This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

We will be holding our last discussion meeting of the semester on Monday, April 8th from 6pm to 7:30pm in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex! This week we'll be discussing the critiques of effective altruism presented in the article The Deaths of Effective Altruism, and responses from members of the movement.

Please read the following to prepare for the discussion:

1. The Deaths of Effective Altruism by Leif Wenar for Wired (20min read)

2. Moral Misdirection by Richard Chappell for Good Thoughts (8min read)

3. What "Effective Altruism" Means to Me by Richard Chappell for Good Thoughts (10min read)

4. Anti-Philanthropic Misdirection by Richard Chappell for Good Thoughts (5min read)

5. On Leif Wenar's Absurdly Unconvincing Critique of Effective Altruism by Matthew Adelstein for Bentham's Bulldog (15min read)

This week's discussion meeting will cover the ideas and repercussions of anti-natalism, pro-natalism, population growth, and fertility rates. Come by and join the discussion on Tuesday, April 2nd from 6pm to 7:30pm in room M3-37F of the McLennan Library.

Please read the following to prepare for the discussion:

1. Anti-Natalism on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (25 min read)

   • Sections 1.A, 1.B, 1.C, 1.D, 3.A, 3.B, and 4

2. Is There a Case for Pronatalism as an Effective Cause Area? by ben.smith on the EA Forum (5min read)

3. Assessing the Case for Population Growth as a Priority by Luis Freitas on the EA Forum (25min read)

4. Global Fertility Rate Continues to Fall: How Governments Could Prepare by Tara Haelle for Think Global Health (10min read)

This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

Come and play the monthly Estimation Game created by Quantified Intuitions! The game consists of working in teams of 2-5 to answer ~10 fermi-style estimation questions, and competing to place on the world leaderboard!

Join us for a fun meeting on Monday, March 25th from 6pm to 7:30pm in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex. 

This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

The topic for this week's discussion meeting is the Meat-Eater Problem, in short, understanding the consequences of increased human prosperity on the demand for farmed animals. Come by and join the discussion on Monday, March 18th from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex. 

Please read the following articles to prepare for the discussion:

1. Meat-Eater Problem Definition on the EA Forum (2min read)

2. The Poor Meat-Eater Problem by Jesper Östman on Felicifia (5min read)

3. The Meat-Eater Problem by Vasco Grilo on the EA Forum (8min read)

4. Net Global Welfare May Be Negative and Declining by Kyle Fish on the EA Forum (9min read)

We're excited to announce that this week we will be running a joint meeting with McGill Students' Discussion Collective, come and join us to discuss the case for donating ten percent of your income to effective charities.

Note that this week's meeting will not take place at the usual time or location.

Join us on Tuesday, March 12th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm at Gerts!

Please complete the following readings to prepare for the discussion:

1. Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer on JSTOR (20min read) *the seminal paper

2. The Giving What We Can Pledge on Giving What We Can (10min read)

3. Do EA Survey Takers Keep Their GWWC Pledge? by Peter Wildeford on the EA Forum (10min read)

4. 10 Years of Earning to Give by AGB on the EA Forum (10min read)

Join us for some co-studying to encourage productivity, the easygoing meeting will consist of pomodoro sessions for accountability and discussion breaks to socialize. Find us at Columbus Café on Robert-Bourassa, between 10am and 2pm on Friday, March 8th! ☕

Join us for some co-studying to encourage productivity, the easygoing meeting will consist of pomodoro sessions for accountability and discussion breaks to socialize. Find us at Columbus Café on Robert-Bourassa, between 10am and 2pm on Wednesday, March 6th! ☕

This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

Take a break from studying for midterms, join our upcoming meeting to participate in the Estimation Game! In small teams you'll answer Fermi-style questions, engage in epistemic learning, and compete to place on the world leaderboard.

Join us for friendly competition on Monday, February 26th from 6pm-7:30pm in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex.

This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

This week we’re running a speed updating event! The meeting will consist of five minute one-on-one discussions on a variety of effective altruism oriented questions, and aims to encourage sharing ideas, practicing good faith discussion, and updating our beliefs.

Join us on Monday, February 19th from 6pm-7:30pm in room RM-19C (ground floor) of the Redpath Complex.

This is a closed meeting for participants of the Winter’24 Introductory Fellowship. For more information on the fellowship program, visit the Intro to EA Fellowship page.

Join us Monday, February 12th from 6-7PM in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex to discuss the 'moral weirdo', thinker, and activist Benjamin Lay, who's beliefs were far ahead of other eighteenth century thinkers, and to consider the value of critically engaging with fringe ideas!

Please complete the following readings to prepare for the discussion:

1. Celebrating Benjamin Lay by Lizka on the EA Forum (10min read)

2. On 'Fringe' Ideas by Kelsey Piper on the EA Forum (6min read)

3. The Possibility of an Ongoing Moral Catastrophe Summary by Linch on the EA Forum (5min read)

   •  The full paper by Evan G. Williams (20min read)

4. How Moral Progress Happens by rosehadshar on the EA Forum (15min read)

5. Tragic Beliefs by tobytrem on the EA Forum (6min read)

Join our upcoming discussion meeting to discuss and compare suffering-risks and existential-risks. Find us in room R2-15 of the Redpath Complex from 6pm to 7pm on Monday, February 5th!

