The Introductory Fellowship is the best way to get up to speed on what Effective Altruism is all about. Meeting weekly in groups of four, we will more or less follow this curriculum:
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The Effectiveness Mindset
We’ll explore why it’s important to think carefully about how you spend your time and money to help others, and why a “scout mindset” is critical to finding the best opportunities.
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Differences in Impact
Some efforts to help appear to be much more effective than others. We’ll share a tool for estimating impact, and look into one promising focus area: reducing global poverty.
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Radical Empathy
Should we care about the suffering of non-human animals, as well as humans? Alongside this question, we’ll explain the ideas of expected value and impartial altruism.
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Our final century?
Humanity appears to face existential risks: the chance of a catastrophe that destroys our long-run potential. One such risk is from a future pandemic that is worse than COVID-19.
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What could the future hold? And why care?
What would the world look like if we took the interests of our grandkids’ grandkids as seriously as our own? This week, we’ll focus on longtermism, and look at a set of forecasting tools that might help us to predict the future.
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Smarter than us
Expert views and several different lines of argument suggest that transformative artificial intelligence may be developed this century. How might this change our future, and should we be worried?
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What do you think?
This is a chance to read and discuss critiques of the ideas introduced so far, to form your own view on these important and difficult topics.
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Putting it into Practice
We’ll discuss ways to apply the principles of effective altruism to your own life, particularly through your career.