What do we do as newcomers? How do we make sense of all of the information out there? How do I get involved if I'm not an academic, and I don't have "career experience" to fall back on? I've just published a blog post about some of my impressions as a newcomer to EA. (Though I don't know if I answer any of these questions very well, because I don't know if I have the answers yet.)

Wow, your post is timely. I just finished writing a blog post about my thoughts on/impressions of EA after 3 weeks of consuming what I can about it. Part of that post mentions that I really don't know which direction to take because I'm not an academic, I don't have "career experience" that I can leverage, and it feels a bit daunting to try to figure out where I want to/could have impact. 

So thank you for this, I really hope I get some value out of it.

Your post seems fairly well thought out, and is interesting to me as a person who isn't that interested/invested in AI alignment/development. I have a a few thoughts...

1. your population estimates talk about growth, but do they take into account the deaths of older generations that might be considered "more religious"?
2. I am fairly certain that people who are Hindu do not consider Hinduism to be "the one true religion" (or at least the basic teachings to do not say it is), and I know this is the case for other, smaller religions such as Sikhism.
3. "Christian and Muslims want to go to heaven" - I cannot agree entirely with this statement. My understanding is that if a person accepts Christ as their saviour (and therefore becomes a Christian), they will be rewarded with heaven when they die. They cannot "earn" their way into heaven. However, Christians should strive towards making Earth as close to heaven as possible while they are alive. (I cannot speak to the Islamic beliefs on heaven.) Doesn't this align with attempts to make the world better, more fair, healthier, etc?

As a mom feeding 6, and wanting to partially move away from always serving chicken, this is great. I will bookmark this post to refer back to it later. Thank you.

Do you have any suggestions on what to read about how to get protein from plants? My kids are growing, and totally need protein.

Hi all! I'm a 40 year old mom who just (re)discovered 80,000 Hours, and through it this forum. I am look at a career change (though I don't know if I really have had a "career" up to this point), and I have the luxury of taking some time to figure out where I could be most useful and enjoy what I'm working on.

I really like the concept of using my time/skills/money to do the most good, though I find that (I think like many people), I place slightly different value on some parts of EA vs. some of the introductory posts I have read. So far, I am interested in social justice issues, promoting/preserving democracy, what future government might look like, and the general preservation of human life through access to preventative medicine and stable food and water supply.

I have background/some skills in many areas, including electronics repair and manufacturing, inventory management, web design, copy writing, video editing, photography and photo editing, box office/front-of-house, retail customer service, shipping coordination, planning and facilitating children's programming. I don't really see how this might get me a job at a very EA-centric company, but who knows.

For now my goal is to learn and connect, so if you have any recommendations for things I should read or just want to say hi, please send me a message.

Just discovered EA a few weeks ago, and making time to engage more, because I think it's worthwhile. Wrote a bio a few minutes ago.