The Introductory Effective Altruism Program
Increase your impact and connect with like-minded people
Through this program, you'll learn the key ideas of Effective Altruism with a small group of other people who care deeply about improving the lives of others in the most effective ways they can.
Guided by a facilitator, you will learn new concepts, frameworks and counterintuitive ideas to help you have more impact in your career, donations and other projects.
Date: From Jun 2024 (every Thursday)
Duration: 6 weeks
Time: 7:00pm HKT (check duration of each week below)
Address: 2a, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield, Kennedy Town
Location: The HQ Cowork, Kennedy Town
Cost: No fees
With limited resources, how can we do the most good?
Doing good better is one of the defining challenges of our time. Given resource constraints, it is crucial that we make the most effective use of what we have in order to create the greatest positive impact possible. This Introductory program helps you think about how to do good effectively and helps you to reflect on how to maximise your potential to make a difference.
How it works
6 week program
4-6 participants
Weekly 1-1.5 hours discussion with a cohort of 4 to 6 participants and one facilitator
Global alumni groups
Access to Slack group with others who care about maximising their impact and learn about the latest initiatives to take action.
3-3.5 hours per week
2 hours prep
Before attending each session, you will spend about 2 hours completing a set of curated readings, podcasts or videos (and sometimes a brief written exercise).
1-1.5 hours discussions
Discuss the ideas you have read with your seminar and facilitator in-person. Exchange and update your views with each other.
Questions you'll explore
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Who should we care about helping?
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How much better are the best options to do good?
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What can we do to prevent the next pandemic?
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How can we make better decisions together?
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How does climate change compare to other risks?
Syllabus
Session 1*
- Part 1: 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.
- Part 2: 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.
Session 2 - 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.
Session 3*
- Part 1: Pandemics and other Existential risks
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.
- Part 2: What could the future hold?
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.
Session 4 - AI Safety and Governance
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?
Session 5 - 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.
Session 6 - Putting into practice
We’ll discuss ways to apply the principles of effective altruism to your own life, particularly through your career.