Human civilization has been around for about 50,000 years so far; however, many dangerous technologies with the potential to destroy human civilization have emerged in just the past several decades, including nuclear weapons and bioengineered pathogens. Other dangerous technologies, like transformative artificial intelligence, may be just over the horizon. Our responses to these threats in […]

An estimated 50 billion chickens are killed on factory farms each year. Agriculture is responsible for 10-12% of greenhouse gas emissions; meat, poultry, and dairy farming produce nearly three quarters of that total. What can be done to reduce the harm caused by factory farming? What advocacy strategies have already proven effective? What role can […]

Please join HLS and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Effective Altruism community members for dinner and discussion. This week's dinner will be hosted at the HKS campus. All members of the Harvard community are welcome! Please click here to RSVP.

How important is the governance and regulation of artificial intelligence? How would we know? What are some of the ways law and policy might shape its development and use, now and in the future? Please join us for an informal discussion hosted by HLS Effective Altruism, the Journal of Law & Technology, and the Law […]

Are some charities more effective than others? Does it make sense to rank charities based on “effectiveness”? Charity evaluators like GiveWell have identified charities that save and improve lives at fractions of the cost of other charities’ operations. Given how many people each dollar can help at these “highly effective” charities, some argue that people […]

The legal system is in crisis — 80% of family cases have a lawyerless litigant, and public defenders have hundreds of cases a year. While there are many proposals to solve this, which ones will be effective? How would we know? Join us on Monday, November 22nd at 7pm to learn about Professor Jim Greiner’s […]