Scott Alexander reviews the results of the Impact Market Mini-Grants test run, discussing the top projects and lessons learned about this novel charitable funding method. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reports on the results of the Impact Market Mini-Grants, a novel way of running charitable grants where investors fund promising projects and grantmakers buy credit for successes. The test run involved 18 forecasting-related projects, with judges assessing their final value. Most projects lost money for investors, but a few were highly successful. Scott discusses the top five projects, including a rationality education program at the University of Maryland, a forecasting tournament, a tool for making Kelly-optimal bets, a paper on forecasting long-term impacts, and an ambitious impact assessment project in India. He reflects on the lessons learned from this experiment, noting both successes and challenges in implementing the impact market concept. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander argues that misusing terms like 'democratic' and 'accountable' can inadvertently justify totalitarianism, and suggests more careful usage of these terms. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques the misuse of terms like 'democratic' and 'accountable', arguing that when taken to extremes, they can justify totalitarianism. He illustrates this through examples in religious freedom, charitable donations, and AI development, showing how demands for complete 'democracy' or 'accountability' in all aspects of life can lead to the erosion of personal freedoms. The post suggests that these terms should be used more carefully, with 'democratic' applied mainly to government structures and 'accountable' reserved for specific power dynamics, to avoid inadvertently promoting totalitarian ideas. Shorter summary

Scott updates readers on the Impact Market Mini-Grants project, detailing recent developments and the project timeline. Longer summary

Scott Alexander provides an update on the Impact Market Mini-Grants project, which tests a new model of charitable funding. The post outlines recent developments, including an increase in the potential funding pot, the submission of 16 projects, and the start of the investment phase for accredited investors. It also details the current schedule for the project, from the deadline for submissions to the final funding decisions in September. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander announces a $20,000 grants round for forecasting projects using impact certificates, explaining the process for creators and investors. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces the Forecasting Impact Mini-Grants, a $20,000 grants round for forecasting projects using impact certificates. The post explains how creators can propose projects on Manifund, how accredited investors can participate, and how the funding will work. It also covers the role of Manifold Markets, the legal and financial aspects, and addresses various questions about eligibility, funding sources, and potential risks. The initiative aims to test impact markets as a charitable funding mechanism while supporting forecasting-related projects. Shorter summary

A review of 'The Anti-Politics Machine' by James Ferguson, discussing its critique of development projects and implications for Effective Altruism. Longer summary

This post reviews 'The Anti-Politics Machine' by James Ferguson, which critiques development projects in Lesotho. The reviewer highlights two key ideas: the concept of 'development discourse' that leads to misinterpretation of local contexts, and the 'anti-politics machine' critique of technocratic decision-making. The review discusses how these ideas apply to modern development economics and Effective Altruism, suggesting the need for more qualitative research, emphasis on local context, and consideration of political implications in charitable work. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander shares the second half of ACX Grants, presenting 59 diverse project proposals seeking funding or support. Longer summary

Scott Alexander presents the second half of ACX Grants, a list of projects seeking funding or support that he couldn't fully fund himself. The post includes 59 diverse project proposals (numbered 67-125) covering topics such as medical research, technology development, social initiatives, and scientific studies. Each proposal includes a brief description of the project, its goals, and contact information for those interested in supporting or collaborating. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander announces Grants ++, asking unfunded ACX Grant applicants to resubmit concise proposals for potential reader funding. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces the next phase of ACX Grants called Grants ++, where unfunded proposals will be published for readers to potentially offer funding. Due to challenges with unclear instructions and the large volume of proposals, Scott is asking applicants to resubmit their proposals in a concise one-paragraph format (max 1500 characters). He provides examples of the desired format and sets guidelines for inclusion, such as allowing startups only if they have a charitable aspect. Applicants are instructed to submit their paragraphs through a provided link by January 28, 2022, with the understanding that submissions are final and cannot be changed once sent. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander announces ACX Grants, offering $250,000 to fund promising research and projects, with potential for additional funding through partnerships. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces ACX Grants, a program to fund good research and projects with minimal paperwork. He's allocating $250,000 of his own money and hopes to supplement with more from other sources. The grants aim to support projects that could make the world better but might not attract traditional funding. Applications are open for two weeks, with winners announced 2-4 weeks later. Scott also introduces ACX Grants+ and ACX Grants++, which involve forwarding promising projects to other potential funders or publicizing them on his blog, respectively. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander reviews 'Just Giving' by Rob Reich, criticizing its arguments against philanthropy by showing how they could also be used to condemn book-writing. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews Rob Reich's book 'Just Giving', which critically examines philanthropy's role in democracy. Scott finds the book's arguments troubling, as they could be applied to condemn any productive activity. He demonstrates this by rewriting sections of the book, replacing 'charity' with 'books', showing how the same logic could make book-writing seem undemocratic and problematic. While Scott agrees with some of Reich's points, he finds the overall tone and implications concerning. The review highlights the book's data on charitable giving patterns and its conclusion that philanthropy can diversify represented interests and allow for social policy experimentation. However, Scott criticizes the book's tendency to 'darkly hint' at philanthropy being bad, even while ultimately concluding it can serve a useful purpose. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander creates an interactive geographic-style map visualizing the landscape of effective altruism, including cause areas, organizations, and key individuals. Longer summary

Scott Alexander presents a visual map of the effective altruism (EA) movement, inspired by his previous map of the rationalist diaspora. The map is organized as a geographical representation where continents represent cause areas, cities represent charities or organizations, and mountains represent influential individuals within the EA community. The interactive map includes clickable links with explanatory title-text for various elements. Scott acknowledges AG's assistance in setting up the imagemap functionality. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander offers a guide for lazy people to donate to effective charities, ranging from easy options like EA Funds to more specific recommendations in various cause areas. Longer summary

Scott Alexander provides a guide for people who want to donate to effective charities but are very lazy. He suggests donating to EA Funds as the easiest option, which allows experts to allocate funds to the best charities. For those with slightly more energy, he recommends checking charity-evaluating organizations like GiveWell, Animal Charity Evaluators, and others. He also mentions specific charities in areas like AI safety, climate change, and election science. For the truly skeptical, he suggests GiveDirectly, which gives money directly to poor people in Africa. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander compares political spending to the almond industry, revealing surprisingly low amounts in politics due to coordination problems. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the surprisingly low amount of money in politics compared to other industries, using the almond industry as a benchmark. He notes that all US spending on candidates, PACs, lobbying, think tanks, and advocacy organizations combined is less than the annual revenue of the almond industry. The post examines various sectors of political spending and media properties, highlighting their relatively low monetary value. Scott discusses three reasons why this is surprising: ordinary people's political engagement, wealthy individuals' interests, and corporate influence post-Citizens United. He considers potential explanations, including Ansolabehere's argument about the ineffectiveness of political spending, but ultimately suggests that coordination problems are the main factor preventing more money from entering politics. The post concludes by drawing a parallel between political spending and charitable giving, arguing that the same coordination problems affect both areas. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander compares setting moral standards to economic price-setting, arguing that more achievable standards might lead to better outcomes than unattainably high ones. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the question of how to set moral standards in society, comparing it to a price-setting problem in economics. He argues that setting the bar for being a 'good person' too high can be counterproductive, as it might discourage people from trying at all. The post suggests that a more effective approach might be to set standards that are ambitious but achievable, similar to how companies set goals for employees. Scott shares personal anecdotes about charitable giving and vegetarianism to illustrate how lower, more attainable standards can sometimes lead to better outcomes. He also discusses the idea of aiming to be above average morally, and how this could lead to gradual societal improvement. The post concludes by proposing that individuals might benefit from practicing 'price discrimination' on themselves, setting personal moral standards at the highest level they can sustainably maintain. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander attends the Effective Altruism Global 2017 conference, describing both the practical charity work and bizarre philosophical speculations of the movement, ultimately admiring their genuine commitment to doing good. Longer summary

Scott Alexander describes his experience at the Effective Altruism Global 2017 conference in San Francisco. He details the impressive scale of charitable work being done by various EA organizations, but also highlights the more unusual and philosophical aspects of the movement. These range from concerns about wild animal suffering to speculations about consciousness and fundamental physics. Scott reflects on how the EA movement combines practical, data-driven charity work with deeply weird philosophical explorations. He concludes by expressing admiration for the genuine goodness and dedication of the EA community, seeing them as a bright spot in a troubled world. Shorter summary

Elizabeth Van Nostrand explains how the International Refugee Assistance Project's (IRAP) ground-level work with refugees enabled a rapid response to Trump's immigration ban, highlighting the importance of maintaining emergency response capacity. Longer summary

This guest post by Elizabeth VanNostrand discusses the importance of organizations like the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in responding to crises such as Trump's immigration ban. The author explains how IRAP's day-to-day work with individual refugee cases positioned them to respond quickly and effectively when the ban was implemented. The post highlights the value of maintaining capacity for emergency response, even when it may seem inefficient during non-crisis periods. It also emphasizes the importance of partnerships between organizations like IRAP and larger, more established groups like the ACLU. The author concludes by encouraging donations to IRAP or similar small charities doing ground-level work. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores the hidden prevalence of misery in society, using his psychiatric experience and statistical analysis to argue that suffering is more widespread than commonly perceived. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reflects on the prevalence of misery and hardship in society, based on his experiences as a psychiatrist. He describes typical patient profiles that showcase severe life difficulties, and contrasts this with the tendency of people to socially filter for those similar to themselves. The post then presents statistics on various forms of suffering and runs a simulation to estimate how common these issues are in the general population. The author concludes that the world is likely much worse than most people realize, even in seemingly prosperous areas, and cautions against dismissing the problems of any particular group. He suggests that this realization might motivate people to contribute to efforts to improve the world, such as through charitable donations. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines the concept of infinite debts in personal and societal contexts, proposing a practical approach of paying manageable 'interest' rather than attempting full repayment. Longer summary

This post explores the concept of infinite debts and their implications in personal relationships and society. Scott starts with an anecdote about a patient wanting her son to take care of her, then extends this to societal obligations. He discusses the problems with both accepting infinite debts and denying them entirely. The post concludes by suggesting a practical middle ground: paying a manageable 'interest' on these debts without trying to clear them entirely. Scott uses examples like caring for elderly parents, societal obligations, and charitable giving to illustrate his points. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander describes a fictional society's use of symbolic bead necklaces to redirect status games towards charitable giving. Longer summary

This post describes a fictional society called Raikoth and its innovative approach to redirecting status games towards charitable giving. The society uses a system of symbolic beads worn as necklaces to convey personal information and social protocols. The most significant part of this system involves government-issued beads that indicate income levels and charitable donations. This setup encourages wealthy individuals to donate to charity to maintain their status, effectively turning charitable giving into the primary status game in the society. The post explores how this system might work and its potential effects on social behavior and wealth signaling. Shorter summary