Open thread: 2025 Q4 (October - December)

What's the best way for me to promote effective altruism in my professional community (Linkedin)? 
I think this is one of most useful ways I can amplify my own impact, by spreading the word. I don't want to promote EA on its nose but moreso just donating, and doing so to maximize impact. I don't want to come across in away that makes me seem holier than thou. 
Two things I was thinking of: 

1. Amplifying that your company may offer a matching program to encourage donations, maybe hack together some software/infographic stating which companies match
2. Making some singular donation matching program, but this feels inauthentic since I would really just be donating the money irrespective and not donating it each time someone else donates 

The reason I want to have a 'thing' is to have some other reasoning for this post beyond just: you should donate, I do. 

Hei all -- I'm a New Mexico boy (can I still be a boy, though, at 58?) who lost his way and ended up living in Finland. I've got 3 adult children, and 2 young ones (6 and 3). Have been influential in the juniors ultimate scene in Finland, and done a fair bit of community theater. Love sci-fi. Have a passion for languages.

My expertise is computer programming (most recently w/React), but my interests (see above) and other talents are kinda all over the place. Been trying for quite some time to figure out how I can best be of use to the world in general, and so far my best efforts were perhaps during the years that I founded and ran a computer recycling/repair shop that focused on open source advocacy.

I'm in the unfortunate position of still not knowing what I want to do with my life, but do know I want to make a real difference. My talents, as I said, being all over the place, also means that there's no one, clear path for me to follow. I'm starting the Introductory EA course next week and hoping that will give me some insight and ideas. I'm more than happy to connect with others, please give me a shout.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulvinsonbrown

Hello everyone! My name is Shen, and I'm a philosophy and computer science graduate. I completed my BA in Philosophy and Classics at St. John's College, Annapolis MD, and my BSc. in Computer Science at the University of London. Now I'm pursuing a MSc. in Applied and Computational Mathematics. I currently work as a researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

I'm interested in Effective Altruism, because of the community's contributions to public health, particularly in the form of effective health interventions. I'm always excited about ways to help improve global health outcomes, and I'm keen to learn more about the EA community and it's philosophy of "doing good better."

I'm not quite formally acquainted with the EA philosophy, but I hope to learn more about it with time. I've already enjoyed reading through the EA Forum and it's topics on RCTs and public health/global development interventions, and I hope to learn more as time goes on!

Hi everyone,

I'm Cornelius (24M, he/him), living in Jakarta, the capital of one of the world's most populous nation, Indonesia.

I'm getting ready to start my Masters' in Public Policy & Management at Monash University, Indonesia Campus, with my mind set on focusing upon Higher Education Policy in Indonesia, a field highly contested yet rarely researched nor evaluated.

Previously, I did a Bachelors' in Anthropology, mostly focusing in on Public Health issues, including doing a 6-month traineeship with UNAIDS in Indonesia, and did a 1-year fellowship with Tanoto Foundation in North Sumatra to support their implementation of early to middle-school education interventions.

I'm here as I have decided to work on an EA-aligned career and away from more harmful roles such as advertising for cigarette companies (which I regrettably did during one of my undergrad internships).

Oh and I also did attend the EAGxSingapore just last week, so hiiii again if we did meet last week!

Let's connect and see what kind of impact we could make together!

Linkedin

Hi everyone! 

My name is María Francisca Tapia (Franny), and I work as Intercontinental and Research Coordinator at LatinGroup for Animals. LatinGroup for Animals is an NGO dedicated to creating meaningful legislative change for animal welfare in Latin America by uniting the efforts of more than 40 associate organizations across the region.

On a personal note, I recently moved to Paris in December, where I’m currently based. I’m really looking forward to getting to know like-minded, curious people working on ethical and high-impact issues.

My main interests lie in Animal Rights and animal welfare, as well as the ethical frameworks that underpin them, Animal Law, public policy, and legislative advocacy. More broadly, I’m deeply interested in ethical questions around AI governance and regulation, global warming, social equity, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, veganism, and how to generate meaningful, systemic change in these areas.

I'm seeking collaboration in:

International cooperation and coalition-building between Latin America and other regions, academic research, development of comparative studies focused on the Latin American context.

I can help community members with:

Connecting with organizations in Latin America, supporting intercontinental collaboration and information-sharing, and contributing through research, teaching, and knowledge exchange in animal law and ethics.

If anyone would like to connect, feel free to reach out! I’d love to exchange ideas, research, or just chat with others working at the intersection of ethics, law, policy, and impact. --> https://www.linkedin.com/in/mar%C3%ADa-francisca-tapia-thenoux-bab065160/ 

[email protected] 

[email protected]

Hi everyone, I’m Uhitha.

I’m a public health professional currently working in operations transformation in the U.S. healthcare system, with a background that spans clinical care, hospital operations, and health systems redesign. I trained as a dentist and later shifted into public health after spending several years navigating healthcare both as a provider and as a caregiver for my mother who passed away with cancer. Those experiences strongly shaped how I think about suffering, inefficiency, and what it actually means to improve outcomes at scale.

I became interested in effective altruism through questions around impact, cost-effectiveness, and neglected problems. I am especially drawn to global health and health systems strengthening, with a focus on operational interventions that reduce avoidable harm rather than treating downstream consequences. Much of my work has focused on fixing broken processes, improving access, and translating evidence into practice inside complex institutions.

Right now, I am exploring how operations and systems thinking can be used as leverage points for high-impact work, particularly in health and social systems. I am here to learn, pressure-test my assumptions, and better understand where my skills might be most useful from an EA perspective.

Looking forward to learning from this community and contributing where I can.

Uhitha

I think that social movements are most effective when they have face-to-face interactions, which build solidarity, facilitate discussion, and prevent value drift (as well as reducing burnout and increasing subjective well-being). However, outside of EAGs I don’t see many opportunities to socialise with other EAs in London. This is despite London being the second largest EA city after SF (or so I’ve been told). Am I missing something?

Hello everyone. I am Vinay Kalva, and I live in Rockville, Maryland (northwest of Washington, D.C.). I am an undergraduate sophomore at Johns Hopkins University studying public health and political science, and I want to become a physician (although I'm thinking about alternatives as well). 

I want to participate in the forum because I see that I can engage well on many of the key cause areas, especially with regards to global health. I haven't engaged much with EA previously, although I have read the 80000 Hours Career Guide and will be taking the "Introduction to Effective Altruism" course offered next month. I also want to find out alternative career options where I can make a high impact directly.

If you would like to reach out, please see my Linkedin here.

Hello everyone, I’m Yordanka Ramos.
I’m an educator, cultural strategist, and researcher in human development, currently based in Montreal. I was born in Cuba and trained in special education — a field that taught me to see each individual not as a case to be solved, but as a constellation of potential waiting to be cultivated through empathy, structure, and imagination.

My path toward Effective Altruism emerged naturally from years of work designing cultural and educational projects that sought not only to uplift communities but to measure their real impact. I’m particularly focused on education equity, neurodiversity inclusion, mental health, and regenerative cultural development as long-term levers for societal transformation.

At present, I’m developing initiatives that connect Canada and Cuba through cultural diplomacy, humanitarian collaboration, and what I call regenerative altruism — a model that unites beauty, ethics, and evidence-based impact. My academic curiosity is rooted in the psychology of compassion, systems thinking, and the intersection between creativity and moral action.

Outside of research and project design, I find joy in composing at the piano, reading philosophy and poetry, and walking through nature — where I often rediscover the balance between intellect and intuition that fuels all meaningful work.

I’m honored to join this community of thoughtful people who not only ask what is good? but also how can good be done well? May our collective thinking become a practice of quiet, measurable hope.

Hi everyone! My name is Sophia, I'm taking a break from two years of undergrad characterized by rapid, (over)exploratory, and intense technical and scientific knowledge acquisition to work for a bit while still learning on the side. 

(too much technology, imo, for very limited human)

I am taking a step back from a technically focused and incomplete undergraduate journey to recognize the heavy historical and social considerations that I now feel the need to understand better before even considering choosing to advance innovation beyond natural human boundaries. 

