Economist and editor of Works in Progress Sam Bowman isn’t content to just condemn the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) mentality behind rich countries' construction stagnation. He wants to actually get a tonne of stuff built, and by that standard the strategy of attacking ‘NIMBYs’ has been an abject failure. They are too politically powerful, and if you try to crush them, sooner or later they crush you.

So Sam lays out three alternative strategies in our full interview with him — including highlights like:

• Rich countries have a crisis of underconstruction (00:00:19)
• The UK builds shockingly little because of its planning permission system (00:04:57)
• Overcoming NIMBYism means fixing incentives (00:07:21)
• NIMBYs aren't wrong: they are often harmed by development (00:10:44)
• Street votes give existing residents a say (00:16:29)
• It's essential to define in advance who gets a say (00:24:37)
• Property tax distribution might be the most important policy you've never heard of (00:28:55)
• Using aesthetics to get buy-in for new construction (00:35:48)
• Locals actually really like having nuclear power plants nearby (00:44:14)
• It can be really useful to let old and new institutions coexist for a while (00:48:27)
• Ozempic and living in the decade that we conquered obesity (00:53:05)
• Northern latitudes still need nuclear power (00:55:30)

These highlights are from episode #211 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sam Bowman on why housing still isn’t fixed and what would actually work. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. (And you may have noticed this episode is longer than most of our highlights episodes — let us know if you liked that or not!)

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

We explored the cutting edge of wild animal welfare science our full interview with Cameron Meyer Shorb, executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, including highlights like:

• One concrete example of how we might improve wild animal welfare (00:00:16)
• How many wild animals are there, and which animals are they? (00:04:24)
• Why might wild animals be suffering? (00:08:40)
• The objection that we shouldn't meddle in nature because nature is good (00:12:25)
• Vaccines for wild animals (00:17:37)
• Gene drive technologies (00:20:50)
• Optimising for high-welfare landscapes (00:24:52)

These highlights are from episode #210 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Cameron Meyer Shorb on dismantling the myth that we can’t do anything to help wild animals. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Nonprofit legal expert Rose Chan Loui lays out the legal case and implications of OpenAI's attempt to shed its nonprofit parent. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Rose, including:

• How OpenAI carefully chose a complex nonprofit structure (00:00:26)
• The nonprofit board is out-resourced and in a tough spot (00:04:09)
• Is control of OpenAI 'priceless' to the nonprofit in pursuit of its mission? (00:06:47)
• Control of OpenAI is independently incredibly valuable and requires compensation (00:11:06)
• It's very important that the nonprofit gets cash and not just equity (00:16:06)
• How the nonprofit board can best play their hand (00:21:20)

These highlights are from episode #209 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Rose Chan Loui on OpenAI’s gambit to ditch its nonprofit. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Elizabeth Cox — founder of the independent production company Should We Studio — makes the case that storytelling can improve the world. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Elizabeth, including:

• Keiran’s intro (00:00:00)
• Empirical evidence of the impact of storytelling (00:00:16)
• The hits-based approach to storytelling (00:03:35)
• Debating the merits of thinking about target audiences (00:07:48)
• Ada vs other approaches to impact-focused storytelling (00:13:15)
• Why animation? (00:18:56)
• How long will humans stay relevant as creative writers, given AI advances? (00:22:40)

These highlights are from episode #208 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Elizabeth Cox on the case that TV shows, movies, and novels can improve the world. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Charity founder Sarah Eustis-Guthrie has a candid conversation about her experience starting and running her maternal health charity, and ultimately making the difficult decision to shut down when the programme wasn’t as impactful as they expected. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Sarah:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• What it's like to found a charity (00:00:14)
• Yellow flags and difficult calls (00:03:17)
• Disappointing results (00:06:28)
• The ups and downs of founding an organisation (00:08:37)
• Entrepreneurship and being willing to make risky bets (00:12:58)
• Why aren't more charities shutting down? (00:16:50)
• How to think about shutting down (00:19:39)

These highlights are from episode #207 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sarah Eustis-Guthrie on why she shut down her charity, and why more founders should follow her lead. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Neuroscientist Anil Seth explains how much we can learn about consciousness by studying the brain in these highlights from our full interview — including:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• How our brain interprets reality (00:00:15)
• How our brain experiences our organs (00:04:04)
• What psychedelics teach us about consciousness (00:07:37)
• The physical footprint of consciousness in the brain (00:12:10)
• How to study the neural correlates of consciousness (00:15:37)

This is a selection of highlights from episode #206 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Anil Seth on the predictive brain and how to study consciousness. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Science writer and video blogger Sébastien Moro blows our minds with the latest research on fish consciousness, intelligence, and potential sentience.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #205 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sébastien Moro on the most insane things fish can do. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode.

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• The ingenious innovations of Atlantic cod (00:00:19)
• The mirror test triumph of cleaner wrasses (00:05:46)
• The astounding accuracy of archerfish (00:10:30)
• The magnificent memory of gobies (00:14:25)
• The tactical teamwork of the grouper and moray eel (00:17:42)
• The remarkable relationships of wild guppies (00:22:01)
• Sébastien's take on fish consciousness (00:26:48)

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Election forecaster Nate Silver gives his takes on: how effective altruism could be better, the stark tradeoffs we faced with COVID, whether the 13 Keys to the White House is "junk science," how to tell whose election predictions are better, and if venture capitalists really take risks.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #204 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Nate Silver on making sense of SBF, and his biggest critiques of effective altruism. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode.

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights:

• Rob’s intro (00:00:00)
• Is anyone doing better at "doing good better"? (00:00:29)
• Is effective altruism too big to succeed? (00:02:19)
• The stark tradeoffs we faced with COVID (00:06:02)
• The 13 Keys to the White House (00:07:53)
• Can we tell whose election predictions are better? (00:11:40)
• Do venture capitalists really take risks? (00:16:29)

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from our April 2023 episode with host Luisa Rodriguez and producer Keiran Harris on 80k After Hours. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:

Luisa and Keiran on free will, and the consequences of never feeling enduring guilt or shame

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights:

• Keiran’s intro (00:00:00)
• Jerk Syndrome (00:00:53)
• The basic case for free will being an illusion (00:05:10)
• Feeling bad about not being a different person (00:08:29)
• Implications for the criminal justice system (00:10:57)

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #203 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:

Peter Godfrey-Smith on interfering with wild nature, accepting death, and the origin of complex civilisation

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Highlights:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• Thinking about death (00:00:24)
• Uploads of ourselves (00:05:32)
• Against intervening in wild nature (00:12:36)
• Eliminating the worst experiences in wild nature (00:16:15)
• To be human or wild animal? (00:21:46)
• Challenges for water-based animals (00:27:38)

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong