Robