Marcus A. Davis
@amarcusdavis.bsky.social
CEO of Rethink Priorities
Charity for All: amarcusdavis.substack.com
Charity for All: amarcusdavis.substack.com
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Marcus A. Davis
@amarcusdavis.bsky.social
· Jun 17
Why Charity For All?
Explore effective charity and the culture and arguments around doing good with me
substack.com
I'm excited to announce I have a Substack: Charity for All. It's a blog about charity, the people in that space, and the broad political and philosophical landscape that shapes how we think about these topics.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I think about this everyday. It’s been a month but the scale of preventable suffering here continues to be unfathomable to me.
Ending USAID is a disaster on a scale I can barely comprehend.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
USAID cuts could lead to 14 million deaths over the next five years, researchers say
An analysis published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet projects that cuts to the agency will lead to more deaths from diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
www.nbcnews.com
August 4, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I think about this everyday. It’s been a month but the scale of preventable suffering here continues to be unfathomable to me.
Reposted by Marcus A. Davis
Look it's @jacobtref.bsky.social dropping three of the best blogposts of 2025.
“What does AI progress mean for medical progress?” gives a great overview.
Then it turns into a choose-your-own adventure to read about the bottlenecks AI won't solve *and* where it can still help.
“What does AI progress mean for medical progress?” gives a great overview.
Then it turns into a choose-your-own adventure to read about the bottlenecks AI won't solve *and* where it can still help.
What does AI progress mean for medical progress?
Rapid AI progress does not automatically mean rapid medical progress. If the point of AI progress is human flourishing, we must make other complementary investments too. Even with extremely powerful A...
blog.jacobtrefethen.com
August 3, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Look it's @jacobtref.bsky.social dropping three of the best blogposts of 2025.
“What does AI progress mean for medical progress?” gives a great overview.
Then it turns into a choose-your-own adventure to read about the bottlenecks AI won't solve *and* where it can still help.
“What does AI progress mean for medical progress?” gives a great overview.
Then it turns into a choose-your-own adventure to read about the bottlenecks AI won't solve *and* where it can still help.
Fascinating paper under fairly realistic conditions but the sample is fairly small. But never underestimate the ability of people to convince themselves the way to do something that feels easiest is actually best all things considered.
We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
July 10, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Fascinating paper under fairly realistic conditions but the sample is fairly small. But never underestimate the ability of people to convince themselves the way to do something that feels easiest is actually best all things considered.
Ending USAID is a disaster on a scale I can barely comprehend.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
USAID cuts could lead to 14 million deaths over the next five years, researchers say
An analysis published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet projects that cuts to the agency will lead to more deaths from diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
www.nbcnews.com
July 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Ending USAID is a disaster on a scale I can barely comprehend.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
For context 14 million people is more than the population of most countries today. It would be multiple times larger than the number of people who died in the Holomodor.
For context, this is kid me from the time I got tested for lead. He would want every kid to have a lead free future.
(He would also want some cake, what he's celebrating here. But who among us...)
(He would also want some cake, what he's celebrating here. But who among us...)
June 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
For context, this is kid me from the time I got tested for lead. He would want every kid to have a lead free future.
(He would also want some cake, what he's celebrating here. But who among us...)
(He would also want some cake, what he's celebrating here. But who among us...)
I still remember getting my blood drawn for lead testing as an elementary schooler in Chicago. I was just under the intervention threshold of 10 mcg/dL. Many of my classmates weren't so lucky. Today, lead poisoning continues to afflict 800 million kids worldwide. 🧵
June 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
I still remember getting my blood drawn for lead testing as an elementary schooler in Chicago. I was just under the intervention threshold of 10 mcg/dL. Many of my classmates weren't so lucky. Today, lead poisoning continues to afflict 800 million kids worldwide. 🧵
I'm excited to announce I have a Substack: Charity for All. It's a blog about charity, the people in that space, and the broad political and philosophical landscape that shapes how we think about these topics.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Why Charity For All?
Explore effective charity and the culture and arguments around doing good with me
substack.com
June 17, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I'm excited to announce I have a Substack: Charity for All. It's a blog about charity, the people in that space, and the broad political and philosophical landscape that shapes how we think about these topics.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I feel like podcast episodes get longer as the show goes on, so someone should start a prediction market on how long the first 5 episodes will be on average. Non-zero chance episode 5 could be like 15 hours (of awesomeness).
June 12, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I feel like podcast episodes get longer as the show goes on, so someone should start a prediction market on how long the first 5 episodes will be on average. Non-zero chance episode 5 could be like 15 hours (of awesomeness).
Reposted by Marcus A. Davis
Resetting the sign with “days since Scott Alexander did a racism” back to 0.
Scott Alexander argues that hiring Black people and women was “decimating state capacity and purging high IQ” employees, which is like “looting and eating the seed corn,” and that makes DEI equivalent to DOGE’s widespread firings and attacks on science.
Really captures what this crowd believes.
Really captures what this crowd believes.
there is a long stream of mealy mouthed bullshit where the OP starts in the direction of taking a stance but predictably bothsides it and makes fun of people accurately pointing out musk and trump’s depravity
March 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Resetting the sign with “days since Scott Alexander did a racism” back to 0.
Dean Karlan is a huge loss for USAID and, as a result, tens of thousands if not millions of people around the world.
He’s dedicated his career to evidence-based cost-effective interventions. If this was actually about efficiency he’s exactly the kind of person you would want around.
He’s dedicated his career to evidence-based cost-effective interventions. If this was actually about efficiency he’s exactly the kind of person you would want around.
Why Dean Karlan, Chief Economist of USAID resigned yesterday:
"I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards.
But I received no response. Zero engagement."
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
"I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards.
But I received no response. Zero engagement."
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
Why Dean Karlan, chief economist of USAID, resigned on Tuesday
He was hired in 2022 so the aid agency could get 'more bang for our buck' with its projects. He tried to reach out to help in the rebuilding of the agency. On Tuesday he tendered his resignation.
www.npr.org
February 27, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Dean Karlan is a huge loss for USAID and, as a result, tens of thousands if not millions of people around the world.
He’s dedicated his career to evidence-based cost-effective interventions. If this was actually about efficiency he’s exactly the kind of person you would want around.
He’s dedicated his career to evidence-based cost-effective interventions. If this was actually about efficiency he’s exactly the kind of person you would want around.
Nazi salutes are very bad actually. As Ganz notes Hanania’s piece defending them is basically this:
‘“I can tell you all about Nazis, trust me, I used to be one.” Excuse me one moment, please? You said, what now?’
‘“I can tell you all about Nazis, trust me, I used to be one.” Excuse me one moment, please? You said, what now?’
Enough!
This Bullshit Has to End
open.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Nazi salutes are very bad actually. As Ganz notes Hanania’s piece defending them is basically this:
‘“I can tell you all about Nazis, trust me, I used to be one.” Excuse me one moment, please? You said, what now?’
‘“I can tell you all about Nazis, trust me, I used to be one.” Excuse me one moment, please? You said, what now?’
2024 is wrapping up (or at least I'm off from work) and I'm really proud of all the impactful work Rethink Priorities did this year. I thought it'd be good to cover some my favorite pieces we did this year. 1/n
December 20, 2024 at 10:52 PM
2024 is wrapping up (or at least I'm off from work) and I'm really proud of all the impactful work Rethink Priorities did this year. I thought it'd be good to cover some my favorite pieces we did this year. 1/n
This article highlights a few reasonable concerns with EA alongside many deeply unreasonable ones. I think I'd like to point out a few issues.
(1) One big issue while it implicitly complains that EA doesn't take the concerns of recipients seriously, this is both false...
(1) One big issue while it implicitly complains that EA doesn't take the concerns of recipients seriously, this is both false...
Effective altruism, the recent trend in philanthropy, has been to look for the most bang for your buck. Maybe you don’t have to, Emma Goldberg argues.
What if Charity Shouldn’t Be Optimized?
The recent trend in philanthropy has been to look for the most bang for your buck. Maybe you don’t have to.
nyti.ms
December 8, 2024 at 5:44 PM
This article highlights a few reasonable concerns with EA alongside many deeply unreasonable ones. I think I'd like to point out a few issues.
(1) One big issue while it implicitly complains that EA doesn't take the concerns of recipients seriously, this is both false...
(1) One big issue while it implicitly complains that EA doesn't take the concerns of recipients seriously, this is both false...