The Valmy

Podcast: Dwarkesh Podcast Episode: Joseph Carlsmith - Utopia, AI, & Infinite EthicsRelease date: 2022-08-03Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationJoseph Carlsmith is a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy and a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Oxford.We discuss utopia, artificial intelligence, computational power of the brain, infinite ethics, learning from the fact that you exist, perils of futurism, and blogging.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.Episode website + Transcript here. Follow Joseph on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter.Subscribe to find out about future episodes!Timestamps(0:00:06) - Introduction(0:02:53) - How to Define a Better Future?(0:09:19) - Utopia(0:25:12) - Robin Hanson’s EMs(0:27:35) - Human Computational Capacity(0:34:15) - FLOPS to Emulate Human Cognition?(0:40:15) - Infinite Ethics(1:00:51) - SIA vs SSA(1:17:53) - Futurism & Unreality(1:23:36) - Blogging & Productivity(1:28:43) - Book Recommendations(1:30:04) - ConclusionPlease share if you enjoyed this episode! Helps out a ton! Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe

Podcast: 80,000 Hours Podcast Episode: #134 – Ian Morris on what big-picture history teaches usRelease date: 2022-07-22Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationWind back 1,000 years and the moral landscape looks very different to today. Most farming societies thought slavery was natural and unobjectionable, premarital sex was an abomination, women should obey their husbands, and commoners should obey their monarchs.Wind back 10,000 years and things look very different again. Most hunter-gatherer groups thought men who got too big for their britches needed to be put in their place rather than obeyed, and lifelong monogamy could hardly be expected of men or women.Why such big systematic changes — and why these changes specifically?That's the question best-selling historian Ian Morris takes up in his book, Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve. Ian has spent his academic life studying long-term history, trying to explain the big-picture changes that play out over hundreds or thousands of years. Links to learn more, summary and full transcript. There are a number of possible explanations one could offer for the wide-ranging shifts in opinion on the 'right' way to live. Maybe the natural sciences progressed and people realised their previous ideas were mistaken? Perhaps a few persuasive advocates turned the course of history with their revolutionary arguments? Maybe everyone just got nicer? In Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels Ian presents a provocative alternative: human culture gradually evolves towards whatever system of organisation allows a society to harvest the most energy, and we then conclude that system is the most virtuous one. Egalitarian values helped hunter-gatherers hunt and gather effectively. Once farming was developed, hierarchy proved to be the social structure that produced the most grain (and best repelled nomadic raiders). And in the modern era, democracy and individuality have proven to be more productive ways to collect and exploit fossil fuels. On this theory, it's technology that drives moral values much more than moral philosophy. Individuals can try to persist with deeply held values that limit economic growth, but they risk being rendered irrelevant as more productive peers in their own society accrue wealth and power. And societies that fail to move with the times risk being conquered by more pragmatic neighbours that adapt to new technologies and grow in population and military strength. There are many objections one could raise to this theory, many of which we put to Ian in this interview. But the question is a highly consequential one: if we want to guess what goals our descendants will pursue hundreds of years from now, it would be helpful to have a theory for why our ancestors mostly thought one thing, while we mostly think another. Big though it is, the driver of human values is only one of several major questions Ian has tackled through his career. In today's episode, we discuss all of Ian's major books, taking on topics such as: • Why the Industrial Revolution happened in England rather than China • Whether or not wars can lead to less violence • Whether the evidence base in history — from document archives to archaeology — is strong enough to persuasively answer any of these questions • Why Ian thinks the way we live in the 21st century is probably a short-lived aberration • Whether the grand sweep of history is driven more by “very important people” or “vast impersonal forces” • Why Chinese ships never crossed the Pacific or rounded the southern tip of Africa • In what sense Ian thinks Brexit was “10,000 years in the making” • The most common misconceptions about macrohistoryChapters:Rob’s intro (00:00:00)The interview begins (00:01:51)Geography is Destiny (00:02:59)Why the West Rules—For Now (00:11:25)War! What is it Good For? (00:27:40)Expectations for the future (00:39:43)Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels (00:53:15)Historical methodology (01:02:35)Falsifiable alternative theories (01:15:20)Archaeology (01:22:18)Energy extraction technology as a key driver of human values (01:37:04)Allowing people to debate about values (01:59:38)Can productive wars still occur? (02:12:49)Where is history contingent and where isn't it? (02:29:45)How Ian thinks about the future (03:12:54)Macrohistory myths (03:29:12)Ian’s favourite archaeology memory (03:32:40)The most unfair criticism Ian’s ever received (03:34:39)Rob’s outro (03:39:16)Producer: Keiran HarrisAudio mastering: Ben CordellTranscriptions: Katy Moore

