A preliminary estimate, and a request for better ones.
Summary
I believe the standard literature estimates for the number of DALYs attributable to a case of stunting are too low, largely because they don’t account for the long term effects. This means that childhood nutritional interventions that reduce the prevalence of stunting may be substantially more cost-effective than previously believed.
Epistemic status
Exploratory and back-o...
TL;DR: Kairos has raised $50 million from Coefficient Giving for two years of funding, one of the largest commitments they’ve made towards AI safety fieldbuilding to date. We’re using this to make an ambitious push for growing Kairos, broadening our portfolio of talent infrastructure projects and incubating new organizations. We’ve doubled in size in the last six mon...
I’ve been feeling pretty shaken since the METR report about the Hugging Face incident came out last week. Over the weekend, I wrote up some thoughts on how lonely the AI situation sometimes feels to me. It’s more personal than what I’d usually share publicly, but I thought I’d post it here in case it resonates with anyone else.
I’m very grateful to the man...
Creatives and Effective Altruism
If you've spent any time digging in to EA, or reading through the incredible articles on 80,000 Hours (or elsewhere), you'll notice that many of the issues our future faces are technical in nature. AI ethics and integration. Solving for food supply issues through new farming tactics. Engineering the solutions that our future selves will be grateful for...
But what I'm wondering (for my own career) and for other Creatives: how do we fit in? Where can creatives, whose purview is not in data analytics, engineering, or even technical articles, be part of this EA revolution? Where are the creative-based careers in this industry? How do we make more opportunities for writers, artists, and more?
The most clear idea to me would be the creation of a marketing firm/production company that caters to EA-focused organizations. Then, these companies doing real good in the world would have the means to achieve mass communication on par with larger companies that exist for profit. But, as I am not going to launch this idea tomorrow, it's just a conversation starter.
Any other ideas? Any other creatives feeling similarly? Anyone want to connect in the very broad idea of how creatives can change the future alongside all other industries and disciplines?
Art, writing, and other creative outputs are incredibly valuable for societal change and movement building. I know for my work, I'm currently looking for graphic designers who can convey complex ideas in glanceable simple images to skeptical stakeholders. Well produced animated videos would be even better.
I think there is a huge amount of opportunity, and part of the challenge is that EA in my experience has some potential cultural gaps given its seemingly technocratic focus.
I feel the same way! Technology and data is so essential for being effective, but we give something up when we ONLY use data and tech to solve problems. But I see this as an opportunity as well, to forge a new kind of artistic culture around saving the world.