Lecture
Which jobs help people the most? (part2c) @ Cambridge University
- Four broad impact paths are presented to generate new working ideas, with advocacy and research often offering greater scale than direct work due to rapid scaling of discoveries or multiplier effects from mobilizing others.
- Individuals with a high probability of becoming academics in pressing problem areas are advised to seriously consider pursuing a PhD, while those who change fields are told it is often the correct choice when current work lacks fit or impact.
- Advocacy is highlighted as a path where a small number of people can have very big effects, similar to the highest impact figures in history, and following this path warrants serious consideration of party politics given their substantial influence.
- Earning to give is framed as a potentially superior option for those with high-earning skills who donate a large fraction of income, specifically citing software engineering, startups, consulting, asset management, and marketing as particularly good sectors, whereas lower-paying jobs are deemed less generally promising unless they offer a good fit.
- The outlook includes a prediction that research is more critical than advocacy for specific challenges like breast cancer, which requires research to develop better treatments, and notes that the top 0.1% of papers or entrepreneurs often account for the vast majority of impact or economic value created compared to the median.
- Material expectations include the possibility that high-earning careers can yield an impact comparable to or greater than direct non-profit work, as exemplified by a Jeff donation of half his Google salary being a plausible strategy for significant impact.
- Risks and barriers include the ethical concerns some hold regarding high-earning careers, the extreme variance in individual impact where top performers vastly outshine the median, and the reality that achieving excellence in any field typically requires 10 to 20 years of hard work rather than pre-existing mastery.
- Applying a framework involving identifying pressing problems, selecting the best methods, and ensuring excellent personal fit is predicted to generate significantly larger impact than the easy baseline while simultaneously ensuring a fulfilling career.