Effective Altruism: Ten Global Problems – 80,000 Hours (October 2021)

Effective altruism in a nutshell

Effective Altruism: Ten Global Problems is a collection of ten top episodes of the 80,000 Hours Podcast, designed to bring you up to speed on ten pressing issues the effe

One: Toby Ord on existential risks

In 2020, Oxford academic and 80,000 Hours trustee Dr Toby Ord released his book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. It's about how our long-term f

Two: Rachel Glennerster on global poverty

If I told you it’s possible to deliver an extra year of ideal primary-level education for 30 cents, would you believe me? Hopefully not – the claim is absurd on its face.

Three: Andy Weber on pandemics and nuclear wars

COVID-19 has provided a vivid reminder of the damage biological threats can do. But the threat doesn’t come from natural sources alone. Weaponized contagious diseases — w

Four: Brian Christian on artificial intelligence

Brian Christian is a bestselling author with a particular knack for accurately communicating difficult or technical ideas from both mathematics and computer science. The

Five: Lewis Bollard on factory farming

Every year tens of billions of animals are raised in terrible conditions in factory farms before being killed for human consumption. Despite the enormous scale of sufferi

Six: Jennifer Doleac on criminal justice reform

The killing of George Floyd has prompted a great deal of debate over whether the US should shrink its police departments. The research literature suggests that the presen

Seven: Ezra Klein on journalism

How many words in U.S. newspapers have been spilled on tax policy in the past five years? And how many words on CRISPR? Or meat alternatives? Or how AI may soon automate

Eight: Mark Lynas on climate change

A golf-ball sized lump of uranium can deliver more than enough power to cover all your lifetime energy use. To get the same energy from coal, you’d need 3,200 tonnes of t

Nine: Dave Denkenberger on feeding the world through catastrophes

If a nuclear winter or asteroid impact blocked the sun for years, our inability to grow food would result in billions dying of starvation, right? According to Dr Dave Den

Ten: Persis Eskander on wild animal suffering

Most animals are hunted by predators, and constantly have to remain vigilant lest they be killed, and perhaps experience the terror of being eaten alive. Resource competi

What's next

Now you've finished Effective Altruism: Ten Global Problems, here's what we suggest you do next. And if you’ve listened to this series and found the ideas resonated with