Open Thread: April 2021

By Aaron Gertler 🔸 @ 2021-04-06T19:42 (+13)

As an experiment, I'm combining the "Open and Welcome" and "Progress" threads this month, with the goal of clearing a bit more space on the frontpage.

If you have something to share that doesn't feel like a full post, add it here! 

(You can also create a Shortform post.)

If you're new to the EA Forum, consider using this thread to introduce yourself! 

You could talk about how you found effective altruism, what causes you work on and care about, or personal details that aren't EA-related at all. 

(You can also put this info into your Forum bio.)

Open threads are also a place to share good news, big or small. See this post for ideas.

evelynciara @ 2021-04-30T08:04 (+17)

I'm surprised no one on the EA Forum has been talking about the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India. A year ago, we as a community were monitoring COVID-19 even before it hit North America and Europe. But the pandemic isn't over, and in fact, the number of new cases in India has shot up about 20x since February. (Source: Google search as of 2021-04-30)

This fundraising page has been shared with me via social media, and the interventions it supports seem very promising (e.g. supplying oxygen to patients, donating food to hungry families). I'm curious about other things EAs can do to help.

evelynciara @ 2021-05-03T19:29 (+7)

I just donated US $30 to the GiveIndia oxygen supply fundraiser. Inspired by this thread

evelynciara @ 2021-04-30T08:12 (+2)

Chart: https://imgur.com/a/BpKqWBN

(I can't embed it in a comment in rich-text mode, so here's the link)

Matt_L @ 2021-04-10T15:45 (+11)

Hey everybody, I'm Matt. Second-year Computer Science student who's been into EA for a few years, ever since finding SSC back in high school. Recently changed my major from Materials Science to CS in order to get more transferable career capital, better earning-to-give potential, more potential to work in high-impact areas, and all that stuff. 

evelynciara @ 2021-04-10T17:12 (+5)

Welcome! I'm Evelyn, and I've been finishing up my CS MEng degree at Cornell. I've been exploring the intersection of EA and public interest tech. I'm happy to talk about it sometime if you're interested.

Cullen_OKeefe @ 2021-04-09T01:50 (+10)

A Wikipedia-style "random post" feature for the Forum could be cool, to help people find new posts. It would also help people find posts that are not fully tagged or organized.

EdWilkinson @ 2021-04-12T20:46 (+9)

Hello all! I'm currently an undergraduate studying ppe with data science at UCL, and I've been aware of Effective Altruism for the past couple years. Recently I have begun to more thoroughly research and become more familiar with the EA goals and methodology. I have a lot of respect for the approach within the community, and would really like to get involved and start contributing. 

I feel as if I am at the beginning of a path so right now I have a lot of interests which I would like to experiment with to deepen my understanding. These include ethical AI and data infrastructure, environmental sustainability, animal welfare and policy processes. Equally I've found the meta-study of EA a really intriguing concept that I would like to explore. I was wondering if anyone could provide some guidance for this point in my journey:

  1. How best to experiment and develop a more cohesive idea of what I would like to specialise in?
  2. Where and how I could immediately start contributing (I live in London, although I appreciate that currently a lot of things are likely to be remote)
    1. Just to clarify, this means I would like to join a local community
  3. If anyone has interesting resources (i.e., Exec summaries, articles, papers) that they would like to have a discussion about to stimulate the brain cells, I would be very eager to facilitate that.

Otherwise, I hope this to be the first post of many! I look forward to getting to know some of you, and who knows maybe working with you!

evelynciara @ 2021-04-09T17:20 (+5)

Anyone else having issues with the tagging feature? It's very slow and unresponsive for me.

(Edit: The commenting feature is glitching out too. I think all of the "reactive" features are glitching out today.)

(Edit 2: It seems to be working better after I switch to my mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. Might just be the Wi-Fi network I was on.)

Cienna @ 2021-04-08T01:57 (+5)

Good news: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/food-supplements-alter-gut-bacteria-could-cure-malnutrition

Mark Lusardi @ 2021-04-22T14:11 (+3)

Hi, I just heard about this site today. It was mentioned during a  podcast with Julia Galef and Sean Carroll on 'openess, bias and rationality'. To be honest she sounded a lot like me! 

Ok I'm a guy but...

Well anyway, please take a look at this and see if you agree:  ScientistsOnAcid.com