Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg
310 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 110 ratingsClearer Thinking is a podcast about ideas that truly matter. If you enjoy learning about powerful, practical concepts and frameworks, wish you had more deep, intellectual conversations in your life, or are looking for non-BS self-improvement, then we think you'll love this podcast! Each week we invite a brilliant guest to bring four important ideas to discuss for an in-depth conversation. Topics include psychology, society, behavior change, philosophy, science, artificial intelligence, math, economics, self-help, mental health, and technology. We focus on ideas that can be applied right now to make your life better or to help you better understand yourself and the world, aiming to teach you the best mental tools to enhance your learning, self-improvement efforts, and decision-making. • We take on important, thorny questions like: • What's the best way to help a friend or loved one going through a difficult time? How can we make our worldviews more accurate? How can we hone the accuracy of our thinking? What are the advantages of using our "gut" to make decisions? And when should we expect careful, analytical reflection to be more effective? Why do societies sometimes collapse? And what can we do to reduce the chance that ours collapses? Why is the world today so much worse than it could be? And what can we do to make it better? What are the good and bad parts of tradition? And are there more meaningful and ethical ways of carrying out important rituals, such as honoring the dead? How can we move beyond zero-sum, adversarial negotiations and create more positive-sum interactions?
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Episodes
Raising our happiness baseline (with Sasha Chapin)
June 19, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 74.4 MBRead the full transcript here. How easy is it to shift our baseline level of happiness? What sorts of things can most effectively shift that baseline? And are they highly specific to each individual or generalizable to most people? What are the differences between conceptual and phenomenal self-love? Why might it be useful to view shame as a kink? How does self-love or self-acceptance differ from indulging or even just tolerating the worst parts of yourself? What's the best way to think ab...
Worldviews, altruism, and embracing variance (with Emmett Shear)
June 12, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBRead the full transcript here. How does Emmett's worldview differ from the standard Silicon Valley worldview? What's the difference between an ideology and a worldview? What's middle management useful for? How might democracy be improved? How important is optimism? Why do people seem to get less done each day than they expect to get done? When is high variance beneficial? Does every startup have a point where it seems like they're going to fail? What's the best and worst startup advice out...
Two things shape the course of your life: luck and your decisions (with Annie Duke)
June 05, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 78.4 MBRead the full transcript here. Should people spend more time becoming better decision-makers? What are the main things that determine how our lives turn out? What's wrong with pro / con lists? When should we deviate from making decisions based on expected value calculations? What kinds of uncertainty might we encounter in the decision-making process? Are explicit decision calculations self-defeating? How similar is intuitive decision-making to decision-making that's based on calculations? ...
What we know and don't know about nutrition (with Gil Carvalho)
May 29, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 77.4 MBRead the full transcript here. How do we know what's true in nutrition? Why aren't nutrition studies seemingly as "definitive" as (e.g.) physics experiments often seem to be? What is the "hierarchy of evidence"? Why is there such a disconnect between the kinds of evidence that actually seem to persuade people and the kinds of evidence that scientists view as valid and meaningful? How can we talk about specific foods in ways that avoid labelling them as always good or always bad? Is the Med...
Measuring everything that matters (with Doug Hubbard)
May 22, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBRead the full transcript here. Can we measure everything that matters to us? When is measuring the correlates of a thing pretty much just as good as measuring the thing itself? Why are some people resistant to measuring certain things? What are some things people should be measuring but aren't? What's the connection between measuring things and assigning probabilities to events? How much do we know about how well human intuition performs against "doing the math"? How inconsistent are we at...
What happens when you follow 100 self-help books to the letter? (with Kristen Meinzer)
May 15, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 69.3 MBRead the full transcript here. Why does it seem that many people read self-help books with no intention of actually doing what the books prescribe? Why are self-help books often less clear than it seems they ought to be? What are self-help books actually designed to do? Why do self-help authors continue to write as though their ideas will help everyone when it seems fairly obvious that no single self-help book has ever been a global panacea? Should self-help advice differ based on the gend...
