EA Global 2016: Full Schedule

2:00pm PDT

Opening reception

Friday August 5, 2016 2:00pm - 5:20pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2:40pm PDT

80,000 Hours Career Workshop

The ideal way to start your EA Global experience is with a comprehensive 80,000 Hours career workshop on Friday afternoon. Half of the people who have attended so far have changed what they plan to do with their lives, so its an afternoon well spent.

RSVP to attend here: https://80000hours.typeform.com/to/dmsN97

Youll leave with a much better idea of who you want to meet and what you want to learn over the rest of the weekend. Heres what 80,000 Hours will cover: 1) What is a dream job anyway? - Well take you through what the latest psychology research shows is most important for being satisfied with your work. 2) In which career can you have the greatest social impact? - What is social impact, and what options are there beyond nonprofits and teaching? 3) Which jobs put you in a better position for the future? - Well cover what to look for in your first couple of jobs and some especially promising options to consider. 4) How to figure out where youll excel - Well show you how to figure out where you have the best chances of performing at a very high level 5) How to put together your plan - Well tell you how to figure out which options are best for you and make a plan for the coming years. And we wont just tell you to follow your passion. You probably shouldnt come if youve spent more than 4 hours working through 80,000 Hours online career guide already. However, if youre in that camp, 80,000 Hours is doing an advanced workshop spread out over Saturday and speed-coaching on Sunday.

Speakers

Peter McIntyre

Rob Wiblin

Rob studied both genetics and economics at the Australian National University (ANU), graduating top of his class and being named Young Alumnus of the Year in 2015. He ‘earned to give’ as a research economist in various Australian Government agencies, and then moved to the UK to... Read More →

Friday August 5, 2016 2:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

3:00pm PDT

Career targeting for software engineers

Software engineering encompasses a wide range of different work. Some of the things you can do as a software engineer are probably much better ideas from an EA perspective. I will present arguments and advice about how to choose jobs that push your career in useful directions.

Speakers

Buck Shlegeris

Buck is a software engineer for PayPal in San Francisco. He previously studied and worked at App Academy. He has a degree in computer science from the Australian National University.

Friday August 5, 2016 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

3:00pm PDT

How to change your mind

Speakers

Miya Perry

Head of Training, Paradigm Academy

I study psychology, particularly as it pertains to learning and human flourishing. More than what you're doing, I'm interested in why you're doing it, and in what you're doing with your mind as you do it. Talk to me about what's most interesting to you, and we'll go from there... Read More →

Friday August 5, 2016 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

3:00pm PDT

Icebreaker: Cover Stories

Friday August 5, 2016 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:40pm PDT

Corporate Activism: Discussion Session

Strategies to use the unique power of our workplaces to maximise our positive impact - and detail on how EA can engage with the business world to push for wider organisational change. Workplace & Corporate Engagement is a new CEA project, and the session will include an overview of our activity here so far. I promise it will be fascinating despite the words workplace and corporate being in the title.

Speakers

George Howlett

Workplace & Corporate Engagement, Giving What We Can

George coordinates a new project - Workplace & Corporate Engagement - for GWWC and the CEA. He has a day job in private-sector risk consultancy, and a strong interest in responsible business strategy, the history of activism, and improvised music. He is convinced that workplace activism... Read More →

Friday August 5, 2016 4:40pm - 5:40pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:40pm PDT

Navigating intellectual disagreement I

Kenzi will teach Double Crux, a CFAR technique for effective sharing models, zero in on the specific points of disagreement with another person, and effectively update on new information. A large focus of the workshop will be "how to identify the evidence that would actually cause you to change your mind." [Extremely popular last year, we're running this workshop every day of the conference.]

Speakers

McKenzi Amodei

Friday August 5, 2016 4:40pm - 5:40pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:40pm PDT

Icebreaker: Speed Introductions I

Friday August 5, 2016 4:40pm - 5:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

6:20pm PDT

Planning Under Uncertainty

Mixed discussion and impromptu brainstorming exercises. Preconditions, information, skills, and resources for creating long-term plans.

Speakers

Stephen Frey

Hi! I'm looking for collaborators in Los Angeles and around the world. Tell me how to learn about: - incentives in science - organization-building - making plans - applied research

Friday August 5, 2016 6:20pm - 7:20pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

6:20pm PDT

Tactics and Strategies for Cooperative Conversation

"This will be a loosely structured, participation-based workshop on having efficient and effective conversations between people who share broad motivations but disagree about concrete beliefs or plans. We will explore various topics, depending on the interest of participants. Concretely, we will be having conversations about things that people disagree on and care about, and talking about conversational tools for doing that well. For example, we might talk about and practice:
-tracking and aligning subgoal-supergoal structures (We both want to cause X, so let's team up);
-cruxing / double cruxing / tracking and comparing belief-implication structures (You think X because you think Y, I think not-X because not-Y and agree that if Y then X);
-making ""original seeing"" mode vs "consensus-generating" mode explicit (distinguishing cached thoughts and arguments from collaborative brainstorming)

Speakers

Tvsi Benson

Friday August 5, 2016 6:20pm - 7:20pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

7:20pm PDT

Opening announcement

Friday August 5, 2016 7:20pm - 7:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

7:40pm PDT

Explaining concepts well

Speakers

Eric Rogstad

Friday August 5, 2016 7:40pm - 8:40pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

7:40pm PDT

How to Save the World While Still at School: EA Student Chapters

It can be hard to make direct contributions as an EA while still in school. Daniel Colson, co-director of EA Build and researcher at Leverage Research, will be presenting his research on why EA student chapters can make critical contributions to the talent supply problem for improving the world. He will also be presenting his work on what makes building EA student chapters difficult and how these problems can be solved. There will be additional time for group discussion and networking. This workshop is particularly aimed at students and those interested in EA movement building.

Speakers

Daniel Colson

Researcher / Co-director, Leverage Research / EA Build

I'm a sociology researcher at Leverage Research and co-director of EA Build, a CEA project to create highly effective EA student groups at every college. Talk to me if you are a student interested in movement building! I mostly want to hear about your projects, though. If you see... Read More →

Friday August 5, 2016 7:40pm - 8:40pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

7:40pm PDT

EA Origin Stories

Get to know other participants by telling your story and listening to their story of how they ended up getting interested in EA.

