This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 1:57 Nora’s low score on the AI doomer test 8:26 The messy math of AI alignment 13:41 Teaching and (unteaching) concepts to LLMS 18:06 Do we really want human-like AI? 28:48 How the AI “mind” works 40:41 How to change an AI’s mind 53:19 Are LLMs reverse-engineering the human mind? 57:26 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nora Belrose (EleutherAI)....

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling. Read this edition of the Earthling at: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/the-new-lab-leak-evidence Recorded February 09, 2024. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:31 Bob’s bad newsletter news for Paul 3:50 Fast Car's moving Grammy moment 9:42 Music, female orgasms, and other evolutionary enigmas 14:22 The Moral Animal turns 30—how has it aged? 17:16 How AI (barely) helps Paul work 19:54 Is America real? 35:55 Bob tries to drag Paul down the JFK rabbit hole 43:38 Lab leak and the trouble with “conspiracy theories” 49:35 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:31 Effective altruism (EA) and Rob’s 80,000 Hours podcast 3:10 SBF’s fall = EA’s public relations problem 12:13 What went wrong for (and with) SBF? 29:05 Virtue as a utilitarian shortcut 38:39 What drove EA’s longtermist (r)evolution? 46:18 EA, AI, and the miscalculation of existential risk 53:31 Did EA play a role in the OpenAI board drama? 1:01:16 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:31 Another high-synergy collaborative episode 1:42 Do mainstream Israelis support ethnic cleansing? 10:56 Biden’s electoral (mis?)calculations on Israel-Palestine 21:14 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...

2:19 How Israelis think about civilian casualties in Gaza 21:15 Is the war spawning a new generation of terrorists? 35:07 Explaining versus justifying bad behavior 50:07 Can Hamas and other extremist groups be moderated? 1:03:40 Is the world biased against Israel? 1:15:13 Cognitive biases that inflame tribal tensions 1:26:37 The “river to the sea” Rorschach test 1:41:31 On the precipice of World War III? Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling. Recorded January 25, 2024.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com Robert Wright and Tamler Sommers discuss what you can and can't say about transgender issues. 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.

2:33 Fear and loathing on the campaign trail 2024 10:16 Haley’s shortcomings, Trump’s cognitive decline 25:1 Who’s the perfect Democrat to run against Biden? 40:48 How Biden could stop the Gaza war 48:29 Why the Houthis are hard to neutralize 1:00:42 Could Trump sabotage the border security deal? 1:17:18 Doctor bots, robo-receipt checkers, and AI optimism 1:33:29 The real problem with America’s elites 1:42:56 Is catastrophe the only thing that can save America? 1:52:23 Bob tries to drag...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:31 Bob saves Paul from some very bad influences 6:01 What makes Hitler more evil than Stalin and Mao? 13:27 New lab leak evidence—what will come of it? 23:00 Correcting the record on effective altruism 37:14 Is “self-plagiarism” really plagiarism? 47:27 The dishonesty researcher accused of academic dishonesty 52:38 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why...

0:31 Reid’s deep roots in the tech world 4:30 The kind of AI pessimism that irks Reid the most 16:16 Can (and should) we slow down AI progress? 28:16 Could AI help resolve international disputes? 34:51 The promise and perils of perspective-taking AIs 47:36 Why Reid co-wrote Impromptu with GPT-4 52:15 Where are the AI optimists? 1:00:32 Sam Altman and the OpenAI drama: a (semi-) behind-the-scenes view 1:14:49 How dangerous is open-source AI, really? 1:20:09 Is AI acceleration decelerating?...

