Effective altruism is about answering one question: how can we use our time, , attention, and resources to do the most good for others? Learn more here: www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/introduction-to-effective-altruism.

EA Berkeley's Introductory Fellowship is a 10-week program for anyone hoping to explore answers to that question! Fellows will:

- Examine the "effectiveness mindset;" how can altruists leverage evidence, and reason clearly?

- Survey the "problem landscape;" which issues should we care about?

- Evaluate solutions; how can we improve the greatest number of lives?

- Engage in “redteaming”; where have efforts gone wrong, and how can we be on the lookout for potential issues?

- Participate in 1-1 mentorship & career advising

- Hear from professors and experts in the relevant fields!

- Join a community of empathetic, open-minded, intellectually curious students!

Workload: 

1.5 hours of reading + 1.5 hours group discussion each week!  

This semester’s application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Y6GxTCUkev8up9Q7OiwsNVD9NLZLNGdfBMNsxdzyPBA/edit#response=ACYDBNh_B5763PqSRLMyu_25pusSNlUpwz8txoU4JzrJr7dvi4qXXRK7KJov1vsNVp67WUY

Our Intro reading group is catered to people who are new to hearing about effective altruism. It introduces people to concepts such as epistemic humility and causes areas including animal welfare, global health, and the prevention of existential risk.

The intro reading group is offered as a Decal during the school year, which UC Berkeley Students can take for course credit.

You can find our sample syllabus here.

Our In-Depth reading group is an opportunity for EAs who have completed the intro fellowship and have a desire to learn and engage with deeper philosophical concepts. The in-depth reading group dives more into future-proof ethics, longtermism, personal fit and criticisms of EA.

You can find our sample syllabus here.

‘What We Owe the Future’ is a book by Will MacAskill that was released this month. The book is MacAskill’s case for longtermism, the view that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time. The book addresses a host of fascinating topics like artificial intelligence, pandemics, global conflict, stagnation, population ethics, and much more.

You can find an interest for for the reading group here.