Rob Wiblin
Head of Podcasting at 80,000 Hours
I host The 80,000 Hours Podcast, where we have 'unusually in-depth conversations about the world's most pressing problems and how you can use your career to solve them.'
Here are most of the articles and interviews I've done for 80,000 Hours over the years.
If you like I can send you occasional updates on my research:
How I hope to improve the world
I am sympathetic to:
- effective altruism (EA) — roughly, the use of evidence and careful analysis to figure out the best ways of making the world a better place, and;
- the long-term value thesis — the idea that most of the moral value of our actions is determined by their consequences more than 100 years in the future.
Some top research interest are:
- how to prioritise the world's problems in order to figure out how to improve it as much as possible;
- reducing the risk of global catastrophes, especially those caused by powerful new technologies, or that might cause human extinction;
- how to increase people's general benevolence towards all beings, including those far away from them, non-human animals, and future generations, and;
- efforts to end factory farming through moral advocacy and food technology.
Some random blog posts
- How much does a single vote matter?
- Why you shouldn’t tolerate bullying even if your job is really important
- Things I recommend you buy and use
- What you think about landfill and recycling is probably totally wrong
- This widely-promoted trial claimed to show a 4 and 5-day work week are equally productive. It didn’t.
- Have the attention span of a goldfish? Here’s how to read long things (including books & papers)
- How I used the internet to painlessly relearn a foreign language and you could too
- Most people report believing it’s incredibly cheap to save lives in the developing world (2017)
- Everything you need to know about whether money makes you happy (2016)
- What are your chances of getting elected to Congress, if you try? (2015)
- What are the 10 most harmful jobs? (2015)
Some other things I've made
Here's a checklist of questions I often work through when something unpleasant happens, in order to reframe the situation and get over it as quickly as possible.
I've written about 'Ugh tasks' — tasks that you gradually come to feel terrible about not having done but can't bring yourself to do — which I think are a very underrated mental health issue.
Here are some of my thoughts on exercise, why it's so important, and how to get into it.
Here's a quiz where you can test your ability to predict which psychology studies can be replicated, and which can't, based on a brief description.
I made a 60 second guide to increasing your chance of surviving an imminent nuclear attack.
I love house music and dance — here's a Spotify playlist of 900 tracks I like and a bunch of mixes I love on SoundCloud.
Get in touch
You can contact me at rob at 80000hours dot org.
Unfortunately I can no longer reply to every email requesting personalised career advice.
I suggest checking out our career guide and then applying for one-on-one advising.
© Robert Wiblin All Right Reserved