CTL

Clara Torres Latorre 🔶️

Postdoc @ CSIC
68 karmaJoined Working (6-15 years)

Participation
2

  • Completed the Introductory EA Virtual Program
  • Attended more than three meetings with a local EA group

Comments
26

Hi fx, I think this question is on topic. Bear in mind that this is just my opinion and I'm not the EA police (:

You might want to check the Opportunities Board:

https://www.effectivealtruism.org/opportunities

At least in theory it contains stuff to do that is less commitment than a full time job opportunity.

Then, it depends if you are looking for a paid opportunity or you just want to contribute. If it's paid, the space is quite crowded and competitive.

If you want to gain experience, your best chances are probably outside of EA-themed organizations, just because it's a small pool.

If you want to do something impactful right now or do something to feel more part of the community, there are some ways to get involved: you could start a group in your university if there isn't one, or you can ask your local EA Chapter if they could use some support. Keep in mind that managing volunteers takes time and it is not always welcome, but sometimes it is worth it.

I would also consider applying for career advice.

And all this is with the important caveat that depending on what you're doing at university, focusing on what you're studying can be a smart path towards impact later in life.

Hi, I doubt it's very useful but I would be glad to help with math (I'm a math researcher so any math level that you take in class is probably fine).

More on the meta level, I would like to see a coordination mechanism in which people can teach / tutor other people in skills that are useful for impact. Does that exist? Would it be worth it to organize it?

Also unclear for me. But preservation of ecosystems or habitats can be seen as good in some value systems, independently of the individuals affected.

Very interesting read. I will come back to it at some point.

I guess there is a lot of "problems" (pollution, destruction of habitats, geopolitical wrt commodity supply chains) that get lumped in with climate change, and then it's intuitive to say climate change very bad.

I think self neglect is a common theme in EA, comparing individual stakes to whatever big problem of choice can make it easy to try to do too much and pursue impact in an unsustainable way.

Agree that taking care of oneself is probably instrumentally good in the long run.

I remember someone arguing that they tried to balance their altruistic motivation with their other values (a healthy view in my opinion), and someone pushed back along the lines of "you should only care about yourself instrumentally, you should value all sentient beings equally".

    (I wanted to quote it but I can't find it)

And this idea of impartiality, "valuing all sentient beings equally", is part of the cultural canon of EA, early in the introductory program, and the reason why I don't feel comfortable identifying as part of the movement.

I'm curious about what is the consensus (if any) on how far should the idea of impartiality taken. Do the people in charge really mean it when they posit impartiality as a core EA value? 

Does most people here adhere to it, or is it just something that is directionally agreed on to different degrees, but it is still expected that we (as individuals) matter more to ourselves than other beings?

Interesting, sounds useful.

A couple of practical questions: does it make sense to buy one and also use it to not spread random colds / flu / covid, or if I start using it the efficacy drops after a while?

And how bad is it if I sneeze inside? That gives me nightmares from when I was wearing FFP2 for covid.

I found this post inspiring, thank you.

I think it can be a useful antidote to becoming detached and cynical, and forgetting what we are fighting for (especially for people involved in causes about the future).

Fantastic read, I wish you the best with this project.

I really enjoyed the storytelling in Paul Farmer's part.

I would suggest reducing a bit the "science" part, it gets quite dense and becomes harder to read than the stories before and after (and I imagine if it gets dense for me, who chugs graduate school manuals in my free time, it's probably too much for most college students).

Feel free to count on me for beta testing, but maybe not the best idea because I'm not from the US or a native English speaker.

I'd be doing less good with my life if I hadn't heard of effective altruism

Started donating consistently instead of sporadically, and with a focus on cost effectiveness.

Started volunteering.

Still, it might had happened without, I already had some of the ideas.

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