Lots of long-term goals like making money/fixing aging/no factory farming, but I don't know how to find the tractable subproblems for those. I've heard of a Thiel fellow that used the funding to raise money, building a VC firm that funds [cause area], which seems like a good way to do something you don't know how to do.

Now that the Thiel fellowship is now available to people without a degree up to age 23, has anyone considered applying? It's a long commitment (2 years) but provides a decent amount of resources (100k and advisors). There's the potential to build a project with a decent impact, plus develop rare and valuable skills and get to know cool people. Also, applying seems difficult and the rate of success would be low. I can imagine it being at least twice as valuable as what I'm currently doing at university. If someone has a clear idea for a project, it makes more sense to consider applying but since I don't, the effort wouldn't be worth it. Thoughts?

The difference between a dominant approach and a measurable approach could explain why ACE recommends vegan advocacy groups, since the impact of investigations that groups like DxE are harder to measure, even if they're more effective. There's also a lack of charities directly trying to reduce animal suffering in general.

Hi there! I'm part of Stanford EA and looking forward to meeting people at EA Global. I made an account just now, and I'm expecting to post in the near future.