reasoning Quiz - learn about five types of faulty arguments and take a quiz to see how well you can spot them
• Rhetorical Fallacies - train yourself to detect common reasoning errors that often go unnoticed.
• The Belief Challenger - our beliefs determine our behaviors and how we interact with others. Use this program to refine your beliefs and form more accurate views.
• The Planning Fallacy - ever notice that projects usually take longer than people predict? Understand the science behind this phenomenon and become a more reliable planner.
• Mental Traps - scientists have discovered a slew of systematic errors in human thought. Learn about a few of the mind's mistakes in this brief introduction.

3. Communication

• Productive Disagreements - learn techniques to have constructive arguments
• Become A Great Listener - this tool teaches the skill of Active Listening, a strategy commonly used by therapists, helpline volunteers, and hostage negotiators to help people feel supported and understood

4. Altruism

• Emotional Obstacles to Doing Good - if you want to make the world a better place, emotions can both help and hinder your progress. Use this tool to help you understand and overcome these challenges.
• What Causes Match Your Values? - Find a charity that matches your altruistic priorities and is highly effective at advancing its chosen mission
• Change Behavior for the Better - Based on the "Ten Conditions for Change" framework, this tool walks you through all the steps required for successfully changing  behavior for the better (whether it's for a group of people you're trying to help, or for yourself)
• Leaving Your Mark on the World - Learn to make the most of your charitable contributions with this detailed and informative guide.

5. Self-development and self-improvement

• Uncover Your Guiding Principles -  build a list of your personal principles, to keep them top of mind and make better decisions, faster.
• Program Yourself to Improve Your life - train yourself to implement positive actions in your day-to-day life with simple "if-then" rules
• Seeking Outside Criticism - make a plan to ask for specific, honest criticism on an aspect of yourself that you'd like to improve
• Surpass Self-Limiting Beliefs - false or exaggerated beliefs about ourselves can hold us back and harm our relationships. Learn to overcome them more easily with three simple strategies.
• The Intrinsic Values Test - find out what you value most in the world, and compare those values to others', with this fun, comprehensive quiz
• Boost Your Productivity - invest in an effective work style and use our productivity formula to plan your own productivity system that incorporates techniques for optimizing your time, efficiency, and value
• Daily Ritual - this tool builds you a custom habit-formation strategy in three simple steps, so you can change your daily routine for the better
• Design Your Own Self-Experiment - devise informal experiments for improving your everyday experience and personal routines, with a little help from this handy tool.
• Learning From Mistakes - Learning from mistakes is challenging. Try our approach and you can rebound from your mistakes and carry on as an even better person.