Joanna Michalska
Bio
Participation1
How others can help me
I'm early in my career, so I'd like to learn what skills I should develop to be as useful to EA as I can. I'm also hoping to meet value-aligned people.
How I can help others
Reach out to me if you need some graphic design or illustration work done - I have some time to volunteer for the cause, no strings attached.
Comments4
Hi everyone! I'm Joanna, 25 year old from Poland. My main EA interests are factory farming, wild animal suffering and s-risks.
I've been thinking of myself as a negative utilitarian for a long time, but the extent of my contribution was being a silent, resigned vegan. I hit rock bottom in September this year after reaching a conclusion that my life is probably a net negative for the world and that I unwittingly cause more suffering than my life is worth. I got support from a community built around David Pearce's 'Hedonistic Imperative' and that's how I learned about EA, so I guess you could say it saved my life.
Since then I've been volunteering for Anima International and offering skilled volunteering for other EA-aligned animal advocacy orgs as a graphic designer (feel free to contact me if you need some graphic design done!)
I'm also trying to decide what to do with my 80.000-n hours, but the more I read the less certain I am (and there wasn't much certainty to begin with). I've worked as a senior artist for the gamedev industry, so my skillset is pretty narrow and mostly redundant due to AI. So far I've finished some courses (mainly on effective animal advocacy and nonprofit work) and I'm now learning data science, economics and biology.
Giving status: monthly donations to ACE and Otwarte Klatki (Anima International); planning to take the GWWC pledge when I have stable income (I'm currently freelancing and in the process of transitioning to a more impactful career path)
degree of initiation into EA: I'm currently halfway through the EA Handbook and 3/4 through the 80.000 Hours career planning course; I've read 'Doing Good Better', '80.000 Hours', 'Map and Territory', 'Hedonistic Imperative', 'Thinking, fast and slow', 'Famine, affluence and morality'; started reading 'Animal Liberation Now', but it was too brutal. I also finished AAC's effective animal advocacy course.
Favourite EA forum post: on the fence between https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Dtr8aHqCQSDhyueFZ/the-possibility-of-an-ongoing-moral-catastrophe-summary and https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RZEvk6cBtBg2mpgwS/trigger-warning-violence-animal-vs-human-welfare-sharing
Favourite EA book: 'Doing Good Better', (or, if I can go a bit wider, 'Map and Territory')
What I can offer: volunteering as a graphic designer, I'm also pretty good at tedious labour (like data cleanup) in google sheets.
Hoping to: get more clarity regarding career path and building skills useful for the movement.
Interests outside EA: metalearning, PKMs, productivity, psychology, art (the practical side of it)
Glad to be here!
Part A
Math + surface level considerations based on the information in the links (I'm new here):
Hellen Keller International
- lives saved: 23
- vitamin A supplements administered: 79 977
- evidence of impact: strong
- has room for more funding
Malaria Consortium
- lives saved: 16
- children seasonally protected from malaria: 11 425
- evidence of impact: exceptionally strong
- has room for more funding
Against Malaria Foundation
- lives saved: 14,5
- anti-malaria nets purchased: 15 995
- iirc the nets last for ~3 years (probably taken into account by GL already)
- it's a well-known charity within the EA community (to the point it's become a meme) so I cautiously assume it gets more funding than the others/is somewhat less neglected
- added factor of insect suffering? (how much suffering does dying from insecticides generate vs the alternatives)
New Incentives
- lives saved: 16
- children vaccinated: 500
- I assume the effects are long-lasting, so even if HKI or MC interventions are cheaper per person, NI vaccinations could be more effective when compared one to one (?)
- evidence of impact: strong
Part B
I'm hesitating between HKI and NI, so I'll use the numbers to break the tie/as a correction for my scope neglect and go with Hellen Keller International (they also stated they have more room for funding)
Part C
- impact of different career paths I'm considering
- I need to finally do an evaluation of the most effective food so I can just buy beans or legumes in bulk and not make calculations every time I'm grocery shopping
- impact of learning/self-development vs what else I could be doing in this time
I still need to do more research so my votes will probably change, but I'm generally focusing on what I think are ongoing, large scale moral catastrophes - ie. factory farming and wild animal suffering.