2:05 Fear and loathing on the campaign trail 2024 9:48 Haley’s shortcomings, Trump’s cognitive decline 24:43 Who’s the perfect Democrat to run against Biden? 40:20 How Biden could stop the Gaza war 48:01 Why the Houthis are hard to neutralize 1:00:14 Could Trump sabotage the border security deal? 1:16:50 Doctor bots, robo-receipt checkers, and AI optimism 1:33:01 The real problem with America’s elites 1:42:28 Is catastrophe the only thing that can save America? 1:51:55 Bob tries to drag Mickey (back) into the JFK assassination rabbit hole 1:58:24 Has DeSantis destroyed his brand?
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded January 20, 2024.
The Biden-Trump Catastrophe | Robert Wright & Mickey KausNonzero2024-01-21 | Subscribe to The Nonzero Newsletter at nonzero.substack.com
2:05 Fear and loathing on the campaign trail 2024 9:48 Haley’s shortcomings, Trump’s cognitive decline 24:43 Who’s the perfect Democrat to run against Biden? 40:20 How Biden could stop the Gaza war 48:01 Why the Houthis are hard to neutralize 1:00:14 Could Trump sabotage the border security deal? 1:16:50 Doctor bots, robo-receipt checkers, and AI optimism 1:33:01 The real problem with America’s elites 1:42:28 Is catastrophe the only thing that can save America? 1:51:55 Bob tries to drag Mickey (back) into the JFK assassination rabbit hole 1:58:24 Has DeSantis destroyed his brand?
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded January 20, 2024.
1:29 Is it ever okay to fire professors for speech? 13:08 Bari Weiss spreads misinformation without consequence 22:04 Are some of Israel’s American supporters unwittingly inflaming antisemitism? 33:09 Ayaan Hirsi Ali converts to Christianity without abandoning New Atheist creed 38:22 Do Sam Harris et. al. get religion totally wrong? 48:48 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: The power of pugnacity Paul comforts Bob in his search for recognition How AI could improve clinical psychology The Chinese TV version of 3 Body Problem
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded May 07, 2024.
0:17 Coleman’s Joe Rogan appearance and new book, The End of Race Politics 2:26 Campus protests and free speech 12:29 Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism? 17:18 Is "exterminating Hamas" a viable solution? 26:47 Bob: Israel never offered Palestinians a state 40:30 “Right of return” and Palestinian national identity 56:54 How firmly entrenched is hatred of Israel among Palestinians? 1:08:09 Could better US policy have steered Israel-Palestine toward peace? 1:18:48 Are Palestinian “sacred beliefs” the problem? 1:25:56 Possible Palestinian futures 1:33:37 Israel’s strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria
0:00 Paul asserts his right to non-assertion 4:07 Campus protests and free speech controversies 19:29 Have pro-Palestine protestors crossed a line? Have their opposition? 30:49 Will the protests force a reckoning on campus “wokeness”? 39:45 Remembering philosopher Daniel Dennett 47:39 Bob vs Dennett on consciousness 1:00:23 Does the mind-body problem suggest a cosmic solution? 1:10:10 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: The problem(s) with the 3 Body Problem. Bob and Dennett’s big breakup: a breakdown. The time Keanu Reeves glitched at Bob’s expense. Does Bob have a “Burn Book” in his future?
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded April 24, 2024.
0:05 Anatoly’s strange CV 3:56 How the 20th century set the stage for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine 9:18 Why did Putin turn against the West? 23:55 Anatoly: I underestimated Russia’s incompetence 27:55 Has the Ukraine war really shifted in Russia’s favor? 35:02 Russia’s “elite human capital” problem 41:38 Is the “bio-singularity” near? 50:47 Unipolar vs multipolar AI takeover scenarios 59:37 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Anatoly Karlin (akarlin.com, Nooceleration). Recorded April 16, 2024.
0:35 Why Iran’s attack on Israel was an “own goal” 5:12 Did Iran minimize casualties on purpose? 11:47 The rising odds of Israel attacking Iran directly 19:15 America’s contradictory relationship with Israel 25:19 How conflict with Iran helps Israel 33:47 What China wants in the Middle East 43:03 America’s destabilizing role in the region 56:52 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded April 16, 2024.
0:00 Why Paul’s eclipse experience eclipsed Bob’s 6:01 Remembering pioneering psychologist Daniel Kahneman 16:09 Bob fails gender affirmation test 20:50 Has the “replication crisis” tainted Kahneman’s legacy? 27:23 Eastern vs. Western “enlightenment” 35:34 How AI doomerism came to the rationalist community 45:18 3 Body Problem review goes into Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: Should humanity welcome AI/alien overlords? What was the movie Harvey trying to say? Psychedelics as psycho-technology The therapy crapshoot The self-immolating airman and the trouble with mental “illness” Poor Things baffles Bob
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded April 10, 2024.
0:05 A brief message from Bob 1:43 Derek and Danny stumble into Bob’s Zoom room 2:42 Israel’s doubly out-of-control week 11:44 How Biden's Gaza failures will shape the Democratic Party 26:13 Biden’s political incentives on Israel-Palestine 29:43 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded April 04, 2024.
0:00 Robin’s history of thinking about the future 2:20 Seeing AI as offspring, not adversary 14:26 Robin’s famous answer to a great cosmic mystery 24:53 Would evidence of aliens be good news or bad? 33:55 Is rationalist culture cultist? 43:51 LLMs: revolution or hype cycle? 55:29 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: What LLMs do and don’t tell us about the human mind (according to Bob). Is regulating or not regulating AI more dangerous? Robin demystifies the sacred. What are humanity’s “future filters”? Rationalism’s Yudkowskian fork: a history. “Grey goo” and the trouble with techno-pessimism.
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Robin Hanson (George Mason University, The Elephant in the Brain, Overcoming Bias). Recorded April 02, 2024.
0:00 Ilia’s background 1:53 Things to know about the noosphere 8:15 Teilhard’s transgressive theological and scientific thought 14:29 Does AI suggest a “transcendent nature to nature”? 18:08 The Teilhardian solution to the mind-body problem 29:16 How Darwinian was Teilhard, really? 38:09 Teilhard on love 43:05 “Techno-sapiens,” redemption, and the Omega Point 54:38 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: Ilia: We’re a speeding world and no one’s at the wheel. Is becoming a global superorganism a good thing? "God is more Omega than Alpha" and other cryptic Teilhard-isms. Did Teilhard believe in aliens?
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Ilia Delio (Center for Christogenesis, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being, The Not-Yet God). Recorded January 10, 2024.
0:00 Kati’s unusual niche 2:12 How Covid changed meditation 7:10 Kati: The optimal amount of meditation is… 14:42 Is focusing on the breath overblown? 22:38 AI as a spiritual challenge 32:35 Meditation and cognitive empathy 39:24 Using technology mindfully 45:56 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: Bob’s humiliating meditation hack. Can meditation erase your attention deficit? Mushrooms as pacifiers. Marijuana vs psychedelics—neuroscientifically. The science of spontaneous enlightenment. What enlightenment looks like. Can microdosing be spiritual? Non-linear meditative progress.
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kathryn Devaney (The Berkeley Alembic). Recorded March 21, 2024.
2:37 Are Nikolay and Kirill satisfied with the "special military operation"? 7:58 Why have Russians become more supportive of the war effort? 17:39 Kirill defends the RWA tweet that unsettled Bob 31:25 US policies that made the war more likely 40:47 How much of Ukraine does Putin want? 54:01 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikolay and Kirill (Russians with Attitude). Recorded March 21, 2024.
0:00 Paul’s Substack: small potatoes or some pumpkins? 3:25 Elon sours on Lemon—is ketamine to blame? 9:32 The enduring enigma that is Elon Musk 20:57 Is Altman overdramatizing the AI #Resistance? 29:35 Paul cavalierly ignores Bob’s sage guidance 33:57 Oscars: The good, the bad, and the hammy 40:29 Heading to Overtime (plus: big Small Potatoes news!)
Discussed in Overtime: The knotty SSRI sexual side effect question. How woke is Barbie? How Will Smith’s Oscar slap is like Russia-Ukraine. Is AI Bob’s ticket to immortality? Jury Duty, acting, and human nature. What is the TikTok ban really about? Is Paul Pollyanna?
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded March 19, 2024.
0:00 Nathan’s role as “AI scout” 3:39 What "open source" in AI really means 9:17 Why the secrecy around AI training data? 16:51 What’s actually “open” about OpenAI? 32:28 The case for and against open source AI 42:07 Is an open source crackdown coming? 51:57 What Waymark, Nathan’s company, does with AI
Discussed in Overtime: Bob glimpses a Matrix-like future. Could (and should) we use AI to resolve human disputes? Where Nathan falls on the AI doomer spectrum. Understanding how AI understands things. Is AI alignment overblown?
