I. Optimizing for Optionality The Optimizer’s Curse is a relatively straightforward problem in Bayesian decision theory. James Smith and Robert Winkler first sketched this out in 2006, but the phenomenon is as follows: a constrained optimizer calculates the expected value of different choices. This calculation involves some variation because we often over-or-underestimate expected values. Then, optimizers select the choices which garner the highest expected value. It follows that they have overestimated the expected value of whatever choice they made. The proof is pretty compelling, and m ..read more

One difficulty in convincing someone to care about AI safety is that many of the field’s concerns pertain to technological advancements that haven’t yet occurred. As such, the thought experiment can be a powerful means of communicating these concepts – it allows for safety principles to be shared in the abstract without the need for real-world implementation. (These are especially handy considering that it may be too late to brainstorm alignment solutions, for instance, if powerful-enough AI already exists for alignment to be a concern.) Especially when presented to an audience that is new to ..read more

The effective altruism (EA) movement certainly feels like it’s growing rapidly: donors are making news headlines, university groups are expanding, and the community feels more vibrant than ever. However, how has the wider adoption of EA as a worldview translated to the bottom-line of “doing good better,” the movement’s core mission—and how far is still left to go? Using rough estimates for EA’s donor base and deployment schedule, I’ll attempt a “status update” on EA’s philanthropic—not just cultural—impact. Inflows You can picture the effective altruism equation as having two sides: supply and ..read more

Summary: In the following, I will a) argue that EA-related literature underestimates the importance of passion and interest in determining one’s career path and b) why that should change. Throughout the Arete Fellowship, and in particular in week eight, we touched upon the topic of what career path to pursue to maximize our impact. I found many of the inputs we received to be very valuable and helpful to look at my different career opportunities from a more impact-focussed angle. However, I think that EA career advice does not grant adequate priority to passion and personal interest. To be sur ..read more

Effective Altruism (EA) outreach is extremely important, as educating more people about the principles could provide large amounts of utility. In my opinion, the most vital component of this outreach is EA’s career resources. Spreading EA’s perspective on choosing one’s career is invaluable and should currently be considered a neglected component of the mission. While EA chapters globally should prioritize spreading their career expertise, Harvard EA has a significant responsibility within this initiative. I would argue almost all members of the Harvard community begin their time at the univer ..read more

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“EA is better than traditional giving because it uses your brain”: a refrain you are no doubt familiar with. Effective Altruism, with its focus on numbers and impact free from bias, tries to avoid the emotion in giving, instead using reason. Really, though, EA doesn’t use your whole brain…it only uses half of your brain: the left half. Ok, that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but it emphasizes an important issue: while we often refer to a brain as a brain, it is really two: the left and the right. The left brain is analytical, logical, detail- and fact-oriented, numerical, and likely to thi ..read more

At first, applying the principles of Effective Altruism to my life was daunting. EA felt like a compelling set of philosophical principles useful for guiding my life, but relatively abstract in the short term. But with some reflection, I realized there is something meaningful that I can do now to ensure a high degree of future impact - take a giving pledge. A few years before college and joining EA, I listened to an interview with Peter Singer that detailed his moral philosophy and how he had decided after graduating to begin donating 10% of his income to the world’s poorest people. The now fa ..read more

In attempting to do the most good, effective altruists need to be exceptionally self aware. Aside from researching the efficacy of certain malaria combatance programs or philosophizing the moral value of an insect’s life, the effective altruist must do all she can not to alienate those who are not fully convinced participants in the movement. EA organizations are well aware of this requirement — changing the world is exceptionally difficult without sufficient manpower and public support. Effective altruism has a PR problem and the best way to solve it is by meeting people where they are, at th ..read more

One important area of research within EA is studying how we can increase overall happiness and global wellbeing. Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are at all-time highs and continue to increase across the world.This means that there is a pressing need to answer these questions pertaining to how we can best improve life satisfaction and alleviate mental suffering. Drug policy reform (DPR) is currently overlooked by EA, despite having vast potential to make a difference to mental health. A few important people in the mental health field have argued that legalisation of psychedelic ..read more