Friday August 5, 2016 7:40pm - 9:40pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

7:40pm PDT

Academic Poster Q&A

Friday August 5, 2016 7:40pm - 9:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

9:00pm PDT

Probabilistic decision-making

Speakers

Ozzie Gooen

Ozzie Gooen is a software engineer in San Francisco. He worked at 80,000 Hours and cofounded .impact, a decentralized volunteer force that works on effective altruist projects. Ozzie suggests that you post your effective altruist projects to the .impact wiki and come to future workathons... Read More →

Friday August 5, 2016 9:00pm - 10:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:00am PDT

Registration

Saturday August 6, 2016 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
8. Lower Sproul 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

9:00am PDT

Coffee & Snacks

Saturday August 6, 2016 9:00am - 11:00am PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

7. Social

10:00am PDT

Opening Keynote

Speakers

Will MacAskill

In 2009, while a PhD candidate in philosophy, Will co-founded Giving What We Can, a leading charity evaluator that has moved millions of pounds to effective charities and advised the UK government, World Bank, Oxfam among others. In 2011, he co-founded 80,000 Hours with Ben. Currently... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

1. Talk

11:00am PDT

Center for Effective Global Action Office Hours

Speakers

Alexandra Wall

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:00am - 1:00pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

11:00am PDT

Office Hours: The Life You Can Save

Speakers

Jon Behar

Jon Behar is the COO and Director of Philanthropy Education at The Life You Can Save, where he helps develop the strategy and management of the organization. Jon is the inventor and incubator of the "Giving Game" model of philanthropy education and experimentation and he been a primary... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:00am - 2:00pm PDT
f. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 6 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

11:40am PDT

Opening: Philanthropy and technology

Speakers

Jaan Tallinn (Remote)

Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa. He is a co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Existential Risk (cser.org), Future of Life Institute (futureoflife.org), and philanthropically supports other existential risk research organizations. He is also a partner at Ambient... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:00pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

3. Q&A

11:40am PDT

Career choice panel: research, policy or earning to give?

Moderators

Maria-Veronica Rojas

Speakers

Jeff Kaufmann

Richard Parr

Rob Wiblin

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

11:40am PDT

Lightning Talks I

Speakers

Blake Borgeson

Anders Huitfeld

Richard Mallah

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

11:40am PDT

80,000 Hours - What's the most pressing problem in the world?

The story of how our views have changed over the last 7 years.

Speakers

Ben Todd

In under three years with Ben's leadership, 80,000 Hours has grown from a student society, to an Oxford affiliated charity, featured on TED, the Washington Post, the BBC Today Programme and more. Ben has a 1st from Oxford in Physics and Philosophy, has published in Climate Physics... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

11:40am PDT

Existential Risk Careers Beyond Research

Participants will be encouraged to think through career options to reduce existential risk that they may not have previously considered, including working in politics, foundations, operations, military, executive assistance, intelligence, project management, entrepreneurship, and communications.

Speakers

Niel Bowerman

Assistant Director, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford

Dr. Niel Bowerman is Director of Operations at the Future of Humanity Institute. Niel co-founded the Centre for Effective Altruism, the Global Priorities Project, climate policy think tank Climatio, and was part of the 80,000 Hours founding team. Niel has a DPhil (PhD) in physics... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

11:40am PDT

Starting Projects Workshop

Many causes rely on reaching either a specific target audience or a large proportion of the general population. This workshop covers some of the best practices in marketing and user engagement.

Speakers

Brian Kateman

President, Reducetarian Foundation

Brian Kateman is cofounder and president of The Reducetarian Foundation. He is author of the forthcoming book The Reducetarian Solution (Penguin Random House, 2017).

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

11:40am PDT

Fermi Modeling

Speakers

Ozzie Gooen

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

11:40am PDT

Future of EA for Animals

Speakers

Jacy Reese

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
n. Eshleman Hall - Room 338 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

11:40am PDT

How Can We Fix Science?

Speakers

Geoff Anders

CEO, Paradigm Academy

I'm the founder of Leverage Research, a research institute dedicated to exploratory social science, and Paradigm Academy, a startup that trains EAs. I like meeting strategists, systematic philosophers, people with ambitious plans to improve the world, and people with arguments for... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

12:00pm PDT

Philanthropy and Technology

How will philanthropy shape the development of modern technologies? This panel seeks to explore the value of more intangible domains such as technological progress, social enterprise, and impact investing within the philanthropic landscape.

Moderators

Erik Torenberg

Speakers

Jaan Tallinn (Remote)

Howie Lempel

Howie Lempel is a Program Officer for the Open Philanthropy Project, where he's worked on causes including biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, criminal justice reform, potential risks of advanced artificial intelligence, and global poverty alleviation. He is on leave from Yale... Read More →

Luke Nosek

Garreth Spillane

Garreth Spillane is the Chief of Staff and Vice President at the Global Innovation Fund, a London-based fund established to find, finance and scale innovations in international development.

Katrin Verclas

Saturday August 6, 2016 12:00pm - 12:40pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

12:00pm PDT

Office Hours: MIRI

Speakers

Rob Bensinger

Research Communications Manager, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

Malo Bourgon

Chief Operating Officer, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

I oversee MIRI’s day-to-day operations and program activities. Before becoming COO, I worked for MIRI as a program management analyst, helping implement many of MIRI’s current systems, processes, and program activities. I joined MIRI in 2012 shortly after completing a master’s... Read More →

Nate Soares

Executive Director, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

I run the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. If you're curious about long-term AI research as an EA cause area, I'm happy to chat about it.

Saturday August 6, 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
i. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 9 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

12:40pm PDT

Lunch

Saturday August 6, 2016 12:40pm - 2:20pm PDT
8. Lower Sproul 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

1:00pm PDT

Careers in Politics and Policy with Richard Parr, former Special Advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron

Speakers

Richard Parr

Saturday August 6, 2016 1:00pm - 2:20pm PDT
h. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 8 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

1:20pm PDT

Office Hours: CEA Special Projects

Speakers

Michael Page

Michael Page is the Director of Special Projects at the Centre for Effective Altruism, where he oversees the research, policy, and philanthropic advising teams. Before joining CEA, he was earning to give as a lawyer in Washington DC.

Saturday August 6, 2016 1:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:20pm PDT

Q&A with Philip Tetlock

Philip Tetlock, the Annenberg University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of 'Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction'; will be discussing his research on forecasting and sacred values.

Speakers

Philip Tetlock

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 2:40pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

1. Talk

2:20pm PDT

Are scientists responsible enough?

Speakers

Martin Rees

Martin Rees is a cosmologist and space scientist. He is based in Cambridge, where he has been Director of the Institute of Astronomy, a Research Professor, and (until recently) Master of Trinity College. He was President of the Royal Society during 2005-2010. In 2005 he was appointed... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 2:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

8. Intro Talk

2:20pm PDT

Big Data & Machine Learning in Public Policy

Public policy is shift- ing towards a data driven approach. Learn how.

Speakers

Josh Blumenstock

Josh Blumenstock is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley and an affiliate of the Center for Effective Global Action. His work focuses on developing new methods for using massive, spatiotemporal network data to better understand the economic lives of the... Read More →

Solomon Hsiang

Solomon Hsiang is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and an affiliate of NBER and the Center for Effective Global Action. He combines data with mathematical models to understand how society and the environment influence one another. In particular, he focuses... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

2:20pm PDT

80,000 Hours - What's the highest impact career?

If you want to maximise your impact, which career options should you consider, and why its probably not earning to give.

Speakers

Ben Todd

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

2:20pm PDT

MIRI - Using machine learning to address AI risk

It is plausible that future artificial general intelligence systems will share many qualities in common with present-day machine learning systems. If so, how could we ensure that these systems robustly act as intended? We discuss the technical agenda for a new project at MIRI focused on this question.

Speakers

Jessica Taylor

Research Fellow, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

Jessica does technical research at MIRI related to ensuring that smarter-than-human AI systems act as intended. Her current research is about training hypothetical AI systems that are similar to current machine learning systems (but much more powerful) to accomplish useful goals... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

2:20pm PDT

Prioritisation frameworks

Comparing between different actions is both important and difficult. Explicit quantitative models can help to make sure that we account for everything that is important rather than just the most salient features. However, they often take significant time investment. In this workshop I'll present a crude tool for producing explicit prioritisation frameworks, which are simple enough to be used with Fermi estimates or in small group discussion. We'll then split up to use such a tool.

Speakers

Owen Cotton Barratt

Owen leads the research at the Global Priorities Project, part of the Centre for Effective Altruism. He has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Oxford, was a founding member of Giving What We Can, and is a James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. He... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

2:20pm PDT

Office Hours: Effective Altruism Foundation

Speakers

Lukas Gloor

Adriano Mannino

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
i. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 9 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:20pm PDT

Office Hours: Animal Charity Evaluators

Speakers

Jacy Reese

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 5:20pm PDT
h. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 8 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:20pm PDT

Office Hours: Founders Pledge

Speakers

Ben Clifford

Niel Jansen

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:20pm - 5:20pm PDT
j. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 10 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:40pm PDT

Avian cognition and consciousness: The gray parrot and its implications on animal welfare

Based on her research with African Grey parrots, Dr. Pepperberg argues that nonhumans have, at the least, a sense of awareness, which may or may not be distinct from full consciousness. She proposes that this awareness is required for complex tasks and is a form of higher order cognition.

Speakers

Irene Pepperberg

Irene M. Pepperberg (SB, MIT, ’69; PhD., Harvard, ’76), Research Associate and lecturer (Harvard). She has been a visiting Assistant Professor (Northwestern University), tenured Associate Professor (University of Arizona), visiting Associate Professor (MIT Media Lab), and an Adjunct... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 2:40pm - 3:20pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

3:00pm PDT

Doing philanthropy better: Q&A with Cari Tuna

Moderators

Will MacAskill

Speakers

Cari Tuna

Cari Tuna is the President of the Open Philanthropy Project and Good Ventures, philanthropic organizations through which she and her husband Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook and Asana) aim to do as much good as they can with their giving. Previously, she was a reporter for... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 3:00pm - 3:20pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

3. Q&A

3:20pm PDT

Office Hours: GiveWell

Speakers

Natalie Crispin

Senior Research Analyst, GiveWell

Andrew Martin

Saturday August 6, 2016 3:20pm - 4:00pm PDT
e. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 5 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

3:20pm PDT

Office Hours: Open Philanthropy Project

Speakers

Lewis Bollard

Saturday August 6, 2016 3:20pm - 4:00pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:00pm PDT

Infinite ethics

There exists an open problem of how consequentialist ethics should respond to living in an infinite universe. Amanda will try to give an introduction into the dilemma and outline a few potential solutions (and their shortcomings).

Speakers

Amanda Askell

Amanda is a fourth-year PhD student in philosophy at New York University, working on rationality. Her other interests include infinite ethics and existential risk.

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 4:20pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

4:00pm PDT

Should EAs do policy?

Speakers

Seb Farquhar

EA Policy, CEA

Seb joined CEA to establish the Global Priorities Project, having previously worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. where he focused on public and social sector work. Before that, he was on the founding team of 80,000 Hours and wrote the world’s first ever statement... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 4:20pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

4:00pm PDT

Beyond Malaria

What are the considerations important for making informed decisions about widespread use of technologies like CRISPR for the benefit of humanity? How do we carry out the cost benefit analysis of interventions like malaria mosquito eradication?

Speakers

Genya Dana

Senior Science Policy Officer, U.S. Department of State

Genya V. Dana is a Senior Science Policy Officer in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. She advises on emerging biotechnologies and international policy issues, is a negotiator on science, technology... Read More →

Kevin Esvelt

Kevin Esvelt is an assistant professor of MIT and leader of the Sculpting Evolution group at the MIT Media Lab, which specializes in developing tools to reshape populations and ecosystems.

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 4:40pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

4:00pm PDT

80,000 Hours - Advanced Career Strategy

Should you help now or later? How to trade flexibility against impact? How much risk to take? How our views have changed and common mistakes in the community.

Speakers

Ben Todd

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

Animal Prioritization

Speakers

Lewis Bollard

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

MIRI - Logical Induction: Progress in AI Alignment

MIRI is interested in reasoning about highly advanced AI systems before they exist, specifically for developing models of safety and control for such systems. Current agent models used in game theory and economics are insufficient for this purpose, because of their highly unrealistic assumption that a rational agent must immediately know all the logical consequences of its beliefs at any given time. Logical induction refers to the more realistic process by which an agent's beliefs should change over time as it thinks and realizes the consequences of its past observations. In this talk, we will examine (1) some criteria for "ideal" logical induction, (2) a new algorithm for logical induction that satisfies many desirable properties, and (3) some implications for what a very powerful AI system is able to learn. About 50% of the talk will be technical in nature, with adjustments made for audience composition and interest.

Speakers

Andrew Critch

Andrew, who usually goes by “Critch”, earned his PhD in mathematics at UC Berkeley, researching algebro-geometric properties of machine learning models. He completed his B.Sc. with Honors in pure mathematics in just 20 months, and earned the Governor General’s Medal as the top... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

Human Recursive Self-Improvement

Speakers

Geoff Anders

CEO, Paradigm Academy

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

4:00pm PDT

Philanthropy Education

Speakers

Jon Behar

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

4:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Future of Humanity Institute

Speakers

Niel Bowerman

Assistant Director, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
j. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 10 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:20pm PDT

Earning Influence with Thought Leaders

Speakers

John Chisholm

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:20pm - 4:40pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

4:40pm PDT

Communicating Research

IPA has a lot of experience in communicating research to a large variety of audiences. Heidi McAnnally-Linz will present on the lessons they've learned in how to present research in a way that allows both other researchers, the public and policy makers to act on it.

Speakers

Heidi McAnnally-Linz

Senior Policy Communications Manager, Innovations for Poverty Action

Heidi McAnnally-Linz is Senior Manager, Policy Communications at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) where she leads the global policy communications team, manages a portfolio of funders, and designs and implements organizational outreach standards. She came to IPA with experience... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:40pm - 5:00pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

4:40pm PDT

Engineering Revolutions

Speakers

Ed Boyden

Professor, MIT

Solving the brain, ground-truthing biology and medicine.

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:40pm - 5:00pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

1. Talk

4:40pm PDT

How much evidence is enough?

Michael Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. His recent research examines education and health in developing countries, immigration, and globalization. Kremer will be discussing the use of quantifiable models in opaque domains.

Speakers

Michael Kremer

Saturday August 6, 2016 4:40pm - 5:00pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

5:00pm PDT

Risks from biological research

This will be an informal discussion / exploration of potential catastrophic risks from biological research.

Speakers

Tsvi Benson-Tilsen

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:00pm - 5:40pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:40pm PDT

Virtue-signaling: From evolved trait-display to conspicuously effective altruism

Virtue signaling means showing off the personal traits that are considered morally good, in order to gain social, sexual, and status benefits, but without necessarily delivering any real benefits to others. Ill argue that virtue signaling has deep evolutionary roots and important adaptive functions, but it also undermines the appeal, efficacy, unity, and inclusiveness of the EA movement. Most animals have evolved elaborate traits such as peacock tails or gibbon songs to attract interest from mates, kin, and allies. Some human signaling traits like music, humor, and verbal fluency evolved to display general fitness (good genes, good health, good brains), but others such as kindness, honesty, and frugality evolved to display specific cognitive abilities (such as social and emotional intelligence) and the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability). A key problem is that, under costly signaling theory, a signals reliability is guaranteed by the conspicuous costs imposed on the signaler (e.g. money given to charities), not by the benefits delivered to others (e.g. utility generated by those charities). Virtue signaling helps explain why EA attracts a narrow range of cognitive and personality types, why EA concerns about scalability, tractability, globalism, and problem neglectedness seem so weird, cold, and unappealing to many people, why arguments about EA priorities and strategies can turn so passionate, and why EA is prone to runaway IQ-signaling and openness-signaling. Ill conclude with some practical suggestions about how to harness our narcissistic display instincts in the service of maximizing sentient utility. We cant eliminate virtue signaling, but the better we understand it, the better we can harness it to grow our movement, improve its marketing, align our heads and hearts, and do more good.

Speakers

Geoffrey Miller

Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist best known for his books The Mating Mind (2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015). He has a B.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a tenured associate professor at the University... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:00pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

5:40pm PDT

Opening: The end of poverty

Speakers

Peter Singer (Remote)

Peter Singer has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 40 books, including Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics; Pushing Time Away, The Life You Can Save, and The Most Good You Can Do. His writings have inspired both the animal rights movement and effective altruism... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:00pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

8. Intro Talk

5:40pm PDT

The replication crisis: How widespread is it and should it affect our plans?

The modern finding that large amounts of the psychology and sociology literature do not replicate has opened up many questions about how to properly conduct research and discover truths about the world. How can we tackle the question of doing the most good in a way that produces reliable and valuable research?

Moderators

Julia Galef

Julia is the president and co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality, an organization teaching math- and cognitive science-based techniques for effective decision-making. Julia's work on rationality has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New... Read More →

Speakers

Stuart Buck

Vice President, Laura and John Arnold Foundation

Research/evaluation

Brian Nosek

Brian Nosek received a Ph.D. in from Yale University in 2002 and is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia. He received early career awards from the International Social Cognition Network (ISCON) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social... Read More →

Ivan Oransky

Ivan Oransky, MD, is the vice president and global editorial director of MedPage Today, co-founder of the MacArthur Foundation- and Arnold Foundation-funded Retraction Watch, and Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University's Arthur Carter Journalism Institute. He previously... Read More →

Stephanie Wykstra

Stephanie Wykstra is a research consultant for Alltrials and a freelance writer. She has held positions with Innovations for Poverty Action and GiveWell, and previously worked in academia as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. Stephanie holds a BA from Yale University and earned... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

5:40pm PDT

80,000 Hours - What the effective altruism community means for your career.

There are enormous opportunities to work together, but often we think from an individual perspective, reducing our total impact. We review the biggest gaps in the community, how you can help, and why replaceability is overrated.

Speakers

Ben Todd

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

5:40pm PDT

Navigating intellectual disagreement III

CFARs conversational technique for fruitfully resolving disagreements.

Speakers

McKenzi Amodei

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

5:40pm PDT

Scenario Planning

A workshop on scenario planning, in which all participants play an active role in trying to prevent a catastrophic outcome for human civilization.

Speakers

David Denkenberger

Associate, Global Catastrophic Risk Institute

My main project is food during global catastrophes. I am also an assistant professor of architectural engineering at Tennessee State University.

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

5:40pm PDT

Foundational Research Institute: Suffering Focused AI Safety

Speakers

Ruairi Donnelly

Lukas Gloor

Caspar Oesterheld

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
n. Eshleman Hall - Room 338 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:40pm PDT

How to give students in EA student groups something to do besides advertising EA

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:40pm PDT

Philosophy and Effective Altruism

Speakers

Geoff Anders

CEO, Paradigm Academy

Saturday August 6, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

6:00pm PDT

The End of Poverty

A panel discussion putting the individual interventions in developing countries into the context of the larger aim of ending poverty once and for all, a goal that can well be achieved this decade.

Speakers

Jeff Brown

Jeffrey Brown is the Chief Executive Officer of Evidence Action. He is responsible for the strategic leadership and oversight of Evidence Action’s evidence-based approach to scaling up development interventions to millions of people. Prior, Brown was interim CEO of the Global Innovation... Read More →

Anne Healy

Anne Healy leads Development Innovation Ventures at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Development Lab. She has worked across the private, public, and social sectors on evidence and innovation in government and international development, including at Innovations... Read More →

Svetha Janumpalli

Svetha Janumpalli is the Founder & CEO of New Incentives. With a background in impact evaluation and field research, Svetha brought policy makers, development researchers, and government partners together to create cost-effective cash transfer programs that save the lives of newborns... Read More →

Rajesh Mirchandani

Vice President, Communications and Policy Outreach, Center for Global Development

At CGD we believe changing policy is the best way to do good. We work to change the policies, practices and perspectives of rich countries and powerful institutions to help make the world more prosperous, equitable and just for all. We are always looking for others passionate about... Read More →

Timothy Telleen-Lawton

Timothy has been working to strengthen GiveWell since the organization moved to San Francisco at the beginning of 2013. He had previously tried his hand earning to give, fundraising, lobbying Congress, and writing for a state-policy oriented think tank. Timothy graduated from Stanford... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 6:00pm - 6:40pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

6:20pm PDT

Coordinating for a Stronger Community

Who are we missing out on, and how can we welcome those with skills and experiences we currently lack? How can we better coordinate to learn more as a community than we can on our own?

Speakers

Julia Wise

Community Director, Centre for Effective Altruism

Julia Wise had been wondering since childhood how she can best help people. She spent the last three years as a social worker in a Boston jail and donates half her income. She recently joined the board of GiveWell.

Saturday August 6, 2016 6:20pm - 6:40pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

6:40pm PDT

Dinner [off campus]

Saturday August 6, 2016 6:40pm - 8:00pm PDT
8. Lower Sproul 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

8:00pm PDT

Three $300,000 Decisions

Practical discussion on effective personal finance decisions further to your EA goals, create the safety to take important risks and give more back.

Speakers

Andrew Eschler

Saturday August 6, 2016 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

8:00pm PDT

Understanding Social Technology

How EAs can use social technology to build effctive organizations.

Speakers

Samo Burja

As a student I was convinced advances in the hard sciences, such as physics, were what was driving improvements in human lives over recent centuries and that the soft sciences, such as sociology, were likely too difficult to tackle with the intellectual tools we have available. As... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

8:00pm PDT

Hamming Circles

What's the biggest problem in your life? What's limiting factor that's holding you back from having an order of magnitude more impact? In a hamming circle each person has the opportunity to focus on figuring out what thing is holding you back the most, and fixing it.

Speakers

Duncan Sabien

Saturday August 6, 2016 8:00pm - 10:20pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:20pm PDT

Mindfulness Meditation for Effective Altruists

Workshop on the theory and practice of Mindfulness Meditation, given from a skeptical, data-driven perspective. Discussion of potential benefits and harms given little attention in most introductions to mindfulness. Practical instruction in two different techniques (one of them interactive); tips for integrating mindfulness into a busy life; Q&A. Suitable both for beginners, and for more experienced practitioners. I've spent over a year of my life on silent meditation retreat, and I've been sitting daily since 2008.

Speakers

Joseph Carlsmith

PhD Student, NYU Department of Philosophy

I'm a PhD student in philosophy at NYU, interested mostly in ethics and political philosophy. Before coming to NYU, I did a BA at Yale and an MPhil at Oxford, both in philosophy. I'm also very interested in mindfulness meditation -- I've spent over a year of my life on silent meditation... Read More →

Saturday August 6, 2016 9:20pm - 10:20pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:20pm PDT

Origin stories II

Get to know other participants by telling your story and listening to their story of how they ended up getting interested in EA.

Saturday August 6, 2016 9:20pm - 10:20pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

9:00am PDT

Flowthrough Effects

Link for Q&A: https://PollEv.com/discourses/yVx4yebDMYyPhfZ/web

Interventions ranging from global health improvement to policy changes to technological developments can have unintended and surprising consequences. What should we consider when making choices now to prevent unwanted effects in the longer term?

Speakers

Rob Wiblin

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 9:20am PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

9:00am PDT

Helping Animals with Morality or Technology?

Speakers

Tobias Leenaert

Vegan Strategist

My objective with my work at veganstrategist.org and www.veganadvocacy.org is to help animal advocates to be the most effective they can be. I write and speak about strategies and communication to reduce animal suffering.

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 9:20am PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

9:00am PDT

Risks and Benefits of Advanced AI

Max Tegmark Q&A: https://PollEv.com/discourses/mOgFb73SdE3XO6W/web

Panel Q&A: https://PollEv.com/discourses/evDs4AadYJywXL6/web

Artificial intelligence is clearly a prime contender for the next huge technological transformation in the history of humanity. This panel will discuss how we can ensure that we reap all the benefits of AI while avoiding the risks it poses.

Moderators

Riva-Melissa Tez

Riva-Melissa Tez is a Co-Founder and Partner at Permutation Ventures, a database platform and investment fund that focuses on impact-driven early-stage AI companies.

Speakers

Dario Amodei

Dario Amodei is the co-author (with Chris Olah and others) of the recent paper “Concrete Problems in AI Safety”, which outlines a pragmatic and empirical approach to making AI systems safe. Dario is currently a research scientist at OpenAI, and prior to that worked at Google... Read More →

Daniel Dewey

Daniel Dewey is the Alexander Tamas Research Fellow on Machine Superintelligence and the Future of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford Martin School. He was previously a software engineer at Google Seattle, and did research at Intel Labs Pittsburgh during his undergraduate... Read More →

Dileep George

Before cofounding Vicarious, Dileep was CTO of Numenta, an AI company he cofounded with Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky. Before Numenta, Dileep was a Research Fellow at the Redwood Neuroscience Institute. Dileep has authored 22 patents and several influential papers on the mathematics... Read More →

Toby Ord

Toby has held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford, and is currently a James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. His current research focus is population ethics. He completed BPhil and PhD degrees at the University of Oxford. Toby... Read More →

Max Tegmark

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

9:00am PDT

Applied Forecasting: Improving Organisational Decision Making

A workshop on how to create new hypotheses about how the world works. We will start with a touch of background theory. Then we'll examine some powerful domain-general techniques, work through an example together, and then practice.

Speakers

Ben Goldhaber

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:00am PDT

Building a local EA community

We will go over some strategies for building upon an existing local chapter. We will focus on different strategies including: how to engage members in a meaningful way, creating a welcoming atmosphere, tailoring your messages for different audiences, and gaining access to existing networks. Workshop will be based around experiences and lessons learned from growing the Seattle EA community.

Speakers

Sydney Martin

Organizer, Seattle Effective Altruists

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:00am PDT

High Frequency EA Pitching

How to pitch Effective Altruism in a scenario with many people flowing past you - up to several hundred per hour. Focusing on how to prepare, and what to say and do; plenty of breaking off and putting it into practice. Especially useful for student groups advertising their events. Based on 80,000 Hours: Cambridge's experience in getting 1,700 mailing list sign-ups in two days of pitching at their societies fair.

Speakers

Chris Cundy

President, 80,000 Hours: Cambridge

I am in charge of an amazing group of people who organise the student society 80,000 Hours: Cambridge. We put on talks, social events and facilitate workshops to help students use evidence to work out how to use their careers to change the world for the better. I am also studying... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

9:20am PDT

Affecting the Far Future with Animal Causes

Speakers

Adriano Mannino

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:20am - 9:40am PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

9:40am PDT

Upstream Altruism: applying EA principles to early-stage action

Speakers

Christine Peterson

Christine Peterson is a non-profit activist in the areas of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, human healthspan, space settlement, and open source. She is Co-Founder of Foresight Institute, Advisor to Machine Intelligence Research Institute and National Space Society, informal... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:40am - 10:00am PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

9:40am PDT

Basic Income: The GiveDirectly Experiment

Submit questions at: https://PollEv.com/discourses/ioYCWbrrK9GBul2/web

Ian Bassin discusses the NGO's universal basic income research in East Africa. The study aims to help contribute to the key questions at the heart of the current global debate.

Moderators

Sam Deere

Sam is CEA's Technical Director and President of Giving What We Can. He has previously worked in policy and communications roles for several Australian politicians, and was part of the team that won the ‘unwinnable’ 2014 South Australian state election. He studied Politics and... Read More →

Speakers

Ian Bassin

Ian Bassin leads partnership and external communications work for GiveDirectly. Previously, he served as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama, Deputy Counsel to the Mayor of New York City, and General Counsel and Campaign Director at the organizing NGO Avaaz. He has a J.D... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 9:40am - 10:00am PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

10:20am PDT

Research Meeting: Lightning talks

Quick lightning talk presentations on the best posters from our call for posters.

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 10:40am PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

10:20am PDT

Aggregating Knowledge

Submit questions at: https://PollEv.com/discourses/1K9tW8M3WVUPqlL/web

How can we communicate our research and ideas so others can build on that.

Moderators

Tara Mac Aulay

Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Effective Altruism

Tara received a graduate degree in Health Economics and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Monash University with first class Honours. She joinsCEA fresh from the field, after visiting 33 countries for work and travel. On her most recent assignment, Tara worked on redesigning oncology care... Read More →

Speakers

Amanda Askell

Amanda is a fourth-year PhD student in philosophy at New York University, working on rationality. Her other interests include infinite ethics and existential risk.

Sarah Constantin

Julia Galef

Heidi McAnnally-Linz

Senior Policy Communications Manager, Innovations for Poverty Action

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

10:20am PDT

Creating Effective Policies

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/xJxWlog4QeAoXvV/web

The primary research focus of effective altruism has been on doing good through philanthropy and career choice. But government is one of the biggest levers in the world; as effective altruism grows want to understand how we can apply the same evidence-based, impartial, mindset to the world of policy.

Speakers

Genya Dana

Senior Science Policy Officer, U.S. Department of State

Seb Farquhar

EA Policy, CEA

Tom Kalil

Thomas Kalil is Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Senior Advisor for Science, Technology and Innovation for the National Economic Council. From 2001 to 2008, Kalil was Special Assistant to the Chancellor for... Read More →

Rajesh Mirchandani

Vice President, Communications and Policy Outreach, Center for Global Development

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

10:20am PDT

Open Philanthropy Project Q&A

Come and ask whatever questions you have about the Open Philanthropy Project.

Speakers

Nick Beckstead

I am a research analyst at the Open Philanthropy Project. Previously, I studied mathematics and philosophy as an undergraduate, completed a PhD in philosophy at Rutgers University, and worked as a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University.

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

10:20am PDT

Scalable Solutions to Mental Health

There is no health without mental health, and there is no well-being without a healthy mind. Effective Altruists have tended to focus on health interventions, because they are easily quantifiable -- but we have to consider how it translates into improved well-being. Mental health interventions affect well-being directly, but are mostly expensive and hard to scale. In this workshop, we will explore promising new areas of research towards scalable solutions for mental health, discuss startups that are tackling this problem, and break off into small groups to brainstorm how EA's can contribute.

Speakers

Eric Gastfriend

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

10:20am PDT

Lessons from Convergence Models I - Side effects of research and ensuring your project is net good

Speakers

Justin Shovelain

Founder, Convergence

I am the founder of the quantitative long term strategy organization Convergence. Over the last seven years I have worked with MIRI, CFAR, EA global, Founders Fund, and Leverage and done work in EA strategy, fund raising, networking, teaching, cognitive enhancement, and AI safety... Read More →

Andrew Stewart

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
n. Eshleman Hall - Room 338 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

10:20am PDT

Presentation and Q&A about FP

Speakers

Neil Jansen

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 11:20am PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

10:20am PDT

80,000 Hours - Speed coaching

Show your career plan to an 80,000 Hours coach, check if youve made any mistakes, and get introductions to help you take action. We may also arrange follow up for after EAG. Its 7 minutes per person, first come first served. You must fill out the career planning tool before coming:

https://80000hours.org/career-planning-tool/

Speakers

Ben Todd

Sunday August 7, 2016 10:20am - 1:00pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

11:00am PDT

Concrete Problems in AI Safety

Speakers

Christopher Olah

Chris Olah is a researcher on Google Brain, where he works on a variety of problems related to neural networks. In particular, Chris has explored techniques for understanding the internal workings of neural networks, most notably DeepDream. In addition to research, Chris works on... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 11:00am - 11:20am PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

11:00am PDT

Office Hours: Center for Effective Global Action

Speakers

Kelsey Mulcahy

Sunday August 7, 2016 11:00am - 1:00pm PDT
j. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 10 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

11:20am PDT

CEA Philanthropic Advising

Speakers

Hauke Hillebrandt

Sunday August 7, 2016 11:20am - 12:20pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

12:00pm PDT

Opportunities in Science & Technology Policy

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/0OyIoexXuBw8bsb/web

Moderators

Roxanne Heston

Roxanne Heston is the Founder and Director of Effective Altruism Global X, a regional conference series of the Centre for Effective Altruism. She has been an effective altruist since early 2013, and is a graduating Altman Scholar of International Business and Studies at Tulane Un... Read More →

Speakers

Tom Kalil

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 12:20pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

12:00pm PDT

CEA Research and the Institute for Effective Altruism

Speakers

Michelle Hutchinson

Michelle has a PhD in Applied Ethics from Oxford University on prioritisation in global health. She is a Research Associate at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. She was the winner of the St Anne’s College Oxford Ethics Scholarship and taught Philosophy at the University... Read More →

Stefan Schubert

Stefan has a multidisciplinary background, with a PhD in philosophy and an MA in political science. Prior to joining CEA, he did a postdoc at London School of Economics, where he combined his research with outreach work in the field of political rationality. He set up the Swedish... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

12:00pm PDT

Rethinking Meat and the End of Factory Farming

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/lxYHnyrsajMoLUq/web

Moderators

Claire Zabel

I'm a Research Analyst at GiveWell and the Open Philanthropy Project, and serve on the board at Animal Charity Evaluators. I work on lots of different projects.

Speakers

Lewis Bollard

Isha Datar

Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich is executive director of The Good Food Institute (GFI.org), a nonprofit organization that promotes plant-based and “clean” (i.e., grown in a culture without animal slaughter) alternatives to conventional meat, dairy products, and eggs. Bruce graduated manga cum... Read More →

Tobias Leenaert

Vegan Strategist

Alison Smith

Allison Smith is the Director of Research at Animal Charity Evaluators; an organization dedicated to evaluating the impact of charities which work to improve animal wellbeing. Allison has been involved in ACE research efforts since May 2013,and joined the ACE team in August 2013... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

12:00pm PDT

Introduction to Explicit Model-building

This workshop will introduce the basic goals and applications of explicit model-building and walk participants through a basic procedure for making concrete, directed, incremental improvements to some area of their understanding. Please bring a laptop or notebook, plus preliminary ideas about topics to think about!

Speakers

Emily Crotteau

Researcher, Theorist, Leverage Research

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

12:00pm PDT

Trigger Action Plans

Known as "implementation intentions" in the cognitive psychology literature, Trigger Action Planning is a technique that takes advantage of the mind's associative machinery to easily instill new habits or get things done, that minimizes the use of will-power, executive function, and cognitive overhead. Duncan will give an overview of the technique, with ample time to practice it on content from other parts of the conference.

Speakers

Duncan Sabien

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

12:00pm PDT

Applying an automated impact score to your top charities

Part A: Organizations at idea stage
Part B: Organizations with data and results
Hands-on workshop

Attendees are encouraged to come to these sessions with their laptops and one or two nonprofits in mind that they want to run through our system, and provide feedback and input on our scoring system. This would be ideal for experienced EAs or those wanting to learn about charity evaluation.

Speakers

Angela Campbell

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

12:00pm PDT

Lessons from Convergence Models II - Constructing life plans for maximizing good

Speakers

Justin Shovelain

Founder, Convergence

Andrew Stewart

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
n. Eshleman Hall - Room 338 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

12:40pm PDT

Government Driven Science & Technology

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/zHRwlvIJLnoFD26/web

How can we understand the value of technological.

Speakers

Jason Matheny

Dr. Jason Matheny became IARPA’s director in 2015, after serving as a program manager, associate office director, and office director. Before IARPA, he worked at Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity and Princeton University... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 12:40pm - 1:00pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

1:00pm PDT

Lunch

Sunday August 7, 2016 1:00pm - 2:20pm PDT
8. Lower Sproul 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

7. Social

1:00pm PDT

Careers in Politics and Policy with Richard Parr, former Special Advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron

Speakers

Richard Parr

Sunday August 7, 2016 1:00pm - 2:20pm PDT
i. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 9 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

1:00pm PDT

Office Hours: MIRI Researcher

Speakers

Scott Garrabrant

Research Fellow, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

Jessica Taylor

Research Fellow, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

Sunday August 7, 2016 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
h. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 8 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

1:20pm PDT

Office Hours: SCI

Speakers

Najwa al abdallah

Eric Rogstad

Kate Fantaguzzi

Alan Fenwick

Wendy Harrisson

Sunday August 7, 2016 1:20pm - 2:20pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

1:40pm PDT

Office Hours: Centre for Effective Altruism

Speakers

Will MacAskill

Sunday August 7, 2016 1:40pm - 3:20pm PDT
f. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 6 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Institute for EA

Speakers

Michelle Hutchinson

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
e. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 5 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:20pm PDT

Office Hours: CFAR

Speakers

Duncan Sabien

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:00pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

2:20pm PDT

Data-driven movement building panel

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/XJWBtwqFX0IM2oM/web

This panel will aim to discuss how EA can apply a data driven framework to creating positive social change, as well as, more generally, how rigorous analysis can be applied to the seemingly soft and qualitative cause prioritisation challenges.

Moderators

Tara Mac Aulay

Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Effective Altruism

Speakers

Sam Deere

Alexandre Sevigny

Director of Research and Insights at the Liberal Research Bureau in the Parliament of Canada and Associate Professor of Communications Management at McMaster University

Ken Strasma

CEO at HaystaqDNA; previously the National Targeting Director for Obama for America and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns.

Brett Thalmann

Managing Director of the Liberal Research Bureau in the Parliament of Canada and advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Chris Wylie

Political consultant and data scientist specializing in the forecasting of voter behavior.

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

2:20pm PDT

Forecasting and Predictions

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/7jKNMvtzXJDgZF0/web

Predicting what intervention will produce a positive impact using only expect consensus or deductive reasoning can be hard. Prediction markets and forecasting tournaments pose a potential solution. This panel will analyze how these tools can be used in the domain of cause prioritization.

Moderators

Julia Galef

Speakers

Owen Cotton Barratt

Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson is Assoc. Prof. of economics at George Mason University, & research associate at Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has a Caltech social science Ph.D., University of Chicago physics M.S & philosophy M.A., 9 years experience as A.I. research programmer... Read More →

Jason Matheny

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

2. Panel

2:20pm PDT

Lightning Talks II

10-minute talks on a large variety of topics.

Speakers

Sam Bankman-Fried

Tee Barnett

Chief Operations Officer, Students For High-Impact Charity

Dave Doody

Plant-based animal, newcomer to EA. Work as an engineer, instructor, proprietor, and author, all concurrently; 108,000 hours in career so far.

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

2:20pm PDT

80,000 Hours - Take Action on Your Plan

Make connections with job seekers in a similar situation to yourself, and help each other put your plans into action.

Speakers

Ben Todd

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

2:20pm PDT

Animal Charity Evaluators Intervention Research Workshop

Workshop describing Animal Charity Evaluators' intervention research methods and inviting participants to explore what its like to use them.

Speakers

Jacy Reese

Allison Smith

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

2:20pm PDT

Navigating intellectual disagreement II

A conversational technique by the Center for Applied Rationality for fruitfully resolving disagreements.

Speakers

McKenzi Amodei

Sunday August 7, 2016 2:20pm - 3:20pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

3:00pm PDT

Office Hours for GPP, CSER & CEA policy work

Speakers

Seb Farquhar

EA Policy, CEA

Sunday August 7, 2016 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
j. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 10 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:00pm PDT

Past, Present and Future of EA

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/jBuPEutycmq2ik8/web

Speakers

Tara Mac Aulay

Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Effective Altruism

Michael Page

Kerry Vaughan

Kerry is the Director of Effective Altruism Outreach for the Centre for Effective Altruism, Managing Director of EA Global and Managing Director of Effective Altruism Ventures. Kerry is also completing a PhD in philosophy specializing in applied ethics and value theory. Prior to joining... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

1. Talk

4:00pm PDT

Leveraging evidence to shape government policy and programs at scale

Submit questions at https://PollEv.com/discourses/614FoJPoKLcOt1K/web

J-PAL's executive director at MIT and policy staff working in India and Peru will share examples how evidence can influence public policy and social programs through partnerships with developing country governments at political, ministerial, and state levels.

