Hi readers,
It's great to have you on the forum! If you'd like to, write something below about yourself or how you connect with the philosophy and social movement of effective altruism.
To start us off, I'm a junior doctor from Melbourne, with a particular interest in tweaking the impact of emerging technologies so they better serve humanity.
Ryan
Hello, I'm David and I'm from Munich, Germany. I reveived a Diploma (German old-school master equivalent) in mathematics and finance. After that I worked a couple of years as a research and teaching associate in finance at university. I've done research on the intersection of decision theory (exotic preferences under ambiguity aversion) and financial equilibrium theory (heterogeneous agents in financial markets) Unfortunately, it turned out very recently that the core of my Ph.D thesis, a theoretical model, is not solvable in closed-form. Since my contract has expired, I decided to quit my thesis. So I am in the job market since three weeks, searching for an opportunity in asset management, risk management or corporate finance.
I learned about the movement as I began to wonder where to give. I didn't find any reliable and impact-focused German charity evaluators, so I naturally expand my search for international evaluators. Then I came across GiveWell and was fascinated by their rigorous and analytical approach.
I really care about poverty, health, and environmental issues (and I also care quite a bit about farm animals since my spouse is vegan). I care less about AI since I have the impression that there might be some degree of science fiction at work that seems to have very ambiguous outcomes. While I generally agree that we should behave as if we are risk neutral when deciding about EA causes, I strongly disagree that we also should be neutral towards ambiguity (or Knightian uncertainty).
My spouse and I will increase the portion of our income that goes to charity annually, so I expect to take the GWWC pledge in a few years.
Hi David,
80000 Hours is an effective altruist organization that does ethical careers advising. That is, it was founded as a natural extension of Giving What We Can for its members to figure out how they could do the most good with their pledges over their careers. Now 80k has hundreds of members, does research, and advising, for what jobs can have the highest altruistic impact, and aims to become the best ethical careers adviser anywhere.
They've helped some effective altruists in astounding ways, so seek their help if you're looking for a fit between your ... (read more)