EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

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Audio narrations from the Effective Altruism Forum, including curated posts, posts with 30 karma, and other great writing. If you'd like fewer episodes, subscribe to the "EA Forum (Curated & Popular)" podcast instead.

  1. 9H AGO

    “EAGxIndia 2025: A Call for Safety/Caution” by Nishit

    As members of the EA community in India, we feel compelled to register our concern about the timing & location of EAGxIndia 2025, scheduled for 13–14 December in New Delhi [1]. December is peak smog season in Delhi—a time when the city's air quality predictably descends into hazardous territory. The average reading breaches 400 (‘Severe' category per the CPCB), with ambient PM2.5 concentration up to 30 times higher than the WHO's recommended safety threshold. As of this drafting, the National Capital Region has logged three consecutive days of sustained "Severe" air quality: with the overall AQI readings of 428 on Nov 11, 418 on Nov 12, and 404 on Nov 13,2025. The decision to convene a major conference during this peak pollution period necessitates at least some direct exposure of participants to ambient PM2.5 levels that constitute a Class 1 carcinogen, inherently elevating the health-risk profile for all attendees. Detailed Notes on Delhi's Winter Air-Quality Crisis: 15 November 2024. People in New Delhi commute through thick winter smog as air quality reaches the “severe” category (AQI ≈ 424) according to the CPCB.  Photo: EPA/Rajat Gupta Every winter—especially after the late‑October Diwali festival—Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) drops from “moderate” or [...] --- Outline: (01:18) Detailed Notes on Delhi's Winter Air-Quality Crisis: (04:37) EAGxIndia 2025: Information Gap and Contradictory Protocols (06:34) Sources --- First published: November 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7qGHbvbMpCbfJ5gbS/eagxindia-2025-a-call-for-safety-caution --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. --- Images from the article: Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

    9 min

  2. 10H AGO

    “Everyday Clean Air” by Jeff Kaufman 🔸

    When the next pandemic hits our ability to stop it will depend on the infrastructure we already have in place. A key missing piece is clean indoor air. An airborne pathogen can be very hard to contain, and we would want to move fast to limit spread. But how quickly we can get measures in place, and how thoroughly they would work, depends critically on the base we have to build up from. Indoor air today is dirty by default. The air you breathe in is air others have breathed out, complete with a wide range of viruses and bacteria. It's a little gross if you think about it, and people do get sick a lot, but most of the time we just accept the downsides. If something really serious were going around, though, this isn't a risk we'd accept. We'd need clean air: some combination of replacing infected air with outside air (ventilation), physically removing pathogens (purifiers, masks), or inactivating pathogens (far-UVC, glycol vapors). I hear a lot about stockpiling as a way to set us up for clean air when we most need it. Get a lot of masks, air purifiers, far-UVC [...] --- First published: November 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2Gv9Ki4KH2ywGhcs5/everyday-clean-air --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    4 min

  3. 13H AGO

    “Prioritise soil animals over farmed invertebrates?” by Vasco Grilo🔸

    Summary I would say the total welfare of soil animals is overdetermined to be much larger than that of farmed invertebrates in absolute terms. The individual welfare per animal-year of soil ants and termites should not differ much from that of farmed invertebrates, and I calculate the population of soil ants and termites is 3.93 M times that of farmed black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and mealworms, and 652 k times that of farmed shrimps. Projects targeting soil animals receive way less funding than ones targeting farmed invertebrates. The Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) granted 460 k$ to projects targeting invertebrates until 7 November 2025. In contrast, the Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) received 2.9 M$ in 2024. I believe interventions changing land use can increase welfare much more cost-effectively than ones targeting farmed invertebrates. I estimate funding the Centre for Exploratory Altruism Research's (CEARCH's) High Impact Philanthropy Fund (HIPF), which I calculate increases agricultural land by 1.29 k m2-years per $, changes the welfare of soil ants, termites, springtails, mites, and nematodes 3.43 k times as cost-effectively as SWP's Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI) increases the welfare of shrimps. I recommend research on the welfare of soil animals in different biomes over pursuing whatever land use change interventions naively look the most cost-effective. I have little [...] --- Outline: (00:11) Summary (03:04) The total welfare of soil animals is much larger in absolute terms (08:37) Projects targeting soil animals receive way less funding (09:23) Interventions changing land use can increase welfare much more cost-effectively than ones targeting farmed invertebrates (10:29) I recommend research informing how to increase the welfare of soil animals (11:20) There is no escape from the uncertainty of the effects on soil animals (14:27) Interested in funding research informing how to increase the welfare of soil animals? (14:54) Acknowledgements --- First published: November 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7pwjTpiaD4ytj4W9Y/prioritise-soil-animals-over-farmed-invertebrates --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. --- Images from the article: Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

