In light of corona, I don’t know whether it’s morally responsible to visit my family (my parents, brother, and 93-year old grandmother ..read more

I was recently thinking about extinction risk and (extremely) small probabilities and I came up with a concept I wanted to share ..read more

In communities which value reason and evidence, atheism is the norm. The core reason seems the rejection of faith. There is no evidence of God and there more plausible theories for why the world is as it is (e.g. evolutionary theory, Big Bang). Yet, theists remind each other that it is important to believe anyway, to have faith. Faith is an odd concept in the paradigm of rationality and truth-seeking. It seems the opposite of the most common definition of knowledge: well-justified belief. But, faith has been dismissed too quickly; it still ..read more

I recently attended a retreat focused on suffering-focused ethics. It is the new “umbrella term for views that place primary or particular importance on the prevention of suffering,” encompassing also negative utilitarianism and, by implication, anti-natalism. Although my skepticism about these views was not relieved, I found the retreat very valuable: I learned a lot and I made new allies in the mission to improve the long-term future. I think ..read more

Recently somebody at a dinner asked me what I think is effective science (that is, science that is maximally good for the world). I had some initial thoughts, but the question kept simmering in my mind. Here I set out an initial model of what I think is good science. Numerous ..read more

It’s common to hear that we should learn from our mistakes, but it’s rare to hear how we’re supposed to do that. I made a mistake this week, so let’s use that as an example to derive some steps to learn from our mistakes ..read more

Everything follows the path of least resistance. And when I say “everything” I don’t mean “most things”, I mean everything. People who are lazy are sometimes described as taking the path of least resistance. Of course, I agree (because I believe that everything takes the path of least resistance). However, this implies that hard-working, conscientious people are taking a more difficult path. They’re eschewing the path of least resistance. That’s wrong. Hard-working people ..read more

Many people value freedom, and rightly so. However, I think this has the negative consequence in how people view morality. It seems to mainly constrain one’s options: it is forbidden to do this, it is forbidden to do that. A moral life seems a boring and constrained life. Supposedly, a moral saint doesn’t have children, never takes an airplane, donates everything they don’t need to survive to charity, never lies, is a vegan, and never makes a mocking joke. Not an attractive life, is it? There are multiple issues ..read more

When someone’s successful in life it is magnified: it receives attention from friends, media, and the person likes talking about it. Failure gets much less attention: it’s hidden and boring, although sometimes failures create a media frenzy. As a result of these effects ..read more

I used to find ambition a dirty word. It’s something for Slytherins: calculating, egoistic people who want to be successful and want high status and who want to be powerful. My opinion has changed gradually over time, and I have now arrived at an almost opposite position; I believe ambition is enormously important for the good of the world, and I want to understand it better. Here is ..read more