Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 2

If you think about what makes someone a good person, you might think about their values, their character, their integrity. But researchers who study effective altruism argue that being a good person is not enough — you also have to think carefully about how to translate good intentions into good outcomes.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 2

If you want to do the most good in the world, you should think carefully about where to direct your efforts. The problem is that our intuitions about impact are often badly miscalibrated — we're drawn to problems that are visible and emotional rather than problems that are large and tractable.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 2

If you want to help others, you should be aware that a lot of the most important work happens in unglamorous places, doing unglamorous things. The problems that are easiest to see and that tug most at our heartstrings are not always the problems where we can do the most good.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

If you want to make a difference, the best thing you can do is to give to the most effective charities, not the ones that make you feel the best. The difference in impact between the most effective charities and average charities isn't 10% or 50% — it's often 100 times or more.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

If you want to make a difference, the truth is that some ways of helping are far more effective than others — and the differences between them are not marginal. They can be enormous, sometimes a factor of 10, 100, or even 1,000 times more impactful.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

Most of us are limited in how much we can give. But what if the key to maximizing our impact isn't just giving more, but giving smarter? Research by psychologist Paul Bloom and philosopher Peter Singer suggests that where you donate matters enormously — that some charities are hundreds or even thousands of times more effective than others.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

If you want to help others, you might assume the best approach is to focus on problems that affect the most people. But our guest says that's not quite right. She argues that what matters most isn't how many people are affected by a problem, but how many people are already working on it.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

Most people think about doing good in terms of the actions they take — the causes they support, the donations they make, the volunteer hours they put in. But researchers who study effective altruism say there's a factor that dwarfs all of these in importance: career choice. The career you choose will determine how much money you have to give, what skills you develop, and what problems you're positioned to solve.

EconTalk

Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd)

"Follow your passion" turns out to be a trap. Chasing a big paycheck barely moves the happiness needle. And being a doctor has a smaller impact than you might think, says Todd.

Founders

#416 The Relentless Missionary Creating AGI: Demis Hassabis

This episode is about a once-in-a-generation mind working on what may be the most important problem in history.