    15 min

  4. 18H AGO

    [Linkpost] “Request for Proposals: AI for Forecasting and Sound Reasoning” by Open Philanthropy

    This is a link post. Our Forecasting team just launched a new RFP focused on using AI to improve human reasoning in a structured and quantified way. The team plans to make grants in the $100k-$1M range for projects lasting between 6 months and 2 years; proposals will be accepted until at least January 30, 2026. The RFP includes two areas of interest: AI for forecasting: We are looking for proposals for AI models that help to make forecasts more accurate or more relevant. We are primarily interested in probabilistic, judgmental forecasting, i.e. quantitative forecasts that cannot be based fully on large sets of structured data. Aside from models that directly produce forecasts, ideally approaching or exceeding human performance on forecasting tasks, we’re also looking to fund work on models that perform one or more of the subtasks involved in using forecasts for decision-making, such as explaining the reasoning behind forecasts or building forecasting models. AI for sound reasoning: Modern AI models are being adopted at a rapid pace throughout society, including for high-stakes decisions in law, academia and policy. We expect this trend to continue over the coming years, and possibly accelerate. It seems crucial to us that models [...] --- First published: November 13th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/odjxgRHGqKAGin8aR/request-for-proposals-ai-for-forecasting-and-sound-reasoning Linkpost URL:https://www.openphilanthropy.org/request-for-proposals-ai-for-forecasting-and-sound-reasoning/ --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    3 min

  5. 22H AGO

    “How to network: lessons from 80,000 Hours’ advising team” by 80000_Hours, Zershaaneh Qureshi

    This post was originally published as a blog post on the 80,000 Hours website. Everyone talks about the importance of networking for a successful career. And they’re right — the people you connect with will shape your habits, the ideas you’re exposed to, and your job opportunities. But how do you actually network well? I (Zershaaneh) asked this question to 80,000 Hours' career advisors, who have helped thousands of people break into high-impact roles. Here's what they recommended. How to network The basics are simple: find people who can help you learn or move forward with your career, or who you can help. Increase your opportunities to connect with them, and try to build genuine relationships with the people you meet. Find the right people  Attend conferences, courses, and social events in your professional community, or one you'd like to be a part of. There are many opportunities to meet like-minded people in person and virtually — we have lots of recommendations to get you started on our community page. Get involved in online discourse. People often use social media, forums, and other online platforms to connect with others and discuss ideas. Whatever your interests are, there's probably an online [...] --- Outline: (00:45) How to network (01:02) Find the right people (02:47) Multiply your opportunities to network (03:47) Have great conversations and build relationships (05:03) Reaching out to people you don't know (06:07) More resources --- First published: November 14th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M9bpDP79x2GcRPsmv/how-to-network-lessons-from-80-000-hours-advising-team --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    7 min

  6. 1D AGO

    “If wild animal welfare is intractable, everything is intractable.” by mal_graham🔸