Aligning society with our deepest values and sources of meaning (with Joe Edelman)
May 08, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBRead the full transcript here. What are the best ways to define "values" and "meaning"? How can democratic processes harness people's intrinsic values and sources of meaning to increase their agency, cooperation, participation, equality, etc.? To what extent do political rivals — or even the bitterest of political enemies — actually value many of the same things? Might we be able to use AIs as "neutral" third-party mediators to help reduce political polarization, especially on an interpers...
Separating quantum computing hype from reality (with Scott Aaronson)
May 01, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 72.3 MBRead the full transcript here. What exactly is quantum computing? How much should we worry about the possibility that quantum computing will break existing cryptography tools? When will a quantum computer with enough horsepower to crack RSA likely appear? On what kinds of tasks will quantum computers likely perform better than classical computers? How legitimate are companies that are currently selling quantum computing solutions? How can scientists help to fight misinformation and misunde...
Should we pause AI development until we're sure we can do it safely? (with Joep Meindertsma)
April 24, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBRead the full transcript here. Should we pause AI development? What might it mean for an AI system to be "provably" safe? Are our current AI systems provably unsafe? What makes AI especially dangerous relative to other modern technologies? Or are the risks from AI overblown? What are the arguments in favor of not pausing — or perhaps even accelerating — AI progress? What is the public perception of AI risks? What steps have governments taken to migitate AI risks? If thoughtful, prudent, ca...
What should the Effective Altruism movement learn from the SBF / FTX scandal? (with Will MacAskill)
April 15, 2024 23:59 - 2 hours - 112 MBRead the full transcript here. What are the facts around Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX about which all parties agree? What was the nature of Will's relationship with SBF? What things, in retrospect, should've been red flags about Sam or FTX? Was Sam's personality problematic? Did he ever really believe in EA principles? Does he lack empathy? Or was he on the autism spectrum? Was he naive in his application of utilitarianism? Did EA intentionally install SBF as a spokesperson, or did he put him...
Why are so many people experiencing homelessness in big cities in the U.S., and what can be done to help? (with Kevin Adler)
April 10, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 106 MBRead the full transcript here. How big of a problem is homelessness in the US? How many people in large cities like New York City or Los Angeles are unhoused? What's the best language to use when discussing this issue? How is "homelessness" defined? We usually don't label people without food or water as "foodless" or "waterless"; so why do we label people without homes as "homeless"? Why do we so often look away from the problem, both literally and figuratively? What are the most common ev...
Common body language mistakes and how to avoid making them (with Blake Eastman)
April 04, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 83 MBRead the full transcript here. What are some common techniques for quantifying body language? How hard is it to identify poker "tells"? Are there any facial expressions or body movements that have universal meaning? What can be discerned about group dynamics just from watching a meeting over video call? What are the most common body language mistakes people make when going on dates or trying to make friends? What are the strongest indicators of charisma? How do people signal their social s...
True things, useful things, and the differences between them (with Derek Sivers)
March 27, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 68.9 MBRead the full transcript here. Is nothing objectively true? What kinds of things are we trying to communicate with the stories we tell? Why do we feel the need to take a side on every issue? Which sorts of issues should be tied to our identities? How can we set the definitions for terms in a conversation, if possible? Should people just believe whatever works for them? Is it better to try to compensate for our biases or to reduce them? Should we strive to have lower confidence in ourselves...
Should we widen our moral circles to include animals, insects, and AIs? (with Jeff Sebo)
March 20, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 67.4 MBRead the full transcript here. How did we end up with factory farming? How many animals do we kill every year in factory farms? When we consider the rights of non-human living things, we tend to focus mainly on the animal kingdom, and in particular on relatively larger, more complex animals; but to what extent should insects, plants, fungi, and even single-celled organisms deserve our moral consideration? Do we know anything about what it's like (or not) to be an AI? To what extent is the ...
How to have a positive impact with your career (with Benjamin Hilton)
March 13, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 78.9 MBRead the full transcript here. What's the best way to think about building an impactful career? Should everyone try to work in fields related to existential risks? Should people find work in a problem area even if they can't work on the very "best" solution within that area? What does it mean for a particular job or career path to be a "good fit" for someone? What is "career capital"? To what extent should people focus on developing transferable skills? What are some of the most useful cro...
