This is a selection of highlights from episode #192 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:

Annie Jacobsen on what would happen if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon at the US

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

Chapters:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• The minutes after an incoming nuclear attack is detected (00:00:22)
• Deciding whether to retaliate (00:04:24)
• Russian misperception of US counterattack (00:07:37)
• The nuclear launch plans that would kill millions in neighbouring countries (00:11:38)
• The war games that suggest escalation is inevitable (00:15:31)
• A super-electromagnetic pulse (00:19:12)

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

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/AUuEaYltONg

Matt, Bella, and Cody sit down with Maria Gutierrez Rojas to discuss the 80k’s aesthetics, religion (again), bad billionaires, and why it’s hard to be an org that both gives advice and has opinions.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #191 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:

Carl Shulman on government and society after AGI

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

Chapters:

• How AI advisors could have saved us from COVID-19 (00:00:05)
• Why Carl doesn't support enforced pauses on AI research (00:06:34)
• Value lock-in (00:12:58)
• How democracies avoid coups (00:17:11)
• Building trust between adversaries about which models you can believe (00:24:00)
• Opportunities for listeners (00:30:11)

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

This is a selection of highlights from episode #191 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:

Carl Shulman on the economy and national security after AGI

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

Chapters:

• Intro (00:00:00)
• Robot nannies (00:00:23)
• Key transformations after an AI capabilities explosion (00:05:15)
• Objection: Shouldn't we be seeing economic growth rates increasing today? (00:10:28)
• Objection: Declining returns to increases in intelligence? (00:16:09)
• Objection: Could we really see rates of construction go up a hundredfold or a thousandfold? (00:20:58)
• Objection: "This sounds completely whack" (00:26:10)
• Income and wealth distribution (00:30:02)

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

This is a selection of highlights from episode #190 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:

Eric Schwitzgebel on whether the US is conscious

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

Chapters:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• Can consciousness be nested? (00:00:18)
• Are our intuitions useless for thinking about these things? (00:05:45)
• Do small differences rule out consciousness? (00:09:43)
• Overlapping consciousnesses (00:13:26)
• Are we dreaming right now? (00:17:21)

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

This is a selection of highlights from episode #189 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:

Rachel Glennerster on how “market shaping” could help solve climate change, pandemics, and other global problems

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

Chapters:

• Luisa's intro (00:00:00)
• What is market shaping? (00:00:25)
• Why some countries didn't have COVID vaccines sooner (00:05:04)
• Designing incentives for pull mechanisms (00:09:12)
• Using pull mechanisms to get a universal COVID vaccine (00:13:31)
• Pull mechanisms to incentivise repurposing of generic drugs (00:18:20)
• Specific interventions versus systemic reform in education (00:23:25)

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

This is a selection of highlights from episode #188 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:

Matt Clancy on whether science is good

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

Chapters:

• Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
• How could scientific progress be net negative? (00:00:15)
• Non-philosophical reasons to discount the far-future (00:03:42)
• How technology generates huge benefits in our day-to-day lives (00:07:54)
• Can science reduce extinction risk? (00:14:17)
• Are we already too late to delay the time of perils? (00:18:48)
• The omnipresent frictions that might prevent explosive economic growth (00:21:59)

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

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/R9VGbY7CgOI

Matt, Bella, and Cody sit down with Julian Hazell to discuss the UK recession, religion, higher education, and whether being an amateur swordfighter should give you the right to vote.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #187 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:

Zach Weinersmith on how researching his book turned him from a space optimist into a “space bastard”

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

Chapters:

• A potted history of space exploration (00:00:23)
• Why space settlement (probably) won't make us rich (00:06:07)
• What happens to human bodies in space (00:11:43)
• The ethics of space babies (00:16:05)
• Making babies in space (00:18:40)
• A roadmap for settling space (00:22:42)

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

This is a selection of highlights from episode #186 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:

Dean Spears on why babies are born small in Uttar Pradesh, and how to save their lives

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