Introductory Fellowship​

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This fellowship is our core program exploring the quest of figuring out how we can help improve the world as much as possible with our time and resources. We dive into foundational questions about what "positive impact" means, and we discuss approaches for how we can maximize it.

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Over the course of the semester, you’ll have eight weekly 1-hour discussion sessions with a cohort of similarly-inquisitive and impact-minded participants, accompanied by several experienced facilitators. Before attending each discussion, you’ll complete a set of readings and a brief exercise or challenge to accompany them.

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Eligibility

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The Introductory Fellowship is open to everyone in the USC community. We highly recommend this program if you:

• Are inquisitive, open-minded, and deeply interested in thinking about how to do good more effectively--whether you’re already committed to this project, or simply curious to explore it.

• Can commit at least 2 hours a week to readings and exercises.

• Can attend at least 80% of the weekly discussion sessions.
   

 

 

Weekly Topics

 

Week One: Can you trust your instincts?: Learn about cognitive biases and start thinking more rationally. Understand why ideas discussed in the Arete Fellowship may surprise and challenge your intuitions.

 

Week Two: How can we save the world?: Understand the basics of Effective Altruist thinking. What are the biggest problems facing us, and how do we effectively tackle them?

 

Week Three: Using Your Career for Good: Start to think about how an Effective Altruist leverages their skills, interests, and 80,000 working hours across a career to make a difference.

 

Week Four: Global Health and Development: Understand why many people think global health is a key cause area to focus on. How should we decide which global health interventions are most impactful?

 

Week Five: Animal Welfare: Think critically about the value we give to non-human animals and their suffering. Why might we include animals in our moral circle? As a challenge, try going vegan for a week!

 

Week Six: The Far Future: Some Effective Altruists think the most important problems of our time are those whose impacts will primarily be felt in the future. How much should we worry about people many generations after us?

 

Week Seven: Existential Risks: Artificial intelligence, pandemic, nuclear war, climate catastrophe…What are the ways humans are most likely to go extinct, and how can we protect our descendents against these threats? 

 

Week Eight: EA in the World: Many individuals and organizations in the world are working hard carrying out the ideas of Effective Altruism. Explore these, with an eye towards your own future career path.

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Still interested in effective altruism, but can’t commit to the Introductory Fellowship?

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