Podcast: Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy Episode: Kenneth Stanley - Greatness Without Goals - [Invest Like the Best, EP.283]Release date: 2022-06-28Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationMy guest today is Ken Stanley. Ken is a Professor in Computer Science and a pioneer in the field of neuroevolution. He is also the co-author of a book called, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, which details a provocative idea that setting big, audacious goals can reduce the odds of achieving something great. We discuss that revelation in detail and how to apply it in our day-to-day lives. Please enjoy this great discussion with Ken Stanley.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus.   -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:36] - [First question] - The best way to change the world is to stop trying to change it [00:06:26] - The kinds of goals his work addresses and the ones it doesn’t [00:08:46] - Almost no prerequisite to any major invention was invented with that major invention in mind [00:14:04] - Picbreeder [00:17:21] - How looking for specific results often makes arriving at them a longer process [00:24:00] - The importance of the individual in a web of invention and disruption [00:28:30] - How generations progressed in Picbreeder when consensus mechanisms were inserted into the process  [00:31:24] - Examples of stepping stones that were invented that became something even greater [00:36:02] - What his research means for how we should conduct ourselves writ large [00:44:17] - Thoughts on necessity being the mother of all invention [00:50:08] - The ways that society is arranged is psychologically toxic [00:55:14] - The role that constraints play in creative output and outcomes in general; Brett Victor - Inventing on Principle [01:01:10] - What the constraints are that he sets for himself in AI development [01:04:44] - To know what’s new you need to know what’s not new [01:06:47] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [01:08:28] - How he would allocate resources to create more innovation in the world

Release date: 2022-02-11Notes from The Valmy:Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Fr8v2cAIw& Release date: 2021-10-21Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarization

Podcast: Socrates in the City Episode: Peter Thiel: Zero to OneRelease date: 2020-02-28Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationEric Metaxas interviews entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel on his bestselling book ZERO TO ONE. Using Apollo 11 and Woodstock as reference points, Thiel and Metaxas explore the idea that we live in an age of technological stagnation, and cover a range of topics — globalization, Greta Thunberg, academia, the worst of the cardinal sins, communion, and more. The interview took place in New York City, in January 2020.The post Peter Thiel: Zero to One first appeared on Socrates in the City.

Podcast: Village Global Podcast Episode: What Tyler Cowen Thinks About Basically EverythingRelease date: 2018-11-30Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationIn this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler’s book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there’s a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn’t as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he’s “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Tyler’s own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Podcast: Philosophize This! Episode: Episode #158 ... The Creation of Meaning - Nietzsche - The Ascetic IdealRelease date: 2021-10-05Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationToday we look at the creation of meaning through the work of Nietzsche. Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this without your help. Website: https://www.philosophizethis.org/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philosophizethis Social:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philosophizethispodcastX: https://twitter.com/iamstephenwestFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/philosophizethisshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Release date: 2021-08-27Notes from The Valmy:Source: University of Oxford (The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics) https://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/uehiro-lectures-2015 Release date: 2015-01-01Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarization

Podcast: Philosophy Bites Episode: Roger Crisp on VirtueRelease date: 2008-10-12Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationRoger Crisp discusses the nature of virtue in this interview with Nigel Warburton for the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Podcast: Philosophy Bites Episode: Roger Crisp on UtilitarianismRelease date: 2007-07-16Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationHow should we live? John Stuart Mill, one of the great thinkers of the nineteenth century thought that we should maximise happiness. Here Roger Crisp, author of an acclaimed book on Mill, explains Mill's utilitarian ethical theory.