For our give-it-ago Friday (11th) 6:15-8;15 in Chancellor's Building 3.10! We'll have snacks as usual :). You don't need to have indicated availability to come/bring friends!
We're kicking off the EA Intro Fellowship with a special "Give-it-a-go" session in Week 1
No commitment beyond the first session – just come along and see what it's all about!
In this first session we will learn about some of the practical constraints we face when trying to do as much good as possible. We will also learn about some key cognitive biases we face that can prevent us from prioritizing the most effective causes. Finally, we will see just how much more impact some charities can have than others, and why that matters.
There’ll be a presentation, some time to dive into topics, and a group discussion (~2 hours).
📖 Our recommended readings for this week are:
Introduction to effective altruism (15 mins.) (https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/introduction-to-effective-altruism)
Comparing charities: How big is the difference? (5 mins.) (https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/charity-comparisons)
The moral imperative towards cost-effectiveness (10 mins.) (https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/research/the-moral-imperative-towards-cost-effectiveness)
If you'd like to do the readings but struggle to find the time, come at 5:45 to work together through them! We'll do a presentation summarising and expanding on them, but it's not a perfect substitute for reading it yourself.
I find it much easier to get things done in a room with others and I hope it'll be a good chance to ask questions and go down rabbit holes before the session starts properly! You can find the readings in the above message. Definitely don't feel you need to have read them before the session, but even a skim is helpful
Thanks for reading all this! - Jian Xin