Aporia Podcast

Dr Jonathan Anomaly is a philosopher and bioethicist. He has taught at universities around the USA, and won a teaching award for a class he designed at Duke and also taught at UNC, Penn, Arizona, and San Diego. Jonathan has also held visiting positions at the universities of Oxford and Gothenburg, and established the first Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program in Latin America  Anomaly is a pro-natalist, advocates eugenics/genetic enhancement, and opposes factory farming. He has written articles on collective action problems such as antibiotic resistance, especially resistance arising from the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture, and has published papers on the potential benefits and costs of using embryo selection to increase intelligence or alter other traits parents care about. He has also written about the social costs of egalitarian political dogmas in modern American universities  His first solo book, Creating Future People, explores how our ability to manipulate the genetic endowment of our children is likely to transform humanity. And it’s that book we focus most of our discussion on today. The book is a wonderful primer, it’s only about 130 pages and you can now download it for free using the link below. I cannot recommend it enough. It’s a brilliant and accessible guide to perhaps the most important technological developments in our lifetimes.   

Download Jonathan's book here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003014805/creating-future-people-jonathan-anomaly  

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Timestamps: 

Intro 00:00 2:40 Jonathan's philosophical journey 5:00 Bioethicists are boring conservatives 6:25 The most impressive philosopher Jonathan ever met 7:20 Biggest philosophical influences 8:59 Is academic philosophy detrimental to philosophy as a whole? 11:18 Zizek, Foucault, and charlatans 17:18 Jonathan's approach to bioethics 21:49 CRISPR's power 23:58 How much biology do you have to know to do bioethics? 27:10 CRISPR vs embryo selection 29:15 Erroneous beliefs about IQ 33:30 The heritability of IQ 36:10 Embryo selection for IQ 38:35 Our current technology 39:50 Are there theoretical limits to increasing IQ? 42:30 Mental illness & giftedness 48:40 Jonathan's dream child 52:10 What will different people select for? 58:40 Aesthetic preferences by class 1:03:01 Evolution does not stop 1:05:09 Is genetic inequality bad? 1:10:08 Should we use the word eugenics?  1:12:05 Jonathan's attempted cancellation  1:17:12 Most people believe sterilisation is morally correct 1:19:28 Moral standing vs moral status 1:22:52 What's the best argument for true equality? 1:26:22 Woke religion 1:31:48 Political ramifications of genetic enhancement 1:37:44 Stem cells & future developments 1:42:44 Rich people will lead the way 1:44:50 The dangers of regulation 1:47:25 Zero-sum games in the 21st century 1:51:02 Audience question 1: IQ & fertility genes 1:56:28 The role of feminism 2:02:30 Audience question 2: Would gene-edited people outcompete others for resources? 2:03:37 Audience question 3: Would gene-edited people select children who also wanted to gene edit? 2:05:49 Closing comments

Noah Carl is a British sociologist and independent researcher. He currently writes for a number of outlets, but his most consistent output can be found on Substack (link below). Apologies in advance if this conversation isn't up to the usual standard, Noah actually messaged me out of the blue asking if I wanted to do a podcast, so I only had an hour or two to put some questions together. We only had an hour, but I think there’s a lot in here. Some of the spicier topics we touch on include: dysgenics, global IQ differences, and whether the West should "recolonise" parts of Africa.

Noah's Substack: https://noahcarl.substack.com/

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

This week I’m speaking with Parker Settecase, a philosopher and host of the Parker’s Pensées podcast, which you can find here:  https://www.youtube.com/c/ParkersPens... I really enjoy Parker’s show. He interviews fascinating philosophers and theologians and gets deep into the weeds with them. Parker is also a Christian, so I thought it’d be interesting to chat about how his views have evolved. We also discuss the problem of evil, free will, and whether my rationalism is self-defeating. Enjoy!  You can you can find Parker on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/trendsettercase 

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Torill Kornfeldt is a Swedish science journalist, author and speaker focusing on biology and biotechnology. She is the author of two books. The first, The Re-Origin of Species, discusses the reconstruction of extinct animals using gene modifications. However, in this conversation we mostly speak about Torill’s second book, The Unnatural Selection of Us. We talk about the power of CRISPR, why China is winning the tech race, designer babies, longevity, and the obligatory mention of Jurassic Park.  

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Nicholas Colangelo is a world-famous scholar in gifted education. He is the author of numerous articles on counselling gifted students and acceleration. He has edited three editions of the Handbook of Gifted Education. He co-authored the famous national report “A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students. 

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

What you’re about to watch or listen to is my most important podcast so far. Today I’m speaking with Zac Kriegman.  Zac is a former director of data science at Thomson Reuters, perhaps the world’s most important news organisation. He’s a former director because he was fired after sharing research on the company's internal social media platform showing that American police killed more unarmed white people than black people as a proportion of the population. This wasn’t just one statistic thrown carelessly into a group chat. Zac compiled a 12,000 word report with the rigour you’d expect from a director of data science earning 350,000 a year. In that report, he also pointed out that the Black Lives Matter movement are probably responsible for the deaths of thousands. He also noted Thomson’s biased coverage when it came to BLM.  As you can imagine, several outspoken white knights pounced on Zac’s bravery. And soon he was no more. Zac is obviously taking legal action and you can support him in that fight, too. This case really is a litmus test for America and the western world. A billion people read or see Reuters news every day. And as you’re about to hear, they aren’t exactly getting the impartiality Reuters claim to offer.   Apologies for the slight hiss on the recording today, but without further ado, I give you my most important guest to date: Zac Kriegman.

Zac's Substack: https://kriegman.substack.com/

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

John Jost talks about his childhood, education, cowboys and Indians, the psychology of political conservatism and system justification, the horseshoe theory of political orientation, ideological asymmetries, political polarization, capitalism, fear of socialism, the existence of racial microaggressions, being misunderstood by the left and the right, and the work of Ezra Klein, Mahzarin Banaji, Joshua Greene, Kurt Gray, Dan Kahan, Jonathan Haidt, and Jordan Peterson.  

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Peter is a Visiting Research Associate at King's College London and a PhD candidate at Sheffield University. He is a multi-award-winning author for Bloomsbury Education and author and editor for Crown House Publishing on The Philosophy Foundation Series of books. He is a commissioning editor for The Philosophers' Magazine.  Peter read philosophy at University College London and Birkbeck College, completing his MA in 2004. He has been working with children in education since 1993 and has been doing philosophy with children since 2002. To read more about him and his work, click here: 

https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/executive-officers

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Emil Kirkegaard is a social scientist and prominent blogger focussing on a range of topics deemed controversial (and therefore interesting), from intelligence, to crime and migration. He publishes a very popular blog and Substack (links below).

https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/

 https://kirkegaard.substack.com/ 

My links:  

Substack: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com

 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep

Bo Winegard received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Florida State University in 2018 under the supervision of Professor Roy Baumeister. Winegard became an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Marietta College in 2018; he was fired in 2020. In this podcast, Bo shares his story. We talk about all things controversial in psychology and much, much more. 

You can find Bo's writing here: https://quillette.com/author/bo-winegard/

If you'd like to subscribe to my Substack and learn about giftedness, stupidity, and other interesting things: https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com

If you'd like to get your name in the credits, early access to videos, livestreams, and private Zoom calls, you can support the show on Patreon from just $1:  https://www.patreon.com/Ideas_Sleep

TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/Ideas_Sleep