EA - New blog: Some doubts about effective altruism by David Thorstad

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: New blog: Some doubts about effective altruism, published by David Thorstad on December 20, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum.I’m a research fellow in philosophy at the Global Priorities Institute. There are many things I like about effective altruism. I’ve started a blog to discuss some views and practices in effective altruism that I don’t like, in order to drive positive change both within and outside of the movement.About meI’m a research fellow in philosophy at the Global Priorities Institute, and a Junior Research Fellow at Kellogg College. Before coming to Oxford, I did a PhD in philosophy at Harvard under the incomparable Ned Hall, and BA in philosophy and mathematics at Haverford College. I held down a few jobs along the way, including a stint teaching high-school mathematics in Lawrence, Massachusetts and a summer gig as a librarian for the North Carolina National Guard. I’m quite fond of dogs.Who should read this blog?The aim of the blog is to feature (1) long-form, serial discussions of views and practices in and around effective altruism, (2) driven by academic research, and from a perspective that (3) shares a number of important views and methods with many effective altruists.This blog might be for you if:You would like to know why someone who shares many background views with effective altruists could nonetheless be worried about some existing views and practices.You are interested in learning more about the implications of academic research for views and practices in effective altruism.You think that empirically-grounded philosophical reflection is a good way to gain knowledge about the world.You have a moderate amount of time to devote to reading and discussion (20-30mins/post).You don't mind reading series of overlapping posts.This blog might not be for you if:You would like to know why someone who has little in common with effective altruists might be worried about the movement.You aren’t keen on philosophy, even when empirically grounded.You have a short amount of time to devote to reading.You like standalone posts and hate series.Blog seriesThe blog is primarily organized around series of posts, rather than individual posts. I’ve kicked off the blog with four series.Academic papers: This series summarizes cutting-edge academic research relevant to questions in and around the effective altruism movement.Existential risk pessimism and the time of perils:Part 1 introduces a tension between Existential Risk Pessimism (risk is high) and the Astronomical Value Thesis (it’s very important to drive down risk).Part 2 looks at some failed solutions to the tension.Part 3 looks at a better solution: the Time of Perils Hypothesis.Part 4 looks at one argument for the Time of Perils Hypothesis, which appeals to space settlement.Part 5 looks at a second argument for the Time of Perils Hypothesis, which appeals to the concept of an existential risk Kuznets curve.Parts 6-8 (coming soon) round out the paper and draw implications.Academics review What we owe the future: This series looks at book reviews of MacAskill’s What we owe the future by leading academics to draw out insights from those reviews.Part 1 looks at Kieran Setiya’s review, focusing on population ethics.Part 2 (coming soon) looks at Richard Chappell’s review.Part 3 (coming soon) looks at Regina Rini’s review.Exaggerating the risks: I think that current levels of existential risk are substantially lower than many leading EAs take them to be. In this series, I say why I think that.Part 1 introduces the series.Part 2 looks at Ord’s discussion of climate risk in The Precipice.Part 3 takes a first look at the Halstead report on climate risk.Parts 4-6 (coming soon) wrap up the discussion of climate risk and draw lessons.Billionaire philanthropy: What is the role of b...