EA Updates for August 2021

Upcoming Events

6th August - Constraining Longtermism - organised by the Legal Priorities Project
8th August - Giving What We Can Virtual Meetup
19th August - Giving What We Can Open Forum - with Pablo Melchor from Ayuda Efectiva
21st August - Scout Mindset Reading Group - organised by EA Anywhere
25th August - Who is Creating Existential Risk? - Panel Discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
September to October - Three virtual programs, consisting of weekly meetings over two months
- Introductory EA Program - For those new to EA, or who have some familiarity, but want to go through the core ideas
- In-Depth EA Program - For graduates of the intro program or those with a similar level of experience, who want to dive deeper into EA ideas and examine their key uncertainties about how to best improve the world
- The Precipice Reading Group - In this reading group, you will read and engage in structured discussions of Toby Ord’s The Precipice, a book about existential risks and safeguarding the future of humanity
29-31st October - EA Global: London 2021

Open Phil have made 13 grants recently with a total value of $8,300,000
- $3,120,000 - Future of Humanity Institute
- $2,760,000 - Farm Animal Welfare
- $1,200,000 - Global Health & Development
- $600,000 - Land Use Reform
- $320,000 - Scientific Research
- $300,000 - Criminal Justice Reform
Animal Charity Evaluators have granted $1,000,000 to 35 organisations involved in movement building
The Survival and Flourishing Fund grant applications are open until August 23rd

The MacArthur Foundation is removing it's funding from nuclear policy work, this article claims they currently fund 40-55% of non-governmental funding worldwide on nuclear policy
NASA and the European Space Agency are to test nudging asteroids off collision course with Earth
Wellcome Leap has started a $60,000,000 program to support RNA-based manufacturing capabilities around the world to prepare for future pandemics
A Nasa study predicts an increase in flooding due to an increase in the Moons gravitational pull combined with rising sea levels
Spencer Greenberg interviewing Toby Ord on existential risks
CSER presented 'Doom and Doubt: Uncertain Futures & Open Questions about Existential Risk' where researchers discussed how we can have open conversations about worst-case future scenarios

Holden Karnofsky started a blog covering ideas related to longtermism, epistemology and ethics. His first post is called 'All Possible Views About Humanity's Future Are Wild' and is part of a series arguing that we are potentially living in one of the most important centuries
Vox on how to be a good ancestor
The BBC looking at the history of ideas behind building 'galactic civilisations'
Founders Pledge with 'The case for longtermism and safeguarding the future'
A post 'Towards a longtermist framework for evaluating democracy-related interventions'
Luke Muehlhauser with a personal take on longtermist AI governance