    Author's note: This is an adapted version of my recent talk at EA Global NYC (I’ll add a link when it's available). The content has been adjusted to reflect things I learned from talking to people after my talk. If you saw the talk, you might still be interested in the “some objections” section at the end. Summary Wild animal welfare faces frequent tractability concerns, amounting to the idea that ecosystems are too complex to intervene in without causing harm. However, I suspect these concerns reflect inconsistent justification standards rather than unique intractability. To explore this idea: I provide some context about why people sometimes have tractability concerns about wild animal welfare, providing a concrete example using bird-window collisions. I then describe four approaches to handling uncertainty about indirect effects: spotlighting (focusing on target beneficiaries while ignoring broader impacts), ignoring cluelessness (acting on knowable effects only), assigning precise probabilities to all outcomes, and seeking ecologically inert interventions. I argue that, when applied consistently across cause areas, none of these approaches suggest wild animal welfare is distinctively intractable compared to global health or AI safety. Rather, the apparent difference most commonly stems from arbitrarily wide "spotlights" applied to [...] --- Outline: (00:31) Summary (02:15) Consequentialism + impartial altruism → hard to do good (03:43) The challenge: Deep uncertainty and backfire risk (04:41) Example: Bird-window collisions (05:22) We don't actually understand the welfare consequences of bird-window collisions on birds (06:08) We don't know how birds would die otherwise (07:06) The effects on other animals are even more uncertain (09:16) Four approaches to handling uncertainty (10:08) Spotlighting (15:31) Set aside that which you are clueless about (18:31) Assign precise probabilities (20:06) Seek ecologically inert interventions (22:04) Some objections & questions (22:17) The global health comparison: Spotlighting hasnt backfired (for humans) (23:22) Action-inaction distinctions (25:01) Why should justification standards be the same? (26:53) Conclusion --- First published: November 14th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2YjqfYktNGcx6YNRy/if-wild-animal-welfare-is-intractable-everything-is --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    29 min

  7. 1D AGO

    “Why I Think OSP matters for Group Organisers | Spring 2026 Applications Open” by CEA Groups Team, Isobella

    TL;DR: Applications close Sunday, November 16th. If you're thinking about starting an EA group or improving an existing one, OSP gives you a mentor, structure, and resources to help you run a great group. Apply here! Current and past OSP participants - please share your experience in the comments! Applications for OSP's Spring 2026 round close this Sunday, November 16th. OSP is CEA's mentorship programme for university and city group organisers - it pairs you with an experienced mentor for structured planning and support at the start of your semester. I ran EA Manchester for two years (one of those I was an OSP mentee), then mentored over 10 groups through OSP. I now run the programme at CEA. This post explains what OSP actually does and shares what this round's participants said about how it helped them. What Actually Happens in OSP OSP is a three-week mentorship programme (with optional semester-long support). You get paired with a mentor who's run a group before and knows what works. There are structured planning workshops and a semester planning workbook. You also connect with other organisers - through group calls and a Slack workspace where you can ask questions [...] --- Outline: (01:11) What Actually Happens in OSP (02:35) What Changes: Things Organisers Tell Us (03:58) Who OSP Is For (04:41) Why I Think This Matters (06:18) The Practical Details (06:51) Apply Now --- First published: November 13th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tuHdXnNbaLwAK2thn/why-i-think-osp-matters-for-group-organisers-or-spring-2026-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    8 min

  8. 1D AGO

    “Possible Anthropic billionaires: discussion thread” by Toby Tremlett🔹

    Anthropic was started by a bunch of EAs/ EA interested people, and it still contains a bunch of EAs/ EA interested people. On plausible assumptions (i.e. if Anthropic stays an extremely valuable AI company, it goes public at some point in the next few years, and at that point, employees who have equity sell some of it), several ~EA-aligned employees of Anthropic could become (multi?) billionaires. They may want to spend that money quickly, especially if they expect the world to be unpredictable post-intelligence explosion. This may mean drastically more funding for EA. Depending on Anthropic's valuation, this could be more than 100 billion/ year. Some questions for this thread: How plausible do you find this basic story? What odds would you put on Anthropic going public/ employees giving billions to EA aligned causes? The general vibe was that EA as a community was unprepared for the influx of money from FTX in 2022, and this had some negative effects on the culture. If we assumed that a similar or larger amount of money would be injected into EA-aligned causes in 2027… how could we prepare better this time? What else should we do in preparation for scenarios [...] --- First published: November 14th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/acHJKBcs6ekyLqzay/possible-anthropic-billionaires-discussion-thread --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

    3 min
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About

Audio narrations from the Effective Altruism Forum, including curated posts, posts with 30 karma, and other great writing. If you'd like fewer episodes, subscribe to the "EA Forum (Curated & Popular)" podcast instead.

Information

  • Creator
    EA Forum Team
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    250
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

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