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It’s important to estimate the long-term impacts of our actions, but we often can’t observe long-term outcomes within a decision-relevant time frame. David Rhys Bernard, a PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics, recently tested an alternative approach — measuring the short-term impacts of different interventions on a variety of “surrogate” outcomes, then using those outcomes to reach a long-term impact estimate. In this talk, he explains his findings and their implications.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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The development of advanced AI is likely to be driven by specific consumers with particular needs — for example, firms involved in healthcare and biology. Drawing on examples from genomics, neuroscience, and other related fields, Gopal Sarma, a scientific advisor to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, discusses how the life sciences might influence the creation of novel AI technologies over the next decade.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Jacob Cates and Aron Mill, research associates at the Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED), explore the scope for industrial production of food should the sun become blocked from soot in a nuclear war. ALLFED considered two methods for constructing facilities producing suitable alternative foods, such as cellulosic sugar: new construction and retrofitting existing plants. Jacob and Aron share how ALLFED compared the costs of these options, estimated the build time and production rates, and concluded that a significant fraction of the global diet could come from these food sources within one year.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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In the realm of AI governance, China is an indispensable nation. In this talk, Jeffrey Ding, a D.Phil researcher for the Governance of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute, distills his opinions on the landscape of AI development in China. He draws mainly from 70+ issues of his ChinAI newsletter, which features weekly translations of Chinese writings on AI-related issues.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Utilitarianism, which holds that we ought to maximize well-being, is thought to conflict with animal rights because it does not regard activities such as the exploitation of domesticated animals and extermination of wild animals as, in principle, morally wrong. Jeff Sebo, a clinical assistant professor at New York University, argues that this conflict is overstated. When we account for indirect effects, such as the role that policies play in shaping moral attitudes and behaviour, we can see that utilitarianism may converge with animal rights significantly, even if not entirely.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Why is it that some high-quality research fails to affect where we choose to direct our time and money? What makes other research more persuasive or actionable? In this talk, Karolina Sarek, co-founder and director of research at Charity Entrepreneurship, discusses techniques for producing impactful, decision-relevant research.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Cellular agriculture is the use of cell cultures to create new foods. This field of inquiry provides a unique opportunity for scientists from many backgrounds to contribute their skills to a common cause: reducing the impacts of climate change and lowering the number of animals involved in the food system. Kate Krueger, the research director at New Harvest, describes modern cellular agriculture, its benefits, and how we can best promote its progress through research.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Starting your own charity is an exciting career path with very high expected value for the right sort of person. But are you the right fit? Do you have the skills necessary for the path? What else do you need to succeed? In this talk, Charity Science Health and Charity Entrepreneurship co-founder Katherine Savoie discusses what makes a good founder candidate, and how CE’s incubation program can give you the skills and resources you need to make the leap.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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In 2018, Vox launched Future Perfect, with the goal of covering the most critical issues of the day through the lens of effective altruism. In this talk, Kelsey Piper discusses how the project worked out, her experience as a Vox staff writer, and her thoughts on the key challenges of EA-focused journalism.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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Climate scientists have predicted that a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia would lead to a nuclear winter that could cause most people on Earth to starve to death. In her talk, Luisa Rodriguez, a research analyst at Rethink Priorities, describes her model of the severity of the nuclear winter we would actually expect to result from a U.S.-Russia nuclear exchange. She also explores how we should think about the likelihood that such an exchange would lead to human extinction.

This talk was filmed at EA Global 2019: London. Find out how to attend a future EA Global conference: https://www.eaglobal.org/.

Learn more about effective altruism: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.

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