MichaelDickens

I do independent research on EA topics. I write about whatever seems important, tractable, and interesting (to me). Lately, I mainly write about EA investing strategy, but my attention span is too short to pick just one topic.

I have a website: https://mdickens.me/ Most of the content on my website gets cross-posted to the EA Forum.

My favorite things that I've written: https://mdickens.me/favorite-posts/

I used to work as a software developer at Affirm.

Posts

If everyone makes the same criticism, the opposite criticism is more likely to...
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-12-17 | +45 | 0 comments
Should Patient Philanthropists Invest Differently?
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-09-14 | +23 | 0 comments
Philanthropists Probably Shouldn't Mission-Hedge AI Progress
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-08-23 | +28 | 0 comments
Being the person who doesn't launch nukes: new EA cause?
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-08-06 | +9 | 0 comments
What are some high-EV but failed EA projects?
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-05-13 | +45 | 0 comments
The Risk of Concentrating Wealth in a Single Asset
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-04-29 | +97 | 0 comments
A Preliminary Model of Mission-Correlated Investing
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-04-04 | +34 | 0 comments
A Comparison of Donor-Advised Fund Providers
by MichaelDickens @ 2022-03-09 | +103 | 0 comments
Should Earners-to-Give Work at Startups Instead of Big Companies?
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-11-12 | +85 | 0 comments
Future Funding/Talent/Capacity Constraints Matter, Too
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-10-18 | +34 | 0 comments
Low-Hanging (Monetary) Fruit for Wealthy EAs
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-10-16 | +32 | 0 comments
Mission Hedgers Want to Hedge Quantity, Not Price
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-08-18 | +28 | 0 comments
How Do AI Timelines Affect Giving Now vs. Later?
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-08-03 | +36 | 0 comments
Metaculus Questions Suggest Money Will Do More Good in the Future
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-07-22 | +20 | 0 comments
Reverse-Engineering the Philanthropic Discount Rate
by MichaelDickens @ 2021-07-09 | +30 | 0 comments
Asset Allocation and Leverage for Altruists with Constraints
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-12-14 | +31 | 0 comments
Uncorrelated Investments for Altruists
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-11-23 | +58 | 0 comments
If Causes Differ Astronomically in Cost-Effectiveness, Then Personal Fit In...
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-11-23 | +22 | 0 comments
Donor-Advised Funds vs. Taxable Accounts for Patient Donors
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-10-19 | +44 | 0 comments
MichaelDickens's Quick takes
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-09-24 | +7 | 0 comments
"Disappointing Futures" Might Be As Important As Existential Risks
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-09-03 | +96 | 0 comments
Giving Now vs. Later for Existential Risk: An Initial Approach
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-08-29 | +14 | 0 comments
Should We Prioritize Long-Term Existential Risk?
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-08-20 | +28 | 0 comments
The Importance of Unknown Existential Risks
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-07-23 | +72 | 0 comments
Estimating the Philanthropic Discount Rate
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-07-03 | +81 | 0 comments
How Much Leverage Should Altruists Use?
by MichaelDickens @ 2020-01-07 | +70 | 0 comments
How Can Donors Incentivize Good Predictions on Important but Unpopular Topics?
by MichaelDickens @ 2019-02-03 | +27 | 0 comments
Should Global Poverty Donors Give Now or Later? An In-Depth Analysis
by MichaelDickens @ 2019-01-22 | +22 | 0 comments
Why Do Small Donors Give Now, But Large Donors Give Later?
by MichaelDickens @ 2018-10-28 | +11 | 0 comments
Where Some People Donated in 2017
by MichaelDickens @ 2018-02-11 | +18 | 0 comments
Where I Am Donating in 2016
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-11-01 | +17 | 0 comments
Dedicated Donors May Not Want to Sign the Giving What We Can Pledge
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-10-30 | +17 | 0 comments
Altruistic Organizations Should Consider Counterfactuals When Hiring
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-09-11 | +1 | 0 comments
Why the Open Philanthropy Project Should Prioritize Wild Animal Suffering
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-08-26 | +22 | 0 comments
Evaluation Frameworks (or: When Importance / Neglectedness / Tractability...
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-06-10 | +10 | 0 comments
A Complete Quantitative Model for Cause Selection
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-05-18 | +42 | 0 comments
Quantifying the Far Future Effects of Interventions
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-05-18 | +8 | 0 comments
GiveWell's Charity Recommendations Require Taking a Controversial Stance on...
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-05-17 | +30 | 0 comments
On Priors
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-04-26 | +12 | 0 comments
How Should a Large Donor Prioritize Cause Areas?
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-04-25 | +15 | 0 comments
Expected Value Estimates You Can (Maybe) Take Literally
by MichaelDickens @ 2016-04-06 | +21 | 0 comments
Are GiveWell Top Charities Too Speculative?
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-12-21 | +24 | 0 comments
More on REG's Room for More Funding
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-11-16 | +9 | 0 comments
Cause Selection Blogging Carnival Conclusion
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-10-05 | +7 | 0 comments
Charities I Would Like to See
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-09-20 | +7 | 0 comments
My Cause Selection: Michael Dickens
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-09-15 | +36 | 0 comments
On Values Spreading
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-09-11 | +32 | 0 comments
Some Writings on Cause Selection
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-09-08 | +4 | 0 comments
EA Blogging Carnival: My Cause Selection
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-08-16 | +13 | 0 comments
Why Effective Altruists Should Use a Robo-Advisor
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-08-04 | +10 | 0 comments
Stanford EA History and Lessons Learned
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-07-02 | +25 | 0 comments
How We Run Discussions at Stanford EA
by MichaelDickens @ 2015-04-14 | +15 | 0 comments
Meetup : Stanford THINK
by MichaelDickens @ 2014-10-23 | +1 | 0 comments