2:21 Should Biden pursue regime change in Israel? 10:41 How the White House mishandled Netanyahu's far-right government 22:04 Daniel: “Israel has lost this war” 31:29 What a ceasefire deal would look like 38:38 Biden’s immense, unused leverage over Netanyahu 46:26 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: How the Gaza war makes Biden look weak. Has the Zionist project become more militant? The Israel-Palestine one-state reality.
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daniel Levy (Prospects for Peace, NAF, The Century Foundation). Recorded March 12, 2024.
0:00 The other Tim B. Lee 2:48 Unpacking the Elon v. OpenAI case 13:36 How did Google’s Gemini go wrong? 24:56 The unsung ingenious side of Gemini 34:11 Is AI a bubble? 38:25 Are some LLM issues insoluble? 44:11 How Sora changes the AI picture 50:44 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: Are LLMs general learning machines? Are human minds? The Darwinian dynamics of machine learning. How to conceptualize how LLMs conceptualize. Is digital technology’s impact on society overstated?
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded March 6, 2024.
0:51 Big trouble with Small Potatoes 4:45 What makes a good podcast? 12:53 Google’s AI goes wild(ly woke) 26:34 Is Biden a “super-ager” or just super old? 35:23 On the psychology of self-immolation 52:10 Are we thinking right about mental illness? 56:24 Heading to Overtime
Discussed in Overtime: The problem with paywalls. Is contingency in life good news or bad? Do AIs need to be symbolic to be logical? A new TV show Bob hates. Bob’s (mental?) break in the JFK case.
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 27, 2024.
0:00 Gary’s background and place in the AI world 1:17 Are Gary’s views on AI paradoxical? 8:48 Bob: Searle’s Chinese Room argument is dead 19:01 Have LLMs demonstrated "theory of mind"? 26:06 Arguing the semantics of an LLM's “semantic space” 31:36 Do LLM representations map onto the real world? 40:52 Can (and should) we slow down AI development? 51:43 Gary: I’ve never seen a field as myopic as AI today 54:25 The (symbolic?) future of AI
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Gary Marcus (garymarcus.substack.com, Humans vs. Machines, The Algebraic Mind, Kluge). Recorded February 13, 2024.
1:51 Nikita’s memories of Navalny’s emergence as a political force 11:49 The time Nikita was detained for protesting election fraud 23:14 Navalny’s success as a political organizer 36:25 What did Navalny represent? 46:54 Navalny’s courageous post-poisoning return to Russia 57:25 Heading to Overtime (plus: Nikita’s photo with Navalny)
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded February 20, 2024.
1:07 What MSM missed about Carlsons' Putin interview 13:52 Putin’s litany of grievances against the West 21:51 Russia gets the upper hand in Ukraine 29:34 Why Zelensky hasn’t paved the way for peace talks 36:34 Putin’s mafia-inspired approach to negotiations 45:19 Do most Russians support the war? 49:21 Why Zelensky fired his popular top general 53:32 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Leonid Ragozin (Rest of World, West of Providence, Lonely Planet). Recorded February 14, 2024.
1:29 Nora’s low score on the AI doomer test 7:58 The messy math of AI alignment 13:13 Teaching and (unteaching) concepts to LLMS 17:38 Do we really want human-like AI? 28:20 How the AI “mind” works 40:13 How to change an AI’s mind 52:51 Are LLMs reverse-engineering the human mind? 56:58 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nora Belrose (EleutherAI). Recorded January 16, 2024.
0:00 Bob’s bad newsletter news for Paul 3:22 Fast Car's moving Grammy moment 9:14 Music, female orgasms, and other evolutionary enigmas 13:54 The Moral Animal turns 30—how has it aged? 16:48 How AI (barely) helps Paul work 19:26 Is America real? 35:27 Bob tries to drag Paul down the JFK rabbit hole 43:10 Lab leak and the trouble with “conspiracy theories” 49:07 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 6, 2024.