Spencer's takeaways after 200 episodes (with Spencer Greenberg)
March 06, 2024 23:59 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBRead the full transcript here. It's our 200th episode! 🥳 What important things has Spencer gleaned from these 200 episodes? What has he learned about how to have better conversations? On what topics has he updated his views? What makes for a great question? Thank you, listeners, for listening, following, rating, reviewing, supporting, and communicating with us! You've helped the show continue to grow, improve, and thrive! Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host / Director Josh Castle — Produce...
Psychological change in a single session (with Jessica Schleider)
February 28, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBRead the full transcript here. Is it possible to change someone's life with a really short psychological intervention? What features do turning points in people's lives tend to share in common? What single-session interventions can work well for depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues? What expectations should reasonably be held in advance of a single-session intervention? By what mechanisms do these interventions spark the desire for change in participants? How useful is quali...
Academic group think, free speech norms, and the psychology of time (with Anne Wilson)
February 21, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 91.1 MBRead the full transcript here. How does psychological time differ from clock time? How does a person's perception of time relate to their personal identity? How does a person's view of their past shape how they view their future? To what extent do people differ in the degree to which they feel like a single, continuous person across time? What effects does a person's perception of time have on their assessment of injustices? Why aren't there more adversarial collaborations in academia? Is ...
How can Stoicism improve your life? (with Bill Irvine)
February 14, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBRead the full transcript here. Why is Stoicism important and useful today? What are the main ideas of Stoicism? How can you tell if you're "living well"? And if you're not living well, then how can you move yourself in that direction? How can we learn to accept and embrace life as it comes without losing our desire to improve ourselves and the world around us? Do people vary in the degree to which Stoic practices might be beneficial for them? What's the relationship between Stoicism and CB...
Is there a grand unified theory of everyone? (with Michael Muthukrishna)
February 08, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 69 MBRead the full transcript here. What is a "theory of everyone"? Do the social sciences currently have enough firm knowledge to synthesize such a theory? Have we been getting smarter as a species over the last few hundred years? Were great historical thinkers smarter than today's greatest minds? Why are governments so prone to corruption? What is the COMPASS framework? What is the "no hyphen" immigration model? What is the "umbrella" immigration model? How can governments change how they thi...
The alternate histories and possible futures of nuclear weapons (with Carl Robichaud)
February 02, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 71.6 MBRead the full transcript here. Has the world been "lucky" so far with respect to nuclear weapons? How many people have died from nuclear weapons? To what extent do nuclear weapons actually deter aggression? How many countries currently have nuclear weapons or are in the process of building them? How can we discourage continued proliferation of (or even the desire to own) nuclear weapons? How tightly linked are the technologies required to build nuclear energy programs and nuclear weapons p...
How can AIs know what we want if *we* don't even know? (with Geoffrey Irving)
January 24, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBRead the full transcript here. What does it really mean to align an AI system with human values? What would a powerful AI need to do in order to do "what we want"? How does being an assistant differ from being an agent? Could inter-AI debate work as an alignment strategy, or would it just result in arguments designed to manipulate humans via their cognitive and emotional biases? How can we make sure that all human values are learned by AIs, not just the values of humans in WEIRD societies?...
Schemas, goals, values, and the pursuit of happiness (with Jeff Perron)
January 17, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 79.9 MBRead the full transcript here. What does it mean to have conflicts between our schemas and our values? What is schema therapy? How do schema therapy's claims differ from the "common sense" view that we develop tools for interacting with the world in childhood? How do our "inner critic" and "vulnerable child" connect to our schemas? How do these things differ from the IFS (Internal Family Systems) model of psychotherapy? How do these things map onto Buddhism, Stoicism, and other religious o...
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and beyond (with David Burns)
January 10, 2024 23:59 - 2 hours - 129 MBRead the full transcript here. What was therapy like in the years leading up to the advent of CBT? Has CBT now been over-sold? How does CBT differ from "the power of positive thinking"? How can therapists who use CBT avoid invalidating clients' feelings? When, if ever, should people listen to their negative thoughts? To what extent can a person's good qualities contribute to their depression? Can empathy be learned? Is it possible to cure depression in a single psychotherapy session? What ...
