Global Optimum

Global Optimum episodes:

• 11.27.2023

  New podcast: The Scientific Worldview

  I started a new podcast! Here is the blurb: Professor Daniel Gambacorta and Behavior Interventionist Atanah Shannon explore the big questions in science and philosophy. What is consciousness? Do we have free will? Are we living in a simulation??? Find...

  
• 12.10.2019

  Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part III

  This episode features: -Why does men’s testosterone go down when they fall in love? -Does “power posing” have any psychological effects? -What is “humblebragging” and why does it pervade social media? -Is our preference for democracy really a preference for...

  
• 11.26.2019

  Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part II

  This episode features: -Why does high status reduce creativity? -How to remain creative as you gain status -When should you distrust your own moral reasoning? -How do we come to learn what counts as high status in our culture? -What...

  
• 11.12.2019

  Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part I

  This episode features: -How do people behave differently when they are high vs low status? -How did human social status evolve? -Should you try to dampen your desire for status? -Are EAs too credential-focused? -Is publishing in academic journals overrated?...

  
• 10.22.2019

  How to Make Mistakes, Fail, and Give Up

  This episode features: -How to evaluate your chance of successfully completing difficult projects -Can you be justified in believing that you are an extraordinary person who can do extraordinary things? -When to trust the advice of others and when not...

  
• 10.01.2019

  How to Learn Better

  This episode features: -What are the best and worst studying techniques? -Do “learning styles” exist? -How to squeeze more learning into your day -How to start learning a new field -How to cultivate viewpoint diversity -How to avoid getting parasitized...

  
• 09.03.2019

  How Altruistic Should You Be?

  This episode features: -Arguments against utilitarianism -What moral views do philosophers favor? -Why you should consider moral uncertainty when deciding how altruistic to be -How does giving away 10% of your income affect your happiness? -Why donating 10% of your...

  
• 08.20.2019

  The Personality of Effective Altruists Part II

  This episode features: -Are people with autism spectrum disorder more utilitarian? -Do utilitarian judgments in trolley problems predict interest in effective altruism? -What is the “identifiable victim effect” -Why empathy is bad for morality -Are effective altruists more empathetic than...

  
• 08.06.2019

  The Personality of Effective Altruists Part I

  This episode features: -Are effective altruists especially prone to anxiety and depression? -Are effective altruists high in autistic-like traits? -Is effective altruism especially appealing to people high in autistic-like traits? -Are people high in autistic-like traits more rational? -Why do...

  
• 07.16.2019

  Personality Psychology

  This episode features: -Why the Myers-Briggs is wrong, yet popular -What is the structure of personality -How does personality change throughout the lifespan -Can you intentionally change your personality? -Do we change more than we think we will? -What is...

  
• 04.09.2019

  Value Drift & How to Not Be Evil Part II

  This episode features: -What proportion of effective altruists decrease their involvement over time? -Why do people decrease their involvement with effective altruism? -Why effective altruist values are particularly vulnerable to drift -Should you expect your values to get better or...

  
• 03.26.2019

  Value Drift & How to Not Be Evil Part I

  This episode features: -How do our values change as we age -How does empathy shape values -Why are we so conformist? -Why we underestimate our risk of corruption -Why many people argue that death is good/necessary -How ethical slippery slopes...

  
• 02.26.2019

  How to Be More Creative

  This episode features: -Do you need 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert? -What is the connection between creativity and mental illness -Can drugs make you more creative? -Can electrically stimulating your brain make you more creative? -Are smarter...

  
• 02.05.2019

  Should You Go to Graduate School?

  This episode features: -What to consider when choosing a graduate program -Why I was told to avoid getting A’s in my classes, and why it might be a good idea for you as well -What are your chances of graduating...

  
• 11.27.2018

  Explanations That Are Often Wrong Part II

  This episode features: -Can political symbols change political beliefs? -What makes pseudoscience appealing -How to evaluate futurism -How do chronically accessible concepts change our perception -How to think about the complexity of theories -Priming: fact or fiction? -Can barely-noticeable changes...

  
• 11.13.2018

  Explanations That Are Often Wrong Part I

  This episode features: -Are smart phones causing young people to be more lonely and depressed -How can the supplement industry stay afloat if so many supplements are useless -Discussion of how a paper on psychic powers got published in a...

  
• 10.30.2018

  How to Evaluate Research & EA Origin Story

  This episode features: -A quiz to test your intuitions about which studies replicate and which don’t -An effective altruist origin story -Heuristics for evaluating scientific research -The role of incentives in the replication crisis -What should your prior be for...

  
• 10.16.2018

  Why Are We Biased? Part II

  This episode features: -Why breakups are always the other person’s fault -Why does love cause us to see our partner as better than they really are -How much do people lie -What do people lie about in their online dating...

  
• 10.02.2018

  Why Are We Biased? Part I

  This episode features: -Why men perceive more sexuality in women’s behavior than women say they intend -Several opportunities to test your own biases -Examples of how both evolutionary psychologists and social psychologists have explained bias the wrong way -Why it’s...

  
• 09.18.2018

  Modularity Insights for Charisma and Creativity

  This episode features: -How to get outside of your head -Why optimal performance sometimes requires “not trying” -What are the psychological traps that can make us dull and uncreative -A framework for overcoming bias -Examples of how to correct for...

  
• 09.04.2018

  Modularity of Mind & Improve Your Public Speaking

  This episode features: -Why people can’t justify their moral decisions -How is it that some blind people can use visual information -What is the basic structure of the brain -Why it is we can both want something and not want...