80,000 Hours - Narrations

Local laws often prohibit the construction of dense new housing, which drives up prices, especially in a few large high-wage urban areas. The increased prices transfer wealth from renters to landowners and push people away from centers of economic activity Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (01:25) Our overall view (02:15) What is this problem and how much does it matter? (02:20) What is our analysis ba...

Our overall view Sometimes recommended We’d love to see more people working on this issue. But you might be able to do even more good working on one of our top priority problem areas. See the scores for all problems we've investigated. --> Profile depth Exploratory That's the end of the summary. The main problem profile begins now. Why might voting reform be a pressing issue? We often elect our le...

Our overall view Sometimes recommended Working on this problem could be among the best ways of improving the long-term future, but we know of fewer high-impact opportunities to work on this issue than on our top priority problems. See the scores for all problems we've investigated. --> Profile depth Exploratory That's the end of the summary. The main problem profile begins now. Why might it be hig...

China will likely play an especially influential role in determining the outcome of many of the biggest challenges of the next century. India also seems very likely to be important over the next few decades, and many other non-western countries — for example, Russia — are also major players on the world stage. A lack of understanding and coordination between all these countries and the West means...

If you already have a strong existing skill set, is there a way to apply that to one of the key problems? If there's any option in which you might excel, it's usually worth considering, both for the potential impact and especially for the career capital; excellence in one field can often give you opportunities in others. This is even more likely if you're part of a community that's coordinating or...

Learning programming will let you apply your skills to high-impact specialisms like software engineering, information security or technical AI safety research. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:34) Key facts on fit (00:53) Why is a programming skill set valuable? (01:28) What does building a programming skill set involve? (02:53) How to evaluate your fit (02:57) How to predict your fit in advance (...

For the right person, gaining and applying AI hardware skills to risk-reducing AI governance work could be their most impactful option. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (03:38) Pros (03:53) Cons (04:13) Key takeaways on fit (04:48) Recommended (04:57) Review status (05:03) Why might becoming an expert in AI hardware be high impact? (11:02) Want one-on-one advice on pursuing this path? (11:23) What doe...

Working in policy is among the most effective ways to have a positive impact in key fields. Getting a policy master’s degree can be a big help in this path. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (01:12) Summary of Part 1 (01:16) What's the value of a master's for policy work? (01:47) If I want to do a master's, when should I do it? (02:31) What are the best graduate degrees for policy work? (03:18) Where s...

The US Government is likely to be a key actor in how advanced AI is developed and used in society. Learn more about this career path. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (01:12) Summary (02:56) The aims of AI policy (04:11) Advanced AI as a coordination problem (05:22) Definitions: artificial general intelligence and other types of advanced AI system (06:14) Key actors (08:02) Which parts of AI policy do...

This is Part 3 of an updated version of a classic three-part series of 80,000 Hours blog posts. You can also read updated versions of Part 1 and Part 2. You can still read the original version of the series published in 2012. It's fair to say working as a doctor does not look that great so far. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (01:17) Doing doctoring better (03:42) Go where doctors are needed most (06...

Is medicine the most promising career path if you want to do good? This series of posts examines the impact of being a doctor in terms of saving lives. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (03:58) Confounding and causation (05:27) The real number is almost surely lower (07:23) How my chequebook beat my stethoscope (11:02) How many lives does a doctor save? (Part 3) (11:14) Learn more: The original text co...

This is Part 1 of an updated version of a classic three-part series of 80,000 Hours blog posts. You can also read updated versions of Part 2 and Part 3. You can still read the original version of the series published in 2012. Doctors have a reputation as do-gooders. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (03:13) Is medicine a determinant of health? (09:26) Medical care (and medical careers) in context (13:3...

Global priorities research seeks to use new methods to determine in which causes funding to improve the world can have the biggest impact, and make a convincing case about this to people in a position to redirect large amounts of money. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:13) How would you spend $500 billion? (01:54) Summary (02:25) Our overall view (03:36) What is global priorities research? (04:15)...

As the 2016 US presidential campaign was entering a fractious round of primaries, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta, opened a disturbing email. This account is based on public reporting of the incident in outlets including Vox, Vice, and CNN. The March 19 message warned that his Gmail password had been compromised and that he urgently needed to change it. The email was a lie. It wasn’...

A brief introduction to what expected value is, how we can use it to work out what's best to do, and some of the main objections to it. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:16) What is expected value? (02:05) Why use expected value? (03:31) Expected value is a theoretical ideal, not a practical methodology (05:20) Is expected value all that matters? (06:09) Expected value and risk (08:00) Objections t...

In a nutshell: For the right person, becoming a journalist could be very impactful. Good journalists help keep people informed, positively shape public discourse on important topics, and can provide a platform for people and ideas that the public might not otherwise hear about. But the most influential positions in the field are highly competi\ve, and journalists face a lot of mixed incentives tha...

Will the future of humanity be wild, or boring? It's natural to think that if we're trying to be sober and measured, and predict what will really happen rather than spin an exciting story, it's more likely than not to be sort of... dull. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (05:44) Read the full series (06:33) Learn more (07:27) What are the most pressing world problems? (07:39) Enter your email and we’ll...

We think most people's highest-impact options involve working directly on solving pressing global problems. But if you want to focus on having an impact by donating part of your income (earning to give) and will thrive in a quantitative trading role Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:41) Sometimes recommended — personal fit dependent (00:53) Review status (00:58) Why earning to give in quantitative...

It would be better for the future if we avoid extinction, manage our resources carefully, foster institutions that promote cooperation rather than violent conflict, and responsibly develop powerful technology. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:38) The case for longtermism (05:08) 1. We should care about how the lives of future individuals go (07:35) 2. The number of future individuals whose lives m...

Why you should avoid harmful jobs, even if you’ll do more good. We look at how to analyse the situation and common options, like finance, law, and oil. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:18) Negative impact is unavoidable (05:04) Why to avoid careers with significant negative impact, even if you think you'll do more good (06:10) 1. It might violate rights (non-consequentialist reasons) (07:32) 2. It...

Some people have skills that are better suited to earning money than the other strategies. These people can take a higher earning career and donate the money to effective organisations. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:21) What is earning to give? (03:47) Why earn to give? (04:39) It gives you flexibility. (05:47) You may be able to have a greater impact through earning to give. (08:39) Earning to...

The recording may not reflect the most recent changes to this article. We advise people to work on problems that are important but neglected, and to try to increase the contribution they’re able to have. These steps make it easier to have a big impact, but they also increase your potential to make things worse: the more important the problem, the worse it is to set it back; the more neglected an a...

Governments and other important institutions frequently have to make complex, high-stakes decisions based on the judgement calls of just a handful of people. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:15) Summary (00:38) Our overall view (02:33) What is this issue? (06:03) What parts of the problem seem most promising to work on? (06:45) Forecasting (12:17) Prediction aggregators and prediction markets (14:...

One of the most common career paths for people who want to do good is healthcare. So we worked with a doctor, Greg Lewis, to estimate the number of lives saved by a typical clinical doctor in the UK. Greg estimated that the average doctor enables the people they treat to live several hundred years of extra healthy life over the course of their career -- equivalent to saving several lives. This is...

Media highlights Want to do more good? This movement might have the answer, TIME What's the best job to do good?, BBC Radio 4 Can Your Career Help Change the World? You Have 80,000 Hours to Try, The Wall Street Journal How to pick a career that counts: A simple guide to choosing a career where you can make an impact, Vox To help save the world, become a banker not a doctor, The Economist Don't fol...