0:00 Effective altruism (EA) and Rob’s 80,000 Hours podcast 2:42 SBF’s fall = EA’s public relations problem 11:45 What went wrong for (and with) SBF? 28:37 Virtue as a utilitarian shortcut 38:11 What drove EA’s longtermist (r)evolution? 45:50 EA, AI, and the miscalculation of existential risk 53:13 Did EA play a role in the OpenAI board drama? 1:00:48 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Rob Wiblin (80,000 Hours). Recorded January 11, 2024.
0:00 Another high-synergy collaborative episode 1:14 Do mainstream Israelis support ethnic cleansing? 10:28 Biden’s electoral (mis?)calculations on Israel-Palestine 20:46 What does a left-wing foreign policy vision look like today?
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded Feb 01, 2024.
1:51 How Israelis think about civilian casualties in Gaza 20:47 Is the war spawning a new generation of terrorists? 34:39 Explaining versus justifying bad behavior 49:39 Can Hamas and other extremist groups be moderated? 1:03:12 Is the world biased against Israel? 1:14:45 Cognitive biases that inflame tribal tensions 1:26:09 The “river to the sea” Rorschach test 1:41:03 On the precipice of World War III?
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Russ Roberts (Shalem College, EconTalk, Listening to the Sirens, Wild Problems). Recorded January 24, 2024.
twitter.com/NonzeroNews twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOverton Windows Ep.3: Transgender Issues [Preview] | Robert Wright & Tamler SommersNonzero2024-01-23 | Robert Wright and Tamler Sommers discuss what you can and can't say about transgender issues. [free preview]
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Tamler Sommers (Very Bad Wizards, University of Houston, Why Honor Matters). Recorded October 10, 2023.
0:00 Bob saves Paul from some very bad influences 5:33 What makes Hitler more evil than Stalin and Mao? 12:59 New lab leak evidence—what will come of it? 22:32 Correcting the record on effective altruism 36:46 Is “self-plagiarism” really plagiarism? 46:59 The dishonesty researcher accused of academic dishonesty 52:10 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded January 18, 2024.
0:00 Reid’s deep roots in the tech world 4:02 The kind of AI pessimism that irks Reid the most 15:48 Can (and should) we slow down AI progress? 27:48 Could AI help resolve international disputes? 34:23 The promise and perils of perspective-taking AIs 47:08 Why Reid co-wrote Impromptu with GPT-4 51:47 Where are the AI optimists? 1:00:04 Sam Altman and the OpenAI drama: a (semi-) behind-the-scenes view 1:14:21 How dangerous is open-source AI, really? 1:19:41 Is AI acceleration decelerating? 1:22:34 Engagement with China and “organic transparency”
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Reid Hoffman (Greylock Partners, Inflection AI, Impromptu, Possible). Recorded January 9, 2024.
1:30 Mickey’s in Iowa—and on the Nonzero Podcast! 5:23 Do Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have a chance? 17:16 Why Biden will probably lose 25:24 Wait, are there Democratic primaries? 39:42 Would Trump 2.0 be a more capable authoritarian? 50:35 AI bots that cater to your every need 57:39 Why doesn't Biden get tougher on the border? 1:07:04 Exciting new Child Tax Credit updates 1:10:44 Is Twitter going down the tubes? 1:18:05 Bob fails to escape from JFK assassination rabbit hole 1:31:45 Subways and other things that have gotten worse 1:36:06 Mickey’s Iowa caucus prediction
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded January 11, 2024.
1:16 How the Gaza war harms US interests 11:48 How the Gaza war harms Israel’s interests 22:21 Could Biden get Israel to wind down the war? 31:29 Biden’s complex political calculus on Israel 42:07 The Israel lobby: what it is and what it does 50:59 How elements of the lobby intimidate critics of Israel 54:14 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Stephen Walt (Harvard University, Foreign Policy). Recorded Jan 9, 2024.
0:00 Tim seeks Substack synergy beyond Bob 2:53 Recent contributors to Bob’s AI anxiety 9:08 Why “Mamba” matters 13:25 Is AI moving too fast? 23:44 Are fears of an AI “jobocalypse” overblown? 34:34 AI’s (potential) next transformation 37:47 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded January 4, 2024.
0:00 Jeff’s journalistic bona fides 3:41 The origins of the official assassination narrative 10:44 Oswald: Lone gunman? Patsy? Both? 19:24 The CIA’s interest in Oswald before the assassination 30:49 The Pentagon’s scheme to provoke war with Cuba via false flag 39:32 How Bob started down the JFK rabbit hole 44:11 Oswald’s critical time in New Orleans 51:11 Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald, really? 57:29 Why JFK’s assassination still matters
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Jefferson Morley (JFK Facts, Snow-Storm in August). Recorded December 28, 2023.
Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling.
0:42 Where’s Mickey? 5:00 Why ChatGPT is the real person of the year 20:41 The New York Times sues OpenAI 33:40 Bob’s bitter vindication on Russia-Ukraine 43:12 Israel threatens a wider war 48:26 Efforts to remove Trump from the ballot 1:00:13 2024 predictions
0:00 Kati’s very unusual Venn diagram 4:24 Your brain on meditation 10:31 The time Bob’s meditation got weird 16:15 What are the “jhanas”? 25:06 What science tells us about the jhana states 31:25 Are psychedelics gateway drugs to meditation? 40:57 Kati: Here’s how we get “not-self” wrong… 46:22 Psychedelics vs meditation—neuroscientifically 54:31 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kathryn Devaney (The Berkeley Alembic). Recorded December 06, 2023.What is to be done? A Nonzero/Psychopolitica Live Event | Live ReplayNonzero2023-12-27 | This is a recording of a livestream hosted by Robert Wright, publisher of the Nonzero Newsletter, and Nikita Petrov, publisher of the Psychopolitica newsletter.
In the course of fielding questions from their newsletter subscribers, Bob and Nikita discussed psychedelics, meditation, US foreign policy, ego death, tribalism, cynicism, Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, artificial intelligence, evolution, how they first met, and more.
Recorded December 21, 2023.Is Israel-Palestine Peace Possible? | Robert Wright & Thomas FriedmanNonzero2023-12-22 | Subscribe to The Nonzero Newsletter at nonzero.substack.com
0:52 How Tom tried to bring down Netanyahu’s government 9:32 The coming Biden-Netanyahu showdown 13:57 What’s driving Israeli public support for such massive retaliation? 23:50 The alarming growth of global disorder 30:22 Is Israel fated to be hated? 42:22 Why Tom is still hopeful about Israel-Palestine
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Thomas Friedman (The New York Times). Recorded December 20, 2023.
2:16 A short history of “longtermism” 8:39 The evolution of effective altruism (EA) 16:59 Unpacking the TESCREAL bundle 21:34 Why AGI dominates longtermist thinking 29:45 Are AI doomers and accelerationists more aligned than it seems? 40:45 Why did Émile ditch EA? 51:34 Heading to Overtime
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Émile P. Torres (Human Extinction; Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing). Recorded December 12, 2023.
Twitter: twitter.com/NonzeroPodsAre workers doomed in the age of AI? | Robert Wright & Daron Acemoglu | Nonzero ClipsNonzero2023-12-18 | Robert Wright and economist Daron Acemoglu discuss the impact artificial intelligence could have on employment and the distribution of power within society.
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daron Acemoglu (MIT, Why Nations Fail, Power and Progress). Recorded November 29, 2023.
0:17 Max’s book Rules for Rebels—and the rule that Hamas broke 3:45 Is social media a reality distortion machine? 19:04 “From the river to the sea…” compared to “globalize the intifada” 26:33 Does social media exaggerate the level of civil strife—and thereby raise it? 42:43 Is Israel’s assault on Gaza intensifying antisemitism? 55:40 How Israel’s actions impact the Jewish diaspora 1:05:26 The terrorism threat facing Israel 1:16:50 US foreign policy and the Israel lobby
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Max Abrahms (Northeastern University, Rules for Rebels). Recorded December 13, 2023.
0:38 The biggest surprise of Paul’s intellectual life 8:13 What the three college presidents should have said about free speech 20:39 Ramaswamy’s hot mic moment: mistake or power move? 22:45 Elon’s scorched-earth moment: power move or mental break? 30:49 Paul gets fact-checked—and likes it 36:02 In aligning AI, should we aim higher than human values? 40:29 Bob DESTROYS Paul’s AI article
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded December 11, 2023.
Twitter: twitter.com/NonzeroPods6 Questions about Consciousness | w/ Chalmers, Strawson, Kastrup, Frankish, Albahari, HarrisNonzero2023-12-11 | A compilation featuring Robert Wright and various guests—David Chalmers, Galen Strawson, Bernardo Kastrup, Keith Frankish, Miri Albahari, and Sam Harris—in discussion about consciousness.