Please read the following to prepare:

1. S-Risk Definition on the EA Forum (1min read)

2. Beginner’s Guide to Reducing S-Risks by the Center on Long-Term Risk on the EA Forum (3min read)

3. Why S-risks are the Worst Existential Risks by Max Daniel on the EA Forum (26min read)

4. Existential Risk Definition on the EA Forum (2min read)

5. Prioritizing X-Risks may Require Caring About Future People by Eli Linfland on Foxy Scout (8min read)

6. X-Risks to All Life vs. to Humans by Robert Harling on the EA Forum (5min read)

The Intro to EA Fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students engages fellows in weekly discussions on ideas and approaches to improving the world through evidence and reason. Find more information on the application form.
Applications close at 11:59pm on Sunday, February 4th

This week we will be participating in the Estimation Game created by Quantified Intuitions! In teams of 2-5 players, you will compete to answer ~10 Fermi-style estimation questions in two rounds. Win points for good estimates, then see how your score compares to EA McGill teams and the world leaderboard. Join us for some friendly competition to train your epistemic and deduction skills!

Join the mailing list by singing up on the bottom of our homepage in order to be informed of our upcoming social events!

If you're interested in hearing more about the global movement of Effective Altruism as well as the aims of our club here at McGill,  find us at Activities Night in the University Centre (Students’ Society of McGill University Building), from 3pm to 8pm on Thursday the 25th!

If you're interested in hearing more about the global movement of Effective Altruism as well as the aims of our club here at McGill,  find us at Activities Night in the University Centre (Students’ Society of McGill University Building), from 3pm to 8pm on Wednesday the 24th!

Join our discussion meeting where we’re talking about offsets! Ethical offsets, moral offsets, carbon offsets, cow offsets, suffering offsets, human murder offsets 👀, … Basically, the idea is to undo wrongs caused in one area by donating right-equivalent amounts to charities working in those areas. Find us in room R2-14 of the Redpath Complex from 6pm to 7:30pm on Monday, January 22nd!

Please read the following to prepare:

1. Axiology, Morality, Law by Scott Alexander on Slate Star Codex (12min read)

2. Supererogation: The Two Faces of Morality on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (6min read))

3. Ethical offsetting is antithetical to EA by Claire Zabel on the EA Forum (4 min read)

   + banger comments [1] [2] [3]

4. (If you have too much free time) Carbon-Specific Offsets Readings [1] [2] [3] [4] and Suffering-Specific Offsets Readings [1] [2] [3]

For our first meeting of the semester, we’ll keep the discussion open. Here are two optional readings to inspire hopeful–and epistemically sound–optimism for 2024, and to remind us why we fight. We kicked ass in 2023!

1. A year of wins for farmed animals by Vasco Grilo on the EA Forum (4min read)

2. EA Wins 2023 by Shakeel Hashim on the EA Forum (4min read)

3. The world is awful, the world is much better, the world can be much better by Max Roser for Our World in Data (5min read)

4. Why We Fight from the Sequences on Lesswrong (30min read)

For the last meeting of the semester, we will be participating in the Estimation Game created by Quantified Intuitions! In teams of 2-5 players, you will compete to answer ~10 Fermi-style estimation questions. The better your estimations, the higher your score in the competition versus EA McGill teams and the world leaderboard. Join us for some friendly competition to train your epistemic and deduction skills!

This week we’ll be discussing the benefits and pitfalls of prediction markets, as well as their application in the governmental system of futarchy. Join us on Monday, November 20th from 6pm to 7pm in room M3-37F of McLennan for a lively discussion and a break from studying!

Please read what you can of the following readings to prepare for the discussion:

1. Summary & Takeaways: Hansons's "Should We Vote on Values, But Bet on Beliefs?" by Lizka on the EA Forum, 17min read

2. Issues with Futarchy by Lizka on the EA Forum, 30min read

This week we will be discussing the case to work for OpenAI from an employee of OpenAI! Join the discussion on Monday, November 13th at 6pm in room M3-37F of McLennan to learn more.

Please refer to the following for context on the company, their aims, as well as some objections:

1. Planning for AGI and Beyond by OpenAI, 8min read

2. OpenAI Charter by OpenAI, 3min read

3. Governance of Superintelligence by OpenAI, 5min read

4. OpenAI's "Planning for AGI and Beyond" by Scott Alexander on Astral Codex Ten, 20min read

5. Common Misconceptions about OpenAI by Jacob Hilton on Lesswrong, 6min read

Join our weekly discussion meeting, where we'll analyze biological risks, bioterrorism, and biosecurity! Join us on Monday, November 6th, from 6pm to 7pm in room M3-37F of McLennan for donuts and an interesting discussion 🍩

Please read what you can of the following articles to prepare for the discussion:

1. The Blueprint for Drug Development by Maximillian Schons for MxS, 15min read

2. What is an emergency? The Case for Rapid Malaria Vaccination by Alex Tabarrok for Marginal Revolution, 5min read

3. Propaganda or Science: A Look at Open Source AI & Bioterrorism Risk by 1a3orn on LessWrong, 27min read

We’re excited to announce The Hallowean Party!
All are invited and halloween costumes are encouraged! Join us on Sunday, October 29th, starting at 8:00pm. You're also welcome to invite other friends, including non-EA friends, and feel free bring any snacks & drinks!
Please reach out via messenger at: Effective Altruists at McGill for the address

*Please note that there will be non-EA McGill members at the party and we will be serving alcohol.

This week we will be discussing the cause area of animal welfare, including statistics, advocacy strategies, and enacting effective change. Join us in room M3-37F of the McLennan library from 6pm to 7pm on Monday, October 23rd!

Please read the following articles to prepare for the discussion:

1. Summary of Evidence for Foundational Questions in Effective Animal Advocacy by Jacy Reese Anthis for the Sentience Institute, 10min read

   • Just read three or four debates that grab your interest!

2. Misuse of 'Effectiveness' Language in Animal Advocacy by Casey Taft on Vegan Publishers, 5min read

3. Longtermism and Animal Advocacy by Tobias Baumann for the Center for Reducing Suffering, 15min read

4. Are China and India the Most Promising Countries for Animal Advocacy? by Karolina Sarek on the EA Forum, 6min read