Hear This Idea

Phil Trammell is a research associate at Oxford's Global Priorities Institute, where he is working at the intersection of economic theory and moral philosophy. In this episode, we discuss his latest working paper about the different ways through which AI might transform the global economy.

You can read much more about the topics we cover in this episode in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/phil. It's more than just a transcript!

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free to get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Anna Alexandrova is a Reader in Philosophy of Science at University of Cambridge. She studies the philosophy of social sciences, focusing on the use (and abuse) of formal models, and the measurement of well-being. Anna is the author of A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being (2017).

You can read much more about the topics we cover in this episode in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/anna. It's not a transcript!

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free to get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Eva Vivalt is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Toronto. Her work is focused on reducing barriers to evidence-based decision-making, global priorities research, and cash transfers.

You can read much more about the topics we cover in this episode in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/eva. It's not a transcript!

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free to get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

Thanks for listening!

We were flattered to be invited to discuss longtermism by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani from the wonderful Increments podcast. It's not as serious or polished as our interview episodes, but we had heaps of fun trying to figure out where and why we disagree.

Thomas Moynihan is a writer and researcher interested in the history of ideas surrounding existential risk and human flourishing. He completed a PhD on the history of human extinction, and currently works with Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. His most recent book is called X-Risk: How Humanity Discovered Its Own Extinction.

You can read much more about the topics we cover in this episode in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/thomas. It's not a transcript!

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Julia Shvets is an economist at the University of Cambridge and fellow at Christ's College. Her research focuses primarily on micro- and behavioural economics: exploring why people make the decisions they make.

In this episode we discuss two of her recent papers. The first is about "overconfidence" — why people often think they are better than they have any reason to be. The second is on "rank incentives" — that is, how much people are inherently motivated by social prestige. We also explore many of the challenges that this research faces, especially what biases lab experiments might have.

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/julia

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Nikhil Krishnan is a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, and Fellow in Philosophy at Robinson College. He also writes on on history, literature, and culture. His first book, provisionally titled A Terribly Serious Adventure, tells the story of philosophy in Oxford from 1900 to 1960.

In this episode, we discussed two broad topics. In the first half, Nikhil relates some of this history of 20th century Oxford philosophy — and, by extension, the history of 'analytic' or 'linguistic' philosophy. In the latter half, we consider some questions about the present and future for academic philosophy, the role of universities, and the place of the peer-reviewed journal.

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/nikhil.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Marcus Daniell is an Olympian tennis player from New Zealand with 5 ATP titles, quarterfinal appearances at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open. He became involved with the Effective Altruism in 2015 and has since donated 5-10% of his annual income to effective organisations.

In November 2020, Daniell founded High Impact Athletes, a non-profit organisation connecting athletes and the general public with the most effective, evidence-based non-profits in the world.

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/marcus.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Sebastian Joy is the founding President of ProVeg International, a food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system. He is also a social entrepreneur: having developed several vegan products and helped launch the international 50by40 alliance.

In this episode we discuss:

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/sebastian.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

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Bruce Friedrich is the co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute — a nonprofit that works with scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs to support the development and marketing of cell-cultured and plant-based alternatives to animal food products.

In this episode we discuss:

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up:

If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, feel free get in touch through our website or by using the star rating form on each episode page. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this (e.g. Apple Podcasts_ — it's probably the easiest (free) means of growing the show. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip.

Thanks for listening!