Comments
if you're already enough of a convinced EA to be posting on the EA forums, do you actually need to read any of the books? why?
if you're already enough of a convinced EA to be posting on the EA forums, do you actually need to read any of the books? why?
Well, that looks a bit like some twitter-level trolling and a textbook example of 'begging the question', doesn't it? But let me follow the guidelines...
I wouldn't say I am a 'convinced EA' or consider correct the assumption that posting on the forum is a necessary and sufficient condition thereof. I am interested in EA, and feel that some degree of 'effective altruism' with small caps is probably a valid moral obligation whatever your philosophical stance.
As for the books, I am a bit of a bookworm and appreciate being persuaded by detailed arguments, which I tend to find more in books -and they are less taxing on my eyes. And there are aspects of EA that I probably need to read solid arguments for, as they feel alien to some of my presuppositions (utilitarianism as a moral framework, rights of non rational and non-moral creatures, etc...).
Hello there! I have been thinking about reading at least one important EA book a month for the following 12 to really get acquainted with the principles and ideas behind it (admittedly, some thick books might require more time). The first three I had in mind for what I owe to the future (pun intended!) would be:
February: Julia Galef, The Scout Mindset (thanks for the recommendation, Lumpyproletariat).
March: William MacAskill, What We Owe the Future
April: William MacAskill, Doing Good Better
I am open to suggestions for the next ones - I was thinking about Toby Ord's The Precipice and some stuff from Peter Singer and Derek Parfit.
Should anyone be interested in joining (which I imagine would only appeal to people who have recently become interested in EA like me), perhaps we could arrange some online (zoom?, webex?, google meet?) sessions for discussion and for proposing further reading.
As for dates/hours: EU citizen here under the Central European Standard Time zone (GMT+1), and work in the afternoons and evenings (i.e. from 3 to 10 pm), from Monday to Friday.
Cheers,
M.
Hi Manuel, we've been running a monthly book club at EA Anywhere for more than a year now. You can find the list of the books we read and discussion questions in this folder. I also really like this ranked list of EA-relevant books and often use it for inspiration.
But we host only one discussion per book which is different from, say, the 8-week The Precipice reading group or the 6-week WWOtF reading group curriculum.
We have a #study-buddy channel on EA Anywhere Slack designed specifically for finding collaborators, reading buddies, and accountability partners. It has >4000 members so it might be a good idea to post there as well.
спасибо, Alex! I quickly checked with the search engine if there were any ongoing bookclubs but didn't find yours.
Just joined the EA Anywhere Slack channel, and might join you for your book club, although I imagine you've already gone through the most obvious first choices.
Thanks for the other links too!