Patrick S. Forscher
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psforscher.bsky.social
Patrick S. Forscher
@psforscher.bsky.social
1.6K followers 290 following 520 posts

Senior Behavioral Scientist at Busara, a non-profit that does behavioral science to advance development. Strong interest in applied meta-research. https://patrickforscher.com/

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Psychology 39%
Political science 11%
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Reposted by Patrick S. Forscher

gabewasylko.com
Gabe Wasylko @gabewasylko.com · 7h
Between Buildings in Cleveland, Ohio

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Peter Campbell, Rebecca Tushnet , and 4 more

kjhealy.co
Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 14h
This is the far more likely pathway for how AI will end us all, btw. Not via some superintelligent swarm of paperclip maximizers, but by a cascading sequence of dumb fuckups driven by human beings who have arranged things to be fast-moving and catastrophically fragile while also being really lazy.
kjhealy.co Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 14h
That’s a load-bearing assumption, Dr Strangelove. www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
program. sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the familiar with the incident said. The report, according to one of the sources, was "entirely false." But it also "almost started a war," the source said. Any US operation against a Chinese nations.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Sanford F. Schram, Alan Richardson , and 3 more

faineg.com
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 1d
Nick Beckstead, noted longtermist and "effective altruist,” just comes out and says it:

"But it now seems more plausible to me that saving a life in a rich country is substantially more important than saving a life in a poor country, other things being equal."
This is precisely why Nick Beckstead, a noted EA, argued in 2013 that, given the "overwhelming" moral importance of the far future - "millions, billions, and trillions" of years from now - we should prioritize saving the lives of people in rich countries over those in poor countries, other things being equal. The reason is that people in rich countries are better positioned to influence the far future. To take another example, saving lives in poor countries may have significantly smaller ripple effects than saving and improving lives in rich countries. Why? Richer countries have substantially more innovation, and their workers are much more economically productive. By ordinary standards at least by ordinary enlightened humanitarian standards saving and improving lives in rich countries is about equally as important as saving and improving lives in poor countries, provided lives are improved by roughly comparable amounts. But it now seems more plausible to me that saving a life in a rich country is substantially more important than saving a life in a poor country, other things being equal. Screenshot from Beckstead's 2013 PhD dissertation, regarded as one of the founding documents of longtermism, one of the main cause areas of EA.

psforscher.bsky.social
Patrick S. Forscher @psforscher.bsky.social · 2d
SIPS Rotterdam was a special conference, one of the very best that I have attended

Reposted by Patrick S. Forscher

ajbenjaminjr.bsky.social
James Benjamin @ajbenjaminjr.bsky.social · 2d
This is a test to see if I can still find my academic people and if they can find me. I met a number of people I still deeply treasure from #SIPS in Rotterdam (2019) or virtually (2020-2021). Since Twitter became unreckognizable, I've wanted to rebuild my network.