#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.

Jaksot(321)

#47 - Catherine Olsson & Daniel Ziegler on the fast path into high-impact ML engineering roles

#47 - Catherine Olsson & Daniel Ziegler on the fast path into high-impact ML engineering roles

After dropping out of a machine learning PhD at Stanford, Daniel Ziegler needed to decide what to do next. He’d always enjoyed building stuff and wanted to shape the development of AI, so he thought a...

2 Marras 20182h 4min

#46 - Hilary Greaves on moral cluelessness & tackling crucial questions in academia

#46 - Hilary Greaves on moral cluelessness & tackling crucial questions in academia

The barista gives you your coffee and change, and you walk away from the busy line. But you suddenly realise she gave you $1 less than she should have. Do you brush your way past the people now waitin...

23 Loka 20182h 49min

#45 - Tyler Cowen's case for maximising econ growth, stabilising civilization & thinking long-term

#45 - Tyler Cowen's case for maximising econ growth, stabilising civilization & thinking long-term

I've probably spent more time reading Tyler Cowen - Professor of Economics at George Mason University - than any other author. Indeed it's his incredibly popular blog Marginal Revolution that prompted...

17 Loka 20182h 30min

#44 - Paul Christiano on how we'll hand the future off to AI, & solving the alignment problem

#44 - Paul Christiano on how we'll hand the future off to AI, & solving the alignment problem

Paul Christiano is one of the smartest people I know. After our first session produced such great material, we decided to do a second recording, resulting in our longest interview so far. While challe...

2 Loka 20183h 51min

#43 - Daniel Ellsberg on the institutional insanity that maintains nuclear doomsday machines

#43 - Daniel Ellsberg on the institutional insanity that maintains nuclear doomsday machines

In Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film Dr. Strangelove, the American president is informed that the Soviet Union has created a secret deterrence system which will automatically wipe out humanity upon detect...

25 Syys 20182h 44min

#42 - Amanda Askell on moral empathy, the value of information & the ethics of infinity

#42 - Amanda Askell on moral empathy, the value of information & the ethics of infinity

Consider two familiar moments at a family reunion. Our host, Uncle Bill, takes pride in his barbecuing skills. But his niece Becky says that she now refuses to eat meat. A groan goes round the table; ...

11 Syys 20182h 46min

#41 - David Roodman on incarceration, geomagnetic storms, & becoming a world-class researcher

#41 - David Roodman on incarceration, geomagnetic storms, & becoming a world-class researcher

With 698 inmates per 100,000 citizens, the U.S. is by far the leader among large wealthy nations in incarceration. But what effect does imprisonment actually have on crime? According to David Roodman...

28 Elo 20182h 18min

#40 - Katja Grace on forecasting future technology & how much we should trust expert predictions

#40 - Katja Grace on forecasting future technology & how much we should trust expert predictions

Experts believe that artificial intelligence will be better than humans at driving trucks by 2027, working in retail by 2031, writing bestselling books by 2049, and working as surgeons by 2053. But ho...

21 Elo 20182h 11min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
rss-narsisti
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
dear-ladies
psykologia
leveli
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-valo-minussa-2
kesken
ihminen-tavattavissa-tommy-hellsten-instituutti
rss-uskonto-on-tylsaa
rss-hereilla
adhd-podi
rss-tietoinen-yhteys-podcast-2
rss-ai-mita-siskopodcast
rss-luonnollinen-synnytys-podcast
rss-arkea-ja-aurinkoa-podcast-espanjasta