1:58 Mickey’s in Iowa—and on the Nonzero Podcast! 5:51 Do Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have a chance? 17:44 Why Biden will probably lose 25:52 Wait, are there Democratic primaries? 40:10 Would Trump 2.0 be a more capable authoritarian? 51:13 AI bots that cater to your every need 58:07 Why doesn't Biden get tougher on the border? 1:07:32 Exciting new Child Tax Credit updates 1:11:12 Is Twitter going down the tubes? 1:18:33 Bob fails to escape from JFK assassination rabbit hole 1:32:13 Subways...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 1:44 How the Gaza war harms US interests 12:16 How the Gaza war harms Israel’s interests 22:49 Could Biden get Israel to wind down the war? 31:57 Biden’s complex political calculus on Israel 42:35 The Israel lobby: what it is and what it does 51:27 How elements of the lobby intimidate critics of Israel 54:42 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:33 Tim seeks Substack synergy beyond Bob 3:21 Recent contributors to Bob’s AI anxiety 9:36 Why “Mamba” matters 13:53 Is AI moving too fast? 24:12 Are fears of an AI “jobocalypse” overblown? 35:02 AI’s (potential) next transformation 38:15 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)....

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:31 Jeff’s journalistic bona fides 4:09 The origins of the official assassination narrative 11:12 Oswald: Lone gunman? Patsy? Both? 19:52 The CIA’s interest in Oswald before the assassination 31:17 The Pentagon’s scheme to provoke war with Cuba via false flag 40:00 How Bob started down the JFK rabbit hole 44:39 Oswald’s critical time in New Orleans 51:39 Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald, really? 57:57 Why JFK’s...

Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling. 1:10 Where’s Mickey? 5:28 Why ChatGPT is the real person of the year 21:09 The New York Times sues OpenAI 34:08 Bob’s bitter vindication on Russia-Ukraine 43:40 Israel threatens a wider war 48:53 Efforts to remove Trump from the ballot 1:00:41 2024 predictions Read this edition of the Earthling at: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/nzns-person-of-the-year Recorded December 28, 2023. This is a public episode. If you’d like to...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:33 Kati’s very unusual Venn diagram 4:52 Your brain on meditation 10:59 The time Bob’s meditation got weird 16:43 What are the “jhanas”? 25:34 What science tells us about the jhana states 31:53 Are psychedelics gateway drugs to meditation? 41:25 Kati: Here’s how we get “not-self” wrong… 46:50 Psychedelics vs meditation—neuroscientifically 54:59 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The...

https://www.youtube.com/live/za5JxTsGwkg?feature=shared 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. Subscribe...

1:20 How Tom tried to bring down Netanyahu’s government 10:00 The coming Biden-Netanyahu showdown 14:25 What’s driving Israeli public support for such massive retaliation? 24:18 The alarming growth of global disorder 30:50 Is Israel fated to be hated? 42:50 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. Twitter:...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com (Overtime audio available to paid subscribers through the player at the top of the page and video version available below the paywall.) 2:44 A short history of “longtermism” 9:07 The evolution of effective altruism (EA) 17:27 Unpacking the TESCREAL bundle 22:02 Why AGI dominates longtermist thinking 30:13 Are AI doomers and accelerationists more aligned than it seems? 41:13 Why did Émile ditch EA? 52:02...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from The Earthling. Read this edition of The Earthling at: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/bidens-israel-impotence

0:45 Max’s book Rules for Rebels—and the rule that Hamas broke 4:13 Is social media a reality distortion machine? 19:32 “From the river to the sea…” compared to “globalize the intifada” 27:01 Does social media exaggerate the level of civil strife—and thereby raise it? 43:11 Is Israel’s assault on Gaza intensifying antisemitism? 56:08 How Israel’s actions impact the Jewish diaspora 1:05:54 The terrorism threat facing Israel 1:17:18 US foreign policy and the Israel lobby Robert Wright...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 1:06 The biggest surprise of Paul’s intellectual life 8:41 What the three college presidents should have said about free speech 21:07 Ramaswamy’s hot mic moment: mistake or power move? 23:13 Elon’s scorched-earth moment: power move or mental break? 31:17 Paul gets fact-checked—and likes it 36:30 In aligning AI, should we aim higher than human values? 40:57 Bob DESTROYS Paul’s AI article Robert Wright...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from The Earthling. Read this edition of The Earthling at:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com 0:33 A bold experiment in podcast synergy continues 4:03 The dire humanitarian situation in Gaza 10:19 Is full-on ethnic cleansing more likely than a political solution? 19:49 If Biden loses in 2024, will elites rethink Israel-Palestine? 29:51 The changing perception of Israel 35:57 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign...