#10 - Nick Beckstead on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction

#10 - Nick Beckstead on how to spend billions of dollars preventing human extinction

What if you were in a position to give away billions of dollars to improve the world? What would you do with it? This is the problem facing Program Officers at the Open Philanthropy Project - people like Dr Nick Beckstead.

Following a PhD in philosophy, Nick works to figure out where money can do the most good. He’s been involved in major grants in a wide range of areas, including ending factory farming through technological innovation, safeguarding the world from advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence, and spreading rational compassion.

Full transcript, coaching application form, overview of the conversation, and links to resources discussed in the episode:

This episode is a tour through some of the toughest questions ‘effective altruists’ face when figuring out how to best improve the world, including:

* * Should we mostly try to help people currently alive, or future generations? Nick studied this question for years in his PhD thesis, On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future. (The first 31 minutes is a snappier version of my conversation with Toby Ord.)
* Is clean meat (aka *in vitro* meat) technologically feasible any time soon, or should we be looking for plant-based alternatives?
* What are the greatest risks to human civilisation?
* To stop malaria is it more cost-effective to use technology to eliminate mosquitos than to distribute bed nets?
* Should people who want to improve the future work for changes that will be very useful in a specific scenario, or just generally try to improve how well humanity makes decisions?
* What specific jobs should our listeners take in order for Nick to be able to spend more money in useful ways to improve the world?
* Should we expect the future to be better if the economy grows more quickly - or more slowly?

Get free, one-on-one career advice

We’ve helped dozens of people compare between their options, get introductions, and jobs important for the the long-run future. If you want to work on any of the problems discussed in this episode, find out if our coaching can help you.

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#54 – OpenAI on publication norms, malicious uses of AI, and general-purpose learning algorithms

#54 – OpenAI on publication norms, malicious uses of AI, and general-purpose learning algorithms

OpenAI’s Dactyl is an AI system that can manipulate objects with a human-like robot hand. OpenAI Five is an AI system that can defeat humans at the video game Dota 2. The strange thing is they were bo...

19 Maalis 20192h 53min

#53 - Kelsey Piper on the room for important advocacy within journalism

#53 - Kelsey Piper on the room for important advocacy within journalism

“Politics. Business. Opinion. Science. Sports. Animal welfare. Existential risk.” Is this a plausible future lineup for major news outlets? Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and given very little ...

27 Helmi 20192h 34min

Julia Galef and Rob Wiblin on an updated view of the best ways to help humanity

Julia Galef and Rob Wiblin on an updated view of the best ways to help humanity

This is a cross-post of an interview Rob did with Julia Galef on her podcast Rationally Speaking. Rob and Julia discuss how the career advice 80,000 Hours gives has changed over the years, and the big...

17 Helmi 201956min

#52 - Glen Weyl on uprooting capitalism and democracy for a just society

#52 - Glen Weyl on uprooting capitalism and democracy for a just society

Pro-market economists love to wax rhapsodic about the capacity of markets to pull together the valuable local information spread across all of society about what people want and how to make it. But wh...

8 Helmi 20192h 44min

#51 - Martin Gurri on the revolt of the public & crisis of authority in the information age

#51 - Martin Gurri on the revolt of the public & crisis of authority in the information age

Politics in rich countries seems to be going nuts. What's the explanation? Rising inequality? The decline of manufacturing jobs? Excessive immigration? Martin Gurri spent decades as a CIA analyst and...

29 Tammi 20192h 31min

#50 - David Denkenberger on how to feed all 8b people through an asteroid/nuclear winter

#50 - David Denkenberger on how to feed all 8b people through an asteroid/nuclear winter

If an asteroid impact or nuclear winter blocked the sun for years, our inability to grow food would result in billions dying of starvation, right? According to Dr David Denkenberger, co-author of Feed...

27 Joulu 20182h 57min

#49 - Rachel Glennerster on a year's worth of education for 30c & other development 'best buys'

#49 - Rachel Glennerster on a year's worth of education for 30c & other development 'best buys'

If I told you it's possible to deliver an extra year of ideal primary-level education for under $1, would you believe me? Hopefully not - the claim is absurd on its face. But it may be true nonetheles...

20 Joulu 20181h 35min

#48 - Brian Christian on better living through the wisdom of computer science

#48 - Brian Christian on better living through the wisdom of computer science

Please let us know if we've helped you: Fill out our annual impact survey Ever felt that you were so busy you spent all your time paralysed trying to figure out where to start, and couldn't get much ...

22 Marras 20183h 15min

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