“Taking ethics seriously, and enjoying the process” by kuhanj

<p> Here's a talk I gave at an EA university group organizers’ retreat recently, which I've been strongly encouraged to share on the forum. I'd like to make it clear I don't recommend or endorse everything discussed in this talk (one example in particular which hopefully will be self-evident), but do think serious shifts in how we engage with ethics and EA would be quite beneficial for the world.</p><p><strong> Part 1: Taking ethics seriously</strong></p><p> To set context for this talk, I want to go through an Our World in Data style birds-eye view of how things are trending across key issues often discussed in EA. This is to help get better intuitions for questions like “How well will the future go by default?” and “Is the world on track to eventually solve the most pressing problems?” - which can inform high-level strategy questions like “Should we generally be doing more [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:32) Part 1: Taking ethics seriously</p><p>(04:26) Incentive shifts and moral progress</p><p>(05:07) What is incentivized by society?</p><p>(07:08) Heroic Responsibility</p><p>(11:30) Excerpts from Strangers drowning</p><p>(14:37) Opening our eyes to what is unbearable</p><p>(18:07) Increasing effectiveness vs. increasing altruism</p><p>(20:20) Cognitive dissonance</p><p>(21:27) Paragons of moral courage</p><p>(23:15) The monk who set himself on fire to protect Buddhism, and didn't flinch an inch</p><p>(27:46) What do I most deeply want to honour in this life?</p><p>(29:43) Moral Courage and defending EA</p><p>(31:55) Acknowledging opportunity cost and grappling with guilt</p><p>(33:33) Part 2: Enjoying the process</p><p>(33:38) Celebrating what's really beautiful - what our hearts care about</p><p>(42:08) Enjoying effective altruism</p><p>(44:43) Training our minds to cultivate the qualities we endorse</p><p>(46:54) Meditation isnt a silver bullet</p><p>(52:35) The timeless words of MLK</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> October 4th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/taking-ethics-seriously-and-enjoying-the-process?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/taking-ethics-seriously-and-enjoying-the-process</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/tivqabzgogpcuqbnmnby" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/tivqabzgogpcuqbnmnby" alt="Bar graph showing Harvard class of 2025 career destinations, led by finance." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/zkg22wuuoeihxummu9g7" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/zkg22wuuoeihxummu9g7" alt="Six graphs showing global progress across key metrics from 1820-2019: poverty, democracy, education, vaccination, literacy, and child mortality. Title: "The World as 100 People over the last two centuries."" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/biwhbfcbpjbnqushhvlf" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/biwhbfcbpjbnqushhvlf" alt="Survey graph showing preferences between lab-grown meat and animal meat alternatives." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/hwuatcmdjrbenjhdnka5" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/hwuatcmdjrbenjhdnka5" alt="This is a historically significant protest photograph of a Buddhist monk in self-immolation." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/ckisydw3dqvofoy6y4z6" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/ckisydw3dqvofoy6y4z6" alt="" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/iacnohfopq39k5xf4eo8" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/iacnohfopq39k5xf4eo8" alt="Graph showing number of land animals slaughtered for meat, 1961-2022." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/dpp4i8hxjqexlqtwlxkv" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/dpp4i8hxjqexlqtwlxkv" alt="Stacked area chart showing global population distribution across poverty levels, 1990-2025." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/kogv5ibugsvgwmqk7efu" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/kogv5ibugsvgwmqk7efu" alt="Graph showing U.S. per capita consumption of beef, pork, and poultry (1961-2022)." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/egimhcuy5sgirys9veoj" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/egimhcuy5sgirys9veoj" alt="Graph showing LLM release dates vs software engineering task completion times" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/jdn1s4ehhygoj4hx1tre" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gWyvAQztk75xQvRxD/jdn1s4ehhygoj4hx1tre" alt="Graph showing AI systems' performance compared to humans across different capabilities (1998-2023). The graph tracks progress in reading comprehension, image recognition, language understanding, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and predictive reasoning, starting at -100 and measuring against human baseline at zero." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>