Today's episode of Rationally Speaking is sponsored by Givewell.

Givewell takes a data-driven approach to identifying charities where your donation can make a big impact.

Givewell spends thousands of hours every year vetting and analyzing nonprofits so that it can produce a list of charity recommendations that are backed by rigorous evidence.

The list is free and available to everyone online.

The New York Times has

referred to Givewell as, quote, the spreadsheet method of giving. Givewell's recommendations are

for donors who are interested in having a high altruistic return on investment in their giving.

Its current recommended charities fight malaria, treat intestinal parasites, provide vitamin A supplements,

and give cash to very poor people.

Check them out at give well.org.

Welcome to rationally speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.

I'm your host, Julia Galef, and my guest today is Clive Thompson.

Clive is a journalist covering technology and culture.

You may have seen his writing for Wired, among other places.

And he's the author of two books, including most recently, Coders, The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, which is a fun and

interesting intro to the psychology of coding and the people who love it and how that psychology

and that culture ends up influencing what they make and their impact on society.

Clive, welcome to rationally speaking.

Oh, it's good to be here.

So I don't know if you remember this, but I have to tell the story of how I ended up having this podcast with you.

So a few months ago, you wrote an article for, I think it was the New York Times.

New York Times Magazine, that's right, yeah.

...