2020 has been an exciting year for us. We officially set up the Center for Reducing Suffering (CRS) as an organisation, launched this website, and published articles on suffering–focused ethics, s-risks, and cause prioritisation. We are now raising money to consolidate our financial situation.
We believe that CRS’s open-ended research programme on how to best reduce suffering fills an important gap. To help donors make informed choices, we are fully transparent about our values and our strategy — for more details on why we do what we do, see our Strategic Plan.
If you share our suffering-focused perspective, then we think supporting CRS is a unique opportunity:
- As a small, early-stage organisation, we currently operate on a very limited budget; in fact, we only recently started paying researchers at all. The marginal benefit of additional funding is therefore particularly large: we have much room for funding, and funding at this early stage is critical for enabling CRS to get properly off the ground. the same amount makes a much bigger difference at this stage, compared to a more established or less funding-constrained organisation.
- We have a track record of high-quality content on ethics, s-risks and cause prioritisation — you can judge this for yourself by browsing our Research page. In particular, Magnus Vinding’s book has been well-received among a wider audience, and received positive blurbs by leading philosophers in the field. We therefore believe that we are in a good position to help advance the above-mentioned research project.
- We have exciting plans for future research:
- Magnus Vinding expects to publish a book on political philosophy in 2021. The book will argue for a general framework aimed at making politics more reasoned, and seek to outline the implications of a suffering-focused approach to politics.
- We consider kick-starting a project on artificial sentience. Specifically, we will explore whether now is a good time to start advocating for increased moral consideration of artificial minds, and will research which framings are best in light of different types of s-risk. Depending on the results, we may launch a website advocating rights for artificial beings in 2021.
To achieve our mission, we need your support. Our target is to fundraise GBP 60’000 (USD 80’000). This would allow us to hire 1-2 additional staff (for research and/or operations), free up time for writing and research, and provide sufficient financial safety (~12 months of runway).
Any contribution would be greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions about our work, our financial situation, or how to donate, please get in touch.