If you're a regular ClearerThinking reader, you likely remember 80,000 Hours — a charitable organization that aims to help people find careers that are both personally meaningful and beneficial to the world. We most recently discussed their excellent guide to succeeding in any job back in May. This past week, our founder Spencer Greenberg appeared on their podcast. You can hear the entire extensive interview here.
Spencer and podcast host Robert Wiblin discuss a wide range of subjects in the interview, including both current and upcoming ClearerThinking courses and tools, as well as more general conversation about ways to improve social science research by making it faster, cheaper, and more reliable — which is itself a central feature of how ClearerThinking does its work.
A more detailed preview of the topics they discuss:
Using rapid-response surveys based on Amazon's Mechanical Turk service to divine public opinion on matters like animal rights, developing world charities, and the likelihood of near-term human extinction
Methods for improving the accuracy of social science research by employing novel data analysis techniques
Using our unique platforms GuidedTrack and Positly to simplify research that involves large numbers of people
Our upcoming psychiatric treatment app, which delivers cognitive-behavioral therapy in automated form at much lower cost than conventional treatment
How well-intended startups can backfire and end up doing more harm than good
You can stream the whole podcast — or read a full print transcript, if that's your preference — here. It's also available in iOS's podcast app.