I agree that this is a very important issue right now, but I’m not sure what we can do about it. 

Another argument against: moral uncertainty

Are there any good online groups for software engineers interested in EA? I joined the EA software engineer discord, but it’s not really active. Looking for an active space where I could get advice. 

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled with the idea that I'm among the wealthiest people in the history of the human race. I have goals and life projects that most people would never even dream of having the opportunity to pursue.  Who am I to have deserved such a privilege among other people? What makes me so special? I'm not special, and the fact that I have all this privilege and wealth fills me with guilt. By donating a portion of my income to charity and contributing to efforts to help make the world a better place, these feelings of guilt are substantially weakened. That's part of the reason why I give - to not feel as guilty.

Another part is that it makes my life more meaningful. By contributing to a cause greater than myself, my life feels purposeful; hopefully the good I do will have positive effects for long after I'm dead. 

First, my time is limited, so I only consider the options that are likely to win (I considered the top six). At time of voting, this is the Animal Welfare Fund, ACE, CWAW, Forethought, CEEALAR, and AMF.

Second, I prioritize non-fund/non-charity-eval orgs. I view the Donation Election as a way for the forum to serve as the fund managers or charity evaluators ourselves instead of deferring to experts. Otherwise, why not just do that instead of donating to the election fund? This means CWAW, Forethought, CEEALAR, and AMF are candidates.

Third, my initial ranking among these four: CWAW, AMF, CEEALAR, Forethought. In general, I'm skeptical that marginal $ towards AI safety will do much good. As such, Forethought ranks below the others. Then I pick CWAW over AMF and CEEALAR due to the donation matching opportunity as well as the fact that it is new and seems clearly funding constrained. I choose CEEALAR over AMF simply because I think buildiing the talent pipeline is particularly important. So, my choices are: CWAW, then CEEALAR, then AMF.

Fourth, I will revisit my vote in one week to see if the rankings have changed substantially and adjust accordingly for my final vote.

The current administration is definitely not predisposed to cooperate with China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. The US started a trade war with the rest of the world. If anything, the current administration is the least cooperative with China the US has seen in recent memory. 

It seems plausible to me that protecting liberal democracy in America is the most important issue. If America falls to authoritarian rule, what hope is there of international cooperation on existential issues like AI safety, pandemic risk, etc? But, probably like many EAs, I worry that this is not a very tractable issue. Maybe it would be a good idea to read some history and learn how authoritarian regimes can be combated. 

I recently (May 2024) graduated with two bachelor's degrees in computer science and philosophy. Currently, I work as a software engineer for a utility company in my home state of Arkansas. I would like to do what I can to have a career that helps effectively. However, as someone born and raised in Arkansas, with all my family and friends here, I'm not really considering moving anytime soon. On the 80k Hours job board, most of the positions prefer relocation, at least for openings with my experience level (even the ones listed as remote). How can someone working in middle America contribute to effective causes without relocating?

Yes, I think consequences are very important, but I am not a consequentialist. Consequentialists claim that only consequences matter, morally speaking. I disagree. I think things like virtue, autonomy, justice, fidelity, and so on also matter, in addition to consequences.