Is “black heterodoxy” a euphemism for “black conservatism”? ... Classical liberalism’s role in Free Black Thought ... Erec: I saw things while working as a diversity officer that I can’t unsee ... Why the Democratic Party doesn’t like Erec ... How Free Black Thought is fostering agency in the black community ... Erec: The onus is on us, not affirmative action, to prepare black students for college ... What is rhetoric, anyway? ...

Bob and Tim seek Substack synergy ... What was the OpenAI drama really about? ... Viewing the drama through a (cynical) psychological lens ... Were reports of a safety vs speed schism greatly exaggerated? ... Larry Summers joins OpenAI’s board… time to panic? ... Superintelligence, Sam Altman, and the singularity ... Altman’s not so veiled ignorance ... Overtime preview: superintelligence skepticism, the truth about effective altruism, self-driving car speed bumps, and more ...

Matt sees a path for Nikki Haley, Bill does not ... Can big endorsements help DeSantis in Iowa? ... Matt's Iowa/New Hampshire prediction ... Should Democrats stop freaking out? ...

The state of campus speech after 10/7 ... Daniel: Why are critics of cancel culture silent when it comes to Israel? ... “Explaining” Hamas vs. “excusing” Hamas ... Tyler: American Jewish students worried about their safety have been primed by modern identity politics ... The tension between DEI and antisemitism response teams ... The linguistic ambiguity of “From the river to the sea” ... The irreconcilable conflict between campus social justice and donor funding ... If not liberalism, then what? ... Tyler: Postwar political conservatism is coming apart ...

Biden’s vexing political calculus on Israel-Palestine ... Israel-Palestine compared to Russia-Ukraine ... If Israel eliminates Hamas, what happens next? ... Can anything good come out of the present crisis? ... The meaning of “From the river to the sea…” ... Why the 2000 Camp David Summit failed ... Where is Palestine's Nelson Mandela? ... Assessing US media coverage of the Gaza war ...

Preamble: The OpenAI drama and this conversation ... Preamble: The OpenAI drama and this conversation ... Is safe AI possible without international cooperation? ... Are we selecting AI for truth or engagement? ... Using “psychology” to understand—and control—AI ... The worrisome Darwinian dynamics of AI development ... Life after an AI takeover ... How structural incentives make AI safety harder ...

Tom’s new book, Getting Russia Right ... Does Putin want to take more territory before talking peace? ... Putin’s "messianic" transformation ... America’s failed effort to Americanize Russia ... Does the US focus too much on other nations’ internal affairs? ... The 2004 event that sunk US-Russia relations ... Why Tom supports a diplomatic reset ...

How to watch WKRP's "Turkeys Away" ... How the Mideast crisis is roiling the left and the right ... How serious is the rise of anti-Semitism ... The history of Democratic bedwetting ... How Israel impacted the 1948 election ...

A quick announcement ... What led Yascha to write about identity ... An intellectual history of “identity synthesis” ... What’s so bad about “strategic essentialism”? ... From postmodernism to post-civil rights ... The three key claims of identity synthesis ... What led up to the summer of 2020? ... The hermetically sealed ideology of Kendi and DiAngelo ... Yascha’s defense of universalism ...

Susan’s new book, Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise ... China’s turn to more assertive policies in 2007 ... The well-intentioned reform that produced big authoritarian consequences ... How public opinion influences autocratic leaders ... Xi Jinping’s purge of suspect officials ... Does Beijing feel threatened by America? ... Heading to Overtime ...