“Doing Prioritization Better” by arvomm, David_Moss, Hayley Clatterbuck, Laura Duffy, Derek Shiller, Bob Fischer

Or on the types of prioritization, their strengths, pitfalls, and how EA should balance them

The cause prioritization landscape in EA is changing. Prominent groups have shut down, others have been founded, and everyone is trying to figure out how to prepare for AI. This is the first in a series of posts examining the state of cause prioritization and proposing strategies for moving forward.

Executive Summary

• Performing prioritization work has been one of the main tasks, and arguably achievements, of EA.
• We highlight three types of prioritization: Cause Prioritization, Within-Cause (Intervention) Prioritization, and Cross-Cause (Intervention) Prioritization.
• We ask how much of EA prioritization work falls in each of these categories:
  • Our estimates suggest that, for the organizations we investigated, the current split is 89% within-cause work, 2% cross-cause, and 9% cause prioritization.
  • We then explore strengths and potential pitfalls of each level:
    • Cause [...]

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Outline:

(00:37) Executive Summary

(03:09) Introduction: Why prioritize? Have we got it right?

(05:18) The types of prioritization

(06:54) A snapshot of EA

(16:45) The Types of Prioritization Evaluated

(16:57) Cause Prioritization

(20:56) Within-Cause Prioritization

(25:12) Cross-Cause Prioritization

(30:07) Summary Table

(30:53) What factors should push us towards one or another?

(37:27) Possible Next Steps

(39:44) Conclusion

(40:58) Acknowledgements

(41:01) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Modern geometric logo design with text RETHINK PRIORITIES

(41:55) Appendix: Strengths and Pitfalls of Each Type

(42:07) Within-Cause Prioritization Strengths

(42:12) Decision-Making Support

(42:37) Comparability of Outputs

(44:18) Disciplinarity Advantages

(45:45) Responsiveness to Evidence

(46:48) Movement Building

(48:06) Within-Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls

(48:12) Responsiveness to Evidence

(50:54) Decision-Making Support

(52:45) Cross-Cause Prioritization Strengths:

(53:06) Decision-Making Support

(54:49) Responsiveness to Evidence

(56:08) Movement Building

(56:22) Comparability of Outputs

(56:45) Decision-Making Support

(57:14) Cross-Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls

(57:20) Comparability of Outputs

(58:01) Disciplinarity Advantages

(58:41) Movement Building

(59:09) Decision-Making Support

(01:00:27) Cause Prioritization Strengths

(01:00:32) Decision-Making Support

(01:02:01) Responsiveness to Evidence

(01:02:52) Movement Building

(01:03:28) Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls

(01:04:28) Decision-Making Support

(01:06:08) Responsiveness to Evidence

The original text contained 23 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
April 16th, 2025

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZPdZv8sHuYndD8xhJ/doing-prioritization-better-2

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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