Hear This Idea

By Fin Moorhouse and Luca RighettiSociety & Culture Science Social Sciences Philosophy

Hear This Idea episodes

December 21, 202020. Leah Edgerton and Manja Gärtner on Animal Charity Evaluation
Leah Edgerton and Manja Gärtner are respectively the Executive Director and a Senior Researcher at Animal Charity Evaluators — a non-profit whose mission is to find and promote the most effective ways to help animals.
In this episode we discuss:
[00:05:27] Why care about Effective Animal Advocacy?
[00:09:09] Cognitive dissonance and the meat paradox
[00:13:46] What does ACE do?
[00:21:10] Measuring effectiveness and doing research
[00:30:54] Value of information and capacity building
[00:38:37] Working with NGOs
[00:48:02] How Animal Advocacy has changed
[00:51:14] Hopes for the future
[01:00:23] Closing questions
You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/ace.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. 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!
0 min
December 07, 202019. Peter Singer on Speciesism, Lockdown Ethics, and Controversial Ideas
Peter Singer is a moral philosopher and public intellectual, most widely known for his writings about animal ethics and global poverty.
In this episode we discuss:
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:01:43] Background — Peter Singer introduces himself.
[00:02:16] Speciesism — Defining the term, and explaining the case against speciesism.
[00:06:55] Wild Animal Suffering — hould we intervene to reduce suffering in nature?
[00:09:00] Weighing and Ending Animal Lives — Are all animal lives equal? What, if anything, is wrong with (painlessly) killing animals?
[00:13:20] Ignoring Animals: Why did thinkers of the past apparently neglect the moral worth of animals? Why is animal ethics relatively new?
[00:16:50] History of Western Attitudes to Animals—Can we trace the origins of contemporary attitudes to animals back to ancient Greece and Judeo-Christian values?
[00:21:07] Counterfactual Impact of Animal Advocacy
[00:24:10] The Power of Moral Argument
[00:25:00] The Schwitzgebel Study
[00:29:30] What should we do now? — Are veganism and vegetarianism all-or-nothing decisions? Or is it worth choosing a more incremental pathway?
[00:32:25] The case for Human Challenge Trials
[00:35:46] Trade-off between Lives and Well-being in Lockdowns — Can the cure for the pandemic be worse than the disease? How would we know?
[00:42:07] Moral Realism — Parfit's 'Future Tuesday Indifference'
[00:46:10] Other Moral Systems — What about egalitarianism or prioritarianism?
[00:49:10] Controversial ideas
[00:52:28] Journal of Controversial Ideas
[00:54:35] What have you changed your mind about?
[00:55:57] Book Recommendations
[00:57:18] Where to Find PS Online
You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/peter.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. 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 at www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr
November 30, 202018. Luke Freeman on Giving What We Can and Community Building
Luke Freeman is the Executive Director of Giving What We Can. Before this, he was a entrepreneur and marketing specialist, including co-founding Positly.
In this episode we discuss:
[00:01:52] Background: History of EA
[00:04:02] Luke's story: Discovering EA
[00:09:30] Foreign Aid: Myths and valid critiques
[00:14:58] Evidence: RCTs and the ITN framework
[00:20:12] News: "Man bites dog"
[00:26:35] GWWC: Taking the pledge
[00:43:43] Donations: Risk and hidden zeros
[00:46:41] GWWC: Common misconceptions
[00:51:34] Entrepreneurship: Positly and WEIRD science
[00:54:31] Tech: Market for Donations
[01:05:46] Final questions: Change in mind and book recommendations
You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/luke
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. 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 at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 14 min
November 23, 202017. Sriya Iyer on the Economics of Religion
Dr Sriya Iyer is a Reader in Economics at the University of Cambridge and fellow of St Catharine’s College. Her research applies the tools of economics to topics such as religion, development, and education.
In this episode we discuss:
[00:02:14] Introduction: Sriya Iyer
[00:03:08] Background: What is the economics of religion?
[00:07:25] Wealth: The Secularization Hypothesis (and why it's wrong)
[00:12:02] Growth: Weber's Protestant work ethic
[00:14:43] Demography: Religion and fertility in India
[00:21:39] Fieldwork: Doing surveys in the developing world
[00:29:31] Competition: Temples providing non-religious services
[00:36:39] Signaling: The Club Good Model of Religion
[00:44:00] Education: Religious versus secular schooling
[00:47:42] Religious riots: The Political Economy of Hatred in India
[01:02:57] Other research: Beliefs, experimental economics, and Islamic institutions
[01:06:51] Social Capital: Trust, reciprocity, bonding versus bridging
[01:09:41] Future of the field: Religion, Covid-19, and mental health
[01:14:50] Final questions: Change in mind and book recommendations
You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/sriya
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or 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 at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
0 min
September 30, 202016. Simon Beard on Parfit, Climate Change, and Existential Risk
Dr Simon Beard is a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. With a background in philosophy, he works on ethical problems relating to the long-term future of humanity, as well as evaluating extreme technological risks.
In this episode we discuss:
[2:00] Existential risks defined in brief;
[4:45] Simon's background;
[12:30] What made philosopher Derek Parfit so influential;
[17:30] What is the repugnant conclusion?
[22:12] What is the non-identity problem?
[28:40] Meeting Parfit;
[34:20] Why Simon chose a career in existial risk research;
[36:43] What existential risk research looks like;
[45:58] How can we estimate the probability of catastrophes with no strict precedents?
[56:52] Under what circumstances could climate change cause a collapse of global civilization?
[1:07:52] Why Simon ran as an MP for the Liberal Democrats;
[1:17:25] Is academia broken? How can we fix it?
[1:23:23] Why Simon changed his mind about whether COVID is a potential global catastrophe
You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Simon.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or 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 at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 35 min
August 21, 202015. Jessie Munton on Prejudice, Perception, and Search Engines
Dr Jessie Munton is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cambridge, whose philosophical research spans perception, psychiatry, and bias.
In this episode we discuss:
How to think about statistical generalisations that deal with demographic groups;
How accurate beliefs about them can go wrong when we 'project' from bare statistics;
How the salience and ordering of information relates to prejudice;
How search engines can help or hinder 'cognitive flexibility'.
You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Jessie.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or 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 at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 11 min
July 31, 202014. Carolina Alves on Heterodox Economics, Diversity in Academia, and the Global South
Carolina Alves is the Joan Robinson Research Fellow in Heterodox Economics at Girton College, Cambridge and a co-founder of D-Econ. Her work mostly focuses on macroeconomics and international political economy.
In this episode we discuss:
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You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Carolina.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or 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 at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 23 min
July 24, 202013. Jaime Sevilla Molina on on Forecasting, Cultural Persistence, and Quantum Computing
Jaime Sevilla Molina is a visiting researcher at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk, and is beginning a PhD studying Bayesian reasoning. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, and his academic background is in mathematics and computer science.
In this episode we discuss:
How the social sciences infer causation from natural experiments;
Evidence for 'cultural persistence', particularly in the context of the Atlantic slave trade;
What is forecasting, and why does it matter? Why is good forecasting so hard to come by?
What are the likely implications of quantum computing for cryptography, drug discovery, and AI?
You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Jaime.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website.
Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're still just starting out and it would really help listeners find us!
If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 21 min
July 17, 202012. Sanjay Joshi on Charity Evaluation and Nonprofit Entrepreneurship
Sanjay Joshi is the co-founder and CEO of SoGive, a non-profit which evaluates the impact and cost-effectiveness of UK charities.
In this episode we discuss
The meaning and neglectnedness of cost-effectiveness in the charity space;
Why incentives differ so much between companies and nonprofits;
Misconceptions about admin costs and senior pay in charities;
SoGive's 'two-question framework' for evaluating charity's outcomes;
Advice for nonprofit entrepreneurship
You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Sanjay.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website.
Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us!
If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 14 min
June 20, 202011. Eve McCormick on Effective Altruism
Eve McCormick is the co-director of Effective Altruism Cambridge and a grant recipient from the Centre for Effective Altruism.
In this episode we discuss
What 'effective altruism' is all about;
Philosphical arguments for doing the most good;
Key concepts and cause areas;
Common criticisms
You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Eve.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website.
Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us!
If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!
1 hr 5 min

About Hear This Idea

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Hear This Idea is a podcast showcasing new thinking in philosophy, the social sciences, and effective altruism. Each episode has an accompanying write-up at www.hearthisidea.com/episodes.

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