This is the first post about 80k on LW by an 80k volunteer/staff member, and like Randaly says, the only two posts in the last 6 months to significantly feature 80k were about arguments for and against professional philanthropy.
Apologies for the ‘collage of buzzwords’ impression. I didn’t include a detailed description of 80k and its purpose, like the THINK post, because I wasn’t intending it to be an advert. Rather, I was intending it to be a survey. For this reason I also didn’t include much detail about what our existing work is about, hoping not to bias people towards mentioning certain topics. That was obviously a bad idea.
For what it’s worth. Here’s the areas we’re currently investigating. We’d be interested to hear which of these are of particular interest, and more interested to hear about similar types of question that you think are really important.
Which people can have the most impact in research careers? When does working in research trump funding research?
How should we factor our own happiness into career decisions? What leads to job satisfaction and how realistic is it to take jobs in industries we’re not passionate about?
Among the ‘effective altruist’ and xrisk organisations, which have the greatest need for more funding or skills of various sorts?
What are the best funding and career opportunities within the cause of reducing animal suffering?
Which biases and heuristics particularly affect altruistic career decisions? How can we make good career decisions?
Now vs Later issues—should I invest in training in order to earn more in the future? should I give my money now or give it later?
How many lives does someone typically save by becoming a doctor? How much can you earn as a doctor?
What opportunities are there to increase the effectiveness of large budgets by becoming some kind of grant maker?
What are the best careers tests out there? Which are based on good evidence?
Thanks for the write up Larks. We’re currently looking for people to get involved with writing and researching similar articles. If you might be interested, email me: ben@80000hours.org