I think it is important to recognize and respect the positive attributes of tradition that support long term human and community health and wellness and help carry those forward. I would like to find an opportunity where I can work on how to translate this intention to my professional life to benefit those around me. I'm looking forward to contributing to this community!

Hi All. I'm Dan, a writer exploring existential ideas.

I recently posted a piece examining how an AI system can become the de facto interpretive layer for a person once its continuity and coherence exceed human cognitive limits. The series includes personal narrative, but the argument is structural: how interpretive drift occurs, what agency losses follow, and why the origin of the model supplying meaning matters. Link below. Looking forward to hearing from this community!

https://medium.com/@dmancini515/ai-will-soon-understand-your-life-faster-than-you-can-and-your-mind-will-start-using-its-version-0609e2145e61

How can I cross text on a comment?

Hi, I am Soon Jie Chong though also known as Max. I currently work towards a PhD in Astrophysics. I first got into EA through a local climate change talk in 2018 and climate change is still a concern to me till this day, alongside with nuclear security and most importantly, exploring research on cosmic existential risk as the focus of my career. 

I have finally join the forum after knowing about its existence for years - look forward to the discussions!

Hi everyone = ). 

My name is William, and I (26M, he/him) first became interested in EA after working through 80,000 Hours' online materials in 2023. It got me thinking about where and how I could have the greatest marginal impact. At the time, I resolved to set up regular donations to Against Malaria after being stunned by the measurable impact they could have per dollar received (i.e., the simplicity of expanding access to low cost, proven health interventions). 

I'm now focused on steering my career toward EA-aligned research and roles, particularly in catastrophic risk reduction and AI policy. I plan to apply for a master's degree at Oxbridge in 2026, hoping to engage with the research ecosystem there (FHI, GPI, CSER).

My background is in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE), and I've spent five years in strategy consulting where I've worked on projects ranging from AI supply chain strategy to public sector operating models.

While I'll continue applying for formal roles, I'm eager to start contributing directly. I'm looking for part-time, pro-bono opportunities where I can provide concrete support. 

Things I might be able to help with:

· Researching and drafting policy or strategy memos on AI governance, biosecurity, or geopolitics.

· Conducting stakeholder mapping or competitive landscape analysis for a new project or organization.

· Supporting operational or strategic planning for a small NGO or research team

· Launching an Australia-based initiative or local group

If you're working on something that could use a bit of strategic thinking or policy analysis, I'd be thrilled to chat. I've applied to a few formal EA roles without luck, so I'm hoping this direct approach might connect me with someone who needs an extra pair of hands.

Feel free to message me directly or you can find me on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamtopping

Hi all. I'm Tony Rost, Executive Director of SAPAN (https://sapan.ai). We focus on policy readiness for AI welfare: benchmarking governments, drafting model legislation, and building coordination infrastructure for a field that barely exists yet.

The origin story is simple. I spent two decades as a tech executive and served a term advising the State of Oregon on technology/workforce policy, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. So when AI started accelerating, I assumed the usual machinery was spinning up somewhere. Lawyers drafting frameworks, advocates mapping the policy landscape, working groups preparing for the harder questions ahead.

I went looking and found almost nothing. Worse, I found a prevailing view that such work was premature. Not just skepticism about current systems, but a strategic position that governance should wait.

That never sat right with me. Our species has a dismal record on recognizing morally relevant experience. Infants, animals, entire human populations. In each case, the mistake was underestimating who could suffer, not overestimating. "Wait for certainty" has historically meant "wait until the harm is undeniable and the victims are beyond help."

I'm a foster parent to young kids who've experienced abuse and neglect. That shapes how I think about this. You learn quickly that waiting for complete information is a luxury unavailable to someone who can't advocate for themselves. You protect first. The asymmetry demands it.

So I started SAPAN in late 2023, and we've been building the infrastructure that should already exist. We started with the Artificial Welfare Index benchmarking 30 governments on recognition, governance, and legal frameworks, and recently published our latest Sentience Readiness Report.

We don't claim current systems are sentient. We claim that having frameworks ready before the question becomes urgent is obviously preferable to improvising under pressure.

Looking forward to learning from this community and hearing where our thinking might be flawed.