Speakers

Vivian Bronsoler

Vivian Bronsoler joined J-PAL in September 2014 as a Policy Manager. Based in Mexico, she works on the promotion of scientific evidence to inform policy in Mexico and Central America by building partnerships with policymakers, providing technical assistance, and conducting policy... Read More →

Rachel Glennerster

Rachel Glennerster is Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research includes randomized evaluations of education, health, microfinance, community driven development, agriculture, women's empowerment... Read More →

Gautam Patel

Gautam Patel is a Senior Policy Manager at J-PAL South Asia and works to build partnerships with policymakers in the region to ensure that policy is driven by evidence and effective programs are scaled up.

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
2. Pauley Ballroom East 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

2. Panel

4:00pm PDT

Meat alternatives Q&A

Speakers

Gilonne d'Origny

Tim Geistlinger

Uma Valeti

Uma is laser focused on advancing the commercial viability of meat farmed directly from real meat cells. A cardiologist by training, he believes that meat that is safe and sustainable should be good for the body and the soul. He has extensive experience in entrepreneurship, business... Read More →

Oliver Zahn

Raised in Munich, Oliver studied Theoretical Astrophysics at Harvard before coming to Berkeley for a postdoctoral fellowship under Nobel Laureate George Smoot. After directing the Center for Cosmological Physics he decided to shift focus to environmental issues: as head of data science... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

3. Q&A

4:00pm PDT

Comparing Causes

If there are significant differences in how effectively work in different cause areas may help the world, then it could be extremely important to choose the best one. Many of us are explicitly or implicitly making judgements about this by choosing what to support, but we don't all agree. We can thrive as a movement of people co-operating despite disagreement, but it seems valuable to understand exactly how others trying to help the world effectively can come to different conclusions. In this workshop we'll collectively work to uncover some of this reasoning.

Speakers

Owen Cotton Barratt

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
5. Tilden Room 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

Fermi Modeling

Based on Heuristics and Biases research and Philip Tetlock's principles of good forecasting, Fermi modeling is a decision making and hypothesis generation technique. It involves 1) structuring one's thinking in terms of quantitative functions and 2) building many many models, quickly, by moving up and down levels of abstraction. Eli will teach the process and assist participants in using it on the topic of their choice.

Speakers

Eli Tyre

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

How to develop new hypotheses

Speakers

Geoff Anders

CEO, Paradigm Academy

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

Meta-Ethics Discussion Group

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

4:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Envision

Speakers

Luca Rade

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 5:40pm PDT
f. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 6 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:00pm PDT

80K Speed Coaching

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
n. Eshleman Hall - Room 338 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

80K Speed Coaching

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
p. Eshleman Hall - Room 250

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

80K Speed Coaching

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
o. Eshleman Hall - Room 350 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

4:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Leverage Research

Speakers

Emily Crotteau

Researcher, Theorist, Leverage Research

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
h. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 8 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Leverage Research

Speakers

Emily Crotteau

Researcher, Theorist, Leverage Research

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
h. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 8 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:00pm PDT

Office Hours: Paradigm Academy

Speakers

Geoff Anders

CEO, Paradigm Academy

Nevin Freeman

Miya Perry

Head of Training, Paradigm Academy

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
i. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 9 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

4:20pm PDT

Office Hours: Feedback on EA.org

Speakers

James Snowden

James is a Research Analyst and Chapter Coordinator at Giving What We Can. He has a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, graduating in the top 5 of his year; and a Masters in Economics and Philosophy from LSE. Before joining Giving What... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 4:20pm - 6:00pm PDT
g. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 7 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

5:00pm PDT

Biomedical Research

For those interested in biomedical and biochemical research

Speakers

Stephen Frey

Hi! I'm looking for collaborators in Los Angeles and around the world. Tell me how to learn about: - incentives in science - organization-building - making plans - applied research

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
m. Eshleman Hall - Room 318 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:00pm PDT

Democracy, liberty and decentralization tech e.g. Bitcoin

Philanthropic/p2p finance tech, DAO, decentralized system, liquid democracy and beyond :)

Speakers

Vienna

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
l. Eshleman Hall - Room 310 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:00pm PDT

Effective Outreach Strategies for EAs

To spread the message of EA most effectively, we need to apply the same research-based principles to our outreach as we do to charitable giving. This presentation will discuss the science and practice of effective outreach strategies that we as EAs can employ to achieve our communication goals. The session is organized by Intentional Insights, an EA meta-charity promoting EA-themed ideas to a broad audience and providing marketing support for EA movement members.

Speakers

Gleb Tsipursky

President, Intentional Insights

If you're interested in improving EA marketing or promoting EA-themed ideas to a broad audience, talk to me! I lead Intentional Insights, an EA meta-charity devoted to promoting EA-themed effective giving and rational thinking to broad audiences. We do three broad areas of activity: 1... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
k. Eshleman Hall - Room 212 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

6. Discussion Group

5:00pm PDT

Office Hours: 80,000 Hours Donor Q&A

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
j. Pauley Ballroom West - Table 10 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

9. Office Hours

5:40pm PDT

From Behavioral Economics to Public Policy

Cass Sunstein, author of the book "Nudge" and one of the world's most cited legal scholars is giving a talk on how modern behavioral economics helps us understand which policies work, and how we can design policies on the basis of modern scientific evidence.

Speakers

Cass Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard... Read More →

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:40pm - 6:20pm PDT
1. Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley, CA 94720

1. Talk

5:40pm PDT

Predicting the Future of Technology

Speakers

Robin Hanson

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
4. Senate Chambers 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

1. Talk

5:40pm PDT

Career ideas brainstorming session

A 20-minute talk by Nick

10 minutes of Q&A

20 minutes of discussion and brainstorming in small groups

10 more minutes of Q&A

The talk portion will include several specific jobs/focus areas to consider, apart from working at EA orgs and doing earning to give. Some of these ideas include: getting ML expertise, getting bioengineering expertise, getting experience in US policy, working in US intelligence and defense agencies, working on developing alternatives to animal products, starting more GiveWell top charities, and a couple of other specific ideas. I'll discuss how I'm generating this list and what kind of woldviews/views about cause prioritization might lead one to be more excited about some rather than others.

Speakers

Nick Beckstead

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
6. Mandrone 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

5:40pm PDT

Hacking college: How to optimize university to get valuable skills

Hacking college is a how-to guide for everything from finding knowledgeable mentors to bypassing course requirements, and a start to making college effective for Effective Altruists.

Speakers

Jordan Alexander

Sunday August 7, 2016 5:40pm - 6:40pm PDT
7. Bay View 2457 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

4. Workshop

5:40pm PDT

Strategy for the long-run

According to some moral views, the most important consequences of our actions may be their indirect effects and repercussions in the long-term. This poses a challenge for effective altruism, since we need to choose between actions, yet their repercussions may be extremely hard to predict. In this workshop I'll present some perspectives on how to evaluate strategies for their consequences on existential risk or other long-term effects. We'll then attempt explicit comparisons between actions in small groups.

Speakers