Uncovering actionable insights for making the world a better place.

Rethink Priorities is a research organization that conducts critical research to inform policymakers and major foundations about how to best help people and animals in both the present and the long-term future.

Our research covers nonhuman animal welfare, global health and economic development, AI governance and the regulation of other important technologies, and other work to safeguard a flourishing future and build the community of people working on understanding these topics.

We follow the principles of effective altruism and are dedicated to using our resources to have the greatest impact on the lives of people and animals. Here’s how we work with organizations and foundations:

 

Recent Publications

Featured
Ben Snodin
My thoughts on nanotechnology strategy research as an EA cause area
Ben Snodin

Advanced nanotechnology might arrive in the next couple of decades (my wild guess: there’s a 1-2% chance in the absence of transformative AI) and could have very positive or very negative implications for existential risk. There has been relatively little high-quality thinking on how to make the arrival of advanced nanotechnology go well, and I think there should be more work in this area (very tentatively, I suggest we want 2-3 people spending at least 50% of their time on this by 3 years from now).

Ben Snodin
Holly Elmore
The rodent birth control landscape
Holly Elmore

This paper describes the past and current rodent pest control landscape with a particular focus on the harms of rodenticidal poisons and the possibilities for rodent birth control as a cruelty-minimizing alternative. Because rodent birth control is most available in the United States, the focus of this paper is primarily on the U.S.

Holly Elmore
Neil Dullaghan
Forecasts estimate limited cultured meat production through 2050
Neil Dullaghan

Is it worth the effective altruism (EA) community trying to accelerate the growth of cultured meat production? Should EA just let market forces move it forward? Should EA invest directly in cultured meat R&D or identify high-leverage ways to increase funding? Or should EA just not invest in it because it is insufficiently promising?

Neil Dullaghan