What is effective altruism?

Note: This topic has been moved to January 4th! We will be criticizing ourselves on January 18th instead.

Introduction & Personal Updates

We start each meeting by going around the table and giving updates about EA-related events in our personal lives, followed by plans until the next meetup. The idea is to share activities the group might be interested in and encourage each other.

What is effective altruism?

What do we actually mean by 'effective altruism'? How would you explain the meaning of these two words? What is new about the idea, compared to conventional altruism? What does effective altruism mean to you?
I'll show a few common descriptions, and you can determine to what extend you agree with them.

For new people, this might be a good introduction to the topic. For regular visitors, this meetup is an opportunity to clear up your mind.

Here are 2 short blogposts explaining the foundations of effective altruism. The third one is a collection of furthergoing links.

GiveWell on Effective Altruism (http://blog.givewell.org/2013/08/13/effective-altruism/)
What is effective altruism? (http://effective-altruism.com/ea/45/what_is_effective_altruism/) By Will MacAskill
More links (http://effective-altruism.com/ea/6x/introduction_to_effective_altruism/)

For the regular visitors we have the chance at this meetup to talk about questions such as:

How much sacrifice should effective altruism involve? (http://effective-altruism.com/ea/4r/cheerfully/)
What should an effective altruist be commited to? (http://www.effective-altruism.com/ea/cf/what_should_an_effective_altruist_be_committed_to/)

Practical

Note that the location has been changed to the La Place.We have this Google Doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/16bBtla1iVzkJjie-JK7Ozb9Ao8SbyJ9U924XyaEXTqY/edit?usp=sharing) where anyone can make suggestions, also for the coming meetups. And feel free to join our facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/262932060523750/?ref=br_tf) as well.

If you have trouble finding us you can reach me (Sören) at 0031684140766.