There are shrinks, and then there are SUPER-shrinks (with Daryl Chow)
January 03, 2024 23:59 - 1 hour - 72.2 MBRead the full transcript here. What is a "super-shrink"? Which factors in the therapist-client relationship are most predictive of positive client outcomes over time: the therapist's personality, the client's personality, the therapist's methodology, or other factor(s)? How can therapists use and teach evidence-based practices and behaviors while also respecting and working within an individual client's belief system? What should clients look for when shopping for therapists? Why do client...
Bringing conspiracy theorists back from the brink (with Jesse Richardson)
December 28, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBRead the full transcript here. Have conspiracy theories been more prevalent, more persuasive, or more convoluted in the last few decades than at other points in human history? Is the presence of conspiracy theorists a feature of every society? The phrase "conspiracy theory" usually implies a false theory, even though some are eventually proven to be true; so how can we update our language to better differentiate between disconfirmed and not-yet-confirmed conspiracy theories? How can people...
Simulacra levels, moral mazes, and low-hanging fruit (with Zvi Mowshowitz)
December 20, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 81.3 MBRead the full transcript here. Why do we leave so much low-hanging fruit unharvested in so many parts of life? In what contexts is it better to do a thing than to do a symbolic representation of the thing, and vice versa? How can we know when to try to fix a problem that hasn't yet been fixed? In a society, what's the ideal balance of explorers and exploiters? What are the four simulacra levels? What is a moral "maze"? In the context of AI, can solutions for the problems of generation vs. ...
Effectively encouraging people to give more (with Josh Greene)
December 15, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 80.2 MBRead the full transcript here. How can people be encouraged in ways that are more natural and less manipulative to increase the amounts they give to charities? Why are arguments based on the effectiveness of charitable organizations less compelling to most people than we'd like for them to be? What percentages of a social group should be "doves", "hawks", "eagles", or something else? To what extent should our knowledge about our evolutionary history shape our values? Why are children more ...
We can't mitigate AI risks we've never imagined (with Darren McKee)
December 06, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 65.8 MBRead the full transcript here. How can we find and expand the limitations of our imaginations, especially with respect to possible futures for humanity? What sorts of existential threats have we not yet even imagined? Why is there a failure of imagination among the general populace about AI safety? How can we make better decisions under uncertainty and avoid decision paralysis? What kinds of tribes have been forming lately within AI fields? What are the differences between alignment and co...
What tools do students really need in order to become successful humans? (with AJ Crabill)
November 29, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBRead the full transcript here. Why did students struggle so much to learn through video meetings during the locked-down days of the pandemic? What are "student-led restorative practices"? What is "self-connection practice"? What tools are students lacking? When is violence the optimal solution to a problem? What are the biggest problems in education right now? What do students need in order to be successful humans? How can schools give students more agency and autonomy? What happens if stu...
Rethinking what it means to learn math (with Eugenia Cheng)
November 22, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 72.1 MBRead the full transcript here. What should the goals of math education be? What does it mean to "think well"? Is math real? Why are feelings of bewilderment or confusion so common in math classes but not as common in other subjects? Schools now generally offer reading and writing instruction separately — even though both are important for language use — because the skill sets they require can differ so widely; so how might math education benefit from drawing a similar distinction? What sho...
Values, principles, and behavior change (with Eric Zimmer)
November 15, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBRead the full transcript here. What can we learn from the parable of the two wolves? What is valuism? Do we choose our own intrinsic values? How quickly do our intrinsic values change over time, if at all? How do values and principles relate to one another? Why is behavior change so hard? What conditions need to be met in order for people to change their behavior? How can people make their behavior changes more persistent and less vulnerable to life's ups and downs? Eric Zimmer is a behav...
Escaping a cult: physically, mentally, and emotionally (with Daniella Mestyanek Young)
November 08, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 71.3 MBRead the full transcript here. How do the experiences of children born into cults differ from members who join as adults? Why do some cults that grow out of western evangelical Christianity — which is notoriously obsessed with purity culture — often flip the script about sex and turn promiscuity into a virtue? How does age affect the ease with which one internalizes cult programming? To what extent do cult members approve of sexual abuses committed the name of religion? What sort of tactic...
Win-Win vs. Moloch, the many-headed monster that may consume us all (with Liv Boeree)
November 01, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 71.9 MBRead the full transcript here. Who's Moloch? And what do we mean when we call something "Molochian"? What does healthy competition look like? How can we avoid or extricate ourselves from Molochian scenarios? Are our instincts about fairness and unfairness usually accurate? Is it possible for today's social media giants to create products that people want to use and that are actually good for people to use? What kinds of problems could conceivably be solved by "trustless" solutions? or "hig...
Do technological innovations yield net gains in the long run? (with Justin Smith-Ruiu)
October 25, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 78.9 MBRead the full transcript here. What are the limits of tech solutionism? Do technological innovations create as many problems as they solve? Or, in other words, do technological innovations improve the world on average over time? Are humans living in the 21st century actually worse off than those that lived in the 11th century? What's the difference between "art" and "content"? If image-generating AIs just produce images that are stylistic averages across all of their training data, then is...
Money, status, power, and sex in nightclubs around the world (with Ashley Mears)
October 18, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 75.6 MBRead the full transcript here. What interesting social phenomena can be observed at nightclubs? What are "whales" hoping to achieve by spending big at nightclubs? Trying too obviously to increase social status tends to backfire; so how can people buy status without appearing to do so? What do "promoters" gain from these social interactions? How does their work differ from or overlap with sex work? How can they make money without being seen as "gold-diggers"? What ethnicities tend to compri...
Is bad air quality slowly harming us? (with Richard Bruns)
October 11, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 77.3 MBRead the full transcript here. How bad is the air quality in the US and around the world? What's the evidence that certain kinds of particles in the air lead to negative health outcomes? Are there differences in air quality among urban, suburban, and rural areas? And if so, then to what extent are negative health outcomes attributable to air quality rather than to (e.g.) poverty, education, or other confounding factors? What are "PM 2.5" particles? Can some particles be too small to matter...
Journalism in the age of AI (with Dylan Matthews)
October 04, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 68.3 MBRead the full transcript here. Will large language models (LLMs) replace journalists any time soon? On what types of writing tasks do LLMs outperform humans? Have the US news media become less truth-seeking in recent decades? Or is truth-seeking behavior merely an aberration from a norm of propagandizing? How should we redistribute economic surplus from AI? Have any AI companies committed to a Windfall Clause? Instead of bothering to negotiate with us, wouldn't a superintelligent AI be abl...
Experiments for enlightenment and fundamental wellbeing (with Jeffery Martin)
September 27, 2023 23:59 - 2 hours - 116 MBRead the full transcript here. Is enlightenment the same as being happy all the time? Or being at peace all the time? Or something else? What is "fundamental wellbeing"? What are the "locations" within fundamental wellbeing? What is "persistent non-symbolic experience"? How effective is the Finders Course? Are control groups necessary when researching enlightenment? Jeffery Martin is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness (nonsymbolic.org) and a re...
Mothers who harm their children for attention (with Andrea Dunlop)
September 20, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBRead the full transcript here. What is Munchausen syndrome? How does Munchausen syndrome differ from malingering? Does Munchausen usually correlate with lying or exaggerating in other contexts (i.e., pathological lying)? What is "Munchausen by Proxy" (AKA "factitious disorder imposed on another", or FDIA)? Why are women the offenders in the overwhelming majority of cases? What are some consistent patterns of behavior exhibited by people with MBP? What is a "reality distortion field"? How d...
Is evolutionary psychology just a bunch of "just so" stories? (with Geoffrey Miller)
September 13, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBRead the full transcript here. Why do even people who accept evolutionary explanations for most biological phenomena often push back against evolutionary explanations for human psychology? To what extent should humans adjust their behavior in light of evopsych findings? How do evopsych researchers avoid formulating "just so" stories to explain specific behaviors? What can we infer about human behavior from the behaviors of chimps, bonobos, gorillas, or orangutans? What is the evopsych view...
Systems of governance built on prediction markets (with Robin Hanson)
September 07, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 79 MBRead the full transcript here. What is futarchy? Why does it seem to be easier to find social innovations rather than technical innovations? How does it differ from democracy? In what ways might a futarchy be gamed? What are some obstacles to implementing futarchy? Do we actually like for our politicians to be hypocritical to some degree? How mistaken are we about our own goals for social, political, and economic institutions? Do we enjoy fighting (politically) more than actually governing...
Using metacognitive therapy to break the habit of rumination (with Pia Callesen)
August 30, 2023 23:59 - 48 minutes - 44 MBRead the full transcript here. What is metacognitive therapy? How does MCT differ from CBT, DBT, and other mental health therapy paradigms? How do we know we're spending time worrying about the right things? How much time spent worrying is actually useful? How aware are we of our own tendencies to ruminate on certain negative thoughts? Does MCT avoid all content-based problem-solving? What is the state of the evidence for MCT? Dr. Pia Callesen is one of Denmark's most educated and experie...
How quickly is AI advancing? And should you be working in the field? (with Danny Hernandez)
August 23, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 63 MBRead the full transcript here. Along what axes and at what rates is the AI industry growing? What algorithmic developments have yielded the greatest efficiency boosts? When, if ever, will we hit the upper limits of the amount of computing power, data, money, etc., we can throw at AI development? Why do some people seemingly become fixated on particular tasks that particular AI models can't perform and draw the conclusion that AIs are still pretty dumb and won't be taking our jobs any time ...
Can we choose who we are? (with Gavin Leech)
August 16, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBRead the full transcript here. Can we really deeply change who we are? Can we choose our preferences, intrinsic values, or personality more generally? What are some interventions people might use to make big changes in their lives? Why might it be harder to be a generalist than a specialist? What are some of the most well-known "findings" from the social sciences that have failed to replicate? Do some replications go too far? Should we just let Twitter users take over the peer-review proce...
Normalizing catastrophes and catastrophizing normalcy (with Mike Pesca)
August 09, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 79.4 MBRead the full transcript here. Besides the need to attract attention, what are some other drivers behind the news media's tendency to "catastrophize the normal"? To what extent does paltering take place on the politically left and right ends of the new media spectrum? Should journalists try to be as objective and unbiased as possible, or should they strive to make a difference in the world by highlighting particular issues that are important to them? Is the US on the verge of a civil war? ...
What's wrong with society, and how can we fix it? (with Tim Urban)
August 02, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 78.3 MBRead the full transcript here. What's wrong with society? And what can we do to fix it? Centuries ago, a person's grandparents lived in a world that was basically identical to that person's world; but what are the implications of living in a time when the rate of technological change is such that our grandparents' world was almost nothing like ours, and ours will be almost nothing like our grandchildren's? How do Tim's concepts of the "primitive mind" and the "higher mind" map onto System ...
AI creativity and love (with Joel Lehman)
July 26, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBRead the full transcript here. Where does innovation come from? How common is it for "lone wolf" scientists to make large leaps in innovation by themselves? How can we imbue AIs with creativity? Or, conversely, how can we apply advances in AI creativity to our own personal creative processes? How do creative strategies that work well for individuals differ from creative strategies that work well for groups? To what extent are models like DALL-E and ChatGPT "creative"? Can machines love? Or...
Glimpses of enlightenment through nondual meditation (with Michael Taft and Jeremy Stevenson)
July 19, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 70.6 MBRead the full transcript here. How does nondual meditation differ from other forms of meditation? Is nonduality the sort of thing a person can just "get" immediately? What value is provided by the more effortful, less "sudden" forms of meditation? Is there such a thing as full or complete enlightenment? And what would such a state entail? To what extent do nondual meditation teachers agree about what nonduality is? Are glimpses of enlightenment available to everyone? How long does it usual...
Crumbling institutions, culture wars, and the dismissal economy (with Ashley Hodgson)
July 12, 2023 23:59 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBRead the full transcript here. What is the New Enlightenment? What might it mean to improve our epistemics with regard to institutions? How should we fix imbalanced salience in contexts where misinformation is a problem (like news media)? How have the economics of institutions deteriorated? How can we continually reinvigorate systems so that they remain ungameable and resistant to runaway feedback loops? In the context of government in particular, how can we move away from "one dollar, one...