EA - Celebrating EAGxLatAm and EAGxIndia by OllieBase

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Celebrating EAGxLatAm and EAGxIndia, published by OllieBase on January 26, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.In the first two weeks of January, we had the first EA conferences to take place in Latin America and India: EAGxLatAm in Mexico City and EAGxIndia in Jaipur, Rajasthan.Lots of EAGx events happen every year, and we don’t usually post about each one. But I think these events are particularly special as two of the largest EA conferences to take place in LMICs (Low and Middle Income Countries) and the first ever in each region. So, I wanted to share a bit more about how they went.Tl;DR: they went well.EAGxLatinAmericaEAGxLatAm was organised by community builders from the Spanish-speaking EA community with support from CEA. Over 200 people attended the event: ~32% of attendees came from within Mexico, ~13% from the US, ~12% from Colombia, ~7% from Brazil, ~5% from Chile and ~5% from Spain. There were also attendees from several other countries including Argentina, Peru, the Philippines, Canada, and countries in Europe.The event hosted talks in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and attendees could mark on their name badges which languages they spoke. Sessions included:A talk on the high-impact careers service, Carreras con Impacto;A virtual Q&A with Toby Ord to discuss existential risks and the role of LMICs in tackling them;Racionalidad para principiantes (Rationality for beginners) by Laura González Salmerón;A panel on Riesgos Catastróficos Globales (Global Catastrophic Risks);A panel on AI safety with staff from OpenAI, Redwood Research, CSER and Epoch;A talk on Animal Welfare cause prioritisation by Daniela Romero Waldhorn (Rethink Priorities);A talk by JPAL staff on ‘Applying evidence to reduce intimate partner violence’;A talk on local cause prioritisation by Luis Mota (Global Priorities Institute);A panel on EA in LMICs with EA community builders from Brazil, the Spanish-speaking community, the Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, and EA Anywhere;A talk by Vida Plena (a new organisation incubated by Charity Entrepreneurship focused on mental health in Latin America);Meetups for attendees from Mexico, Chile/Argentina, Colombia/Perú, Brazil and Spain.The event received a likelihood to recommend score of 9.07/10 and attendees made an average of 9.37 new connections. Some quotes from the feedback survey I enjoyed reading:“I had a 1-1 with someone else interested in nuclear security and nuclear winter research, and we're developing an online reading group curriculum to [ideally] launch in March!"“I got convinced on deciding to focus on [sic] direct work on ai safety by talking to [two other attendees].”“I met Rob Wiblin at lunch and I didn't recognize him."One attendee described the event to a CEA colleague as “the best weekend of their life”.The event wasn’t perfect, of course. Several attendees reported that there was too much content in English that some attendees couldn’t follow, and some of the snacks and beverages seemed low quality. We hope to do even better next time!EAGxIndiaEAGxIndia was organised by community builders based in India with support from CEA. 163 people attended: ~70% of attendees came from within India, ~9% from the UK and ~9% from the US. The rest came from Singapore, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Germany, and Brazil.The sessions were all in English, and included:A talk on South Asian Air Quality by Santosh Harish (Open Philanthropy);An AI governance Q&A with Michael Aird (Rethink Priorities);An update from the Fish Welfare Initiative, who are based in India;A talk on AI safety research agendas and opportunities by Adam Gleave (FAR AI);Two sessions led by Charity Entrepreneurship;A workshop on what the EA community should look like in India, led by Indian community builders and CEA staff;A talk mapping the...