Robert Wright's Nonzero

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the (would-be) Earthling.

Recorded March 01, 2024.

https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

1:19 Big trouble with Small Potatoes 5:13 What makes a good podcast? 13:21 Google’s AI goes wild(ly woke) 27:02 Is Biden a “super-ager” or just super old? 35:51 On the psychology of self-immolation 52:38 Are we thinking right about mental illness? 56:52 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 27, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Paul’s Substack:

Overtime titles:

0:00 The problem with paywalls 4:06 Is contingency in life good news or bad? 22:28 Do AIs need to be symbolic to be logical? 32:46 A new TV show Bob hates 38:04 Bob’s (mental?) break in the JFK case

0:31 Gary’s background and place in the AI world 1:45 Are Gary’s views on AI paradoxical? 9:16 Bob: Searle’s Chinese Room argument is dead 19:29 Have LLMs demonstrated "theory of mind"? 26:34 Arguing the semantics of an LLM's “semantic space” 32:04 Do LLM representations map onto the real world? 41:20 Can (and should) we slow down AI development? 52:11 Gary: I’ve never seen a field as myopic as AI today 54:53 The (symbolic?) future of AI

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Gary Marcus (https://garymarcus.substack.com/, Humans vs. Machines, The Algebraic Mind, Kluge). Recorded February 13, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Gary's Substack:

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

2:19 Nikita’s memories of Navalny’s emergence as a political force 12:17 The time Nikita was detained for protesting election fraud 23:42 Navalny’s success as a political organizer 36:53 What did Navalny represent? 47:22 Navalny’s courageous post-poisoning return to Russia 57:53 Heading to Overtime (plus: Nikita’s photo with Navalny)

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded February 20, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling.

Read this edition of the Earthling at: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/sam-altmans-big-bad-idea

Recorded February 16, 2024.

https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

(Overtime audio available to paid subscribers through the player at the top of the page and video version available below the paywall.)

1:35 What MSM missed about Carlsons' Putin interview 14:20 Putin’s litany of grievances against the West 22:19 Russia gets the upper hand in Ukraine 30:02 Why Zelensky hasn’t paved the way for peace talks 37:02 Putin’s mafia-inspired approach to negotiations 45:47 Do most Russians support the war? 49:49 Why Zelensky fired his popular top general 54:00 Heading to Overtime

Leonid's article in Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/12/putin-is-ready-for-talks-on-ukraine-but-on-his-own-terms

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Leonid Ragozin (Rest of World, West of Providence, Lonely Planet). Recorded February 14, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Overtime titles:

0:00 An approaching Russia-NATO war? 3:39 Why the Gaza war is a godsend for Putin 13:32 Does Putin really prefer Trump over Biden? 22:52 The point of Putin’s long historical monologue

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

1:57 Nora’s low score on the AI doomer test 8:26 The messy math of AI alignment 13:41 Teaching and (unteaching) concepts to LLMS 18:06 Do we really want human-like AI? 28:48 How the AI “mind” works 40:41 How to change an AI’s mind 53:19 Are LLMs reverse-engineering the human mind? 57:26 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nora Belrose (EleutherAI). Recorded January 16, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Overtime titles:

0:00 Eleuther’s extra open open-source AIs 4:29 Is the human mind a general learning machine? 7:18 Why Nora supports open-source AI 11:42 How could we tell if AIs are conscious? 23:31 The new contender for reinforcement learning supremacy 29:57 Inside the minds of the AI doomers 40:52 Bob’s main sources of AI anxiety

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from the Earthling.

Read this edition of the Earthling at:

https://nonzero.substack.com/p/the-new-lab-leak-evidence

Recorded February 09, 2024.

https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews

https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:31 Bob’s bad newsletter news for Paul 3:50 Fast Car's moving Grammy moment 9:42 Music, female orgasms, and other evolutionary enigmas 14:22 The Moral Animal turns 30—how has it aged? 17:16 How AI (barely) helps Paul work 19:54 Is America real? 35:55 Bob tries to drag Paul down the JFK rabbit hole 43:38 Lab leak and the trouble with “conspiracy theories” 49:35 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 6, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:31 Effective altruism (EA) and Rob’s 80,000 Hours podcast 3:10 SBF’s fall = EA’s public relations problem 12:13 What went wrong for (and with) SBF? 29:05 Virtue as a utilitarian shortcut 38:39 What drove EA’s longtermist (r)evolution? 46:18 EA, AI, and the miscalculation of existential risk 53:31 Did EA play a role in the OpenAI board drama? 1:01:16 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Rob Wiblin (80,000 Hours). Recorded January 11, 2024.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods