❤️❤️❤️ Thank you for everything you've done for all these years! In awe of your commitment and drive to improve the world and make GWWC all it is today (I'm sure the 7am video calls with volunteers on the other side of the world was just a taste 😮).

Hope you enjoy the time off with your wee one! Excited to see what you do next!

We've got the back area booked out - I'm in all black with my pledge pin on my belt

Looking forward to seeing folks tonight! Don't forget your pledge pins!

Greetings, contestants!

Your day of reckoning begins at 13:00 sharp. Latecomers may find themselves starring in their own private task of shame involving whatever props I found in the AIM storage closet.

For the overeager among you, there's an optional "bring your own" lunch at 12:00. This is your chance to meet other contestants for some light pre-game psychological warfare over some sandwiches. Plus, you can help with the setup, which may or may not earn you some favor in my eyes. No promises, though.

Remember, there's more tasks than time and wide variety in point values. Choose wisely, or don't - your futile attempts at strategy amuse us equally.

May the contestants with the most robust decision-making under absurd conditions win (as arbitrarily decided by yours truly).

Your benevolent Taskmasters

P.S. Leave your dignity at the door. You won't be needing it.

London folks - I'm going to be running the EA Taskmaster game again at the AIM office on the afternoon of Sunday 8th September. 

It's a fun, slightly geeky, way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Check out last year's list of tasks for a flavour of what's in store 👀

Sign up here 
(Wee bit late in properly advertising so please do spread the word!)

The post emphasizes systemic thinking but doesn't clarify how this would change cause prioritization in practice. The example takes as a given that we should make value judgments favoring ecosystems over human/animal welfare. I've seen various posts from people working on existential risk who try to put estimates on likelihood of systemic failures.

While measurement in complex systems is challenging, I'd like to see more concrete proposals from systemic thinkers. What specific interventions do they suggest? How would they evaluate impact, even roughly?

I think this post falls into the classic "EA should" trap - it criticizes current approaches but doesn't actually suggest concrete solutions or alternatives.

I'm saying this because I'd genuinely be interested in seeing more concrete analysis from this perspective but don't think this post is productive.

Thank you for your post, Deborah. While I share your concern for the environment, I think there's a key difference in our perspectives that's worth discussing.

Many EAs, myself included, don't view nature as having intrinsic moral value. Instead, we care about environmental protection primarily because of its impact on sentient beings - humans and animals. This doesn't mean we ignore environmental issues, but rather that we approach them from a different angle and would likely make different trade offs.

The reason environmental issues aren't typically top priorities for EAs is that we try to focus on areas where we can have the greatest positive impact per unit of resources. In many cases, we've found that direct interventions to improve human and animal welfare, or work on existential risks like AI safety, seem to offer more leverage for improving lives and securing a positive long-term future.

That said, I think there's a lot of common ground given we do similar goals for a flourishing planet for humans and animals.

I'm curious how you envision "Effective Ecocentric Altruism" in practice. What specific interventions would you prioritise? How would you measure impact?

Thanks for sharing this - it is very helpful. In particular, Annex 3 has clearly articulated some concerns I had with EA community building and I'd love to hear more about how testing for this framework goes. 

Just to flag that there are a number of links that don't work and take me to a "Sorry, you don't have access to this draft" page on the forum. 

Thanks everyone for coming!!

I'm hosting attempt #2 for a summer picnic on 4th August. Sign up here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/events/HceHSBPXd2Xycwq5z/gwwc-london-summer-picnic-attempt-2

Unless Ben is fundraising to scale up his snack granting operations, he likely doesn't need to conduct a thorough externally legible analysis.

However, this is a spreadsheet-friendly picnic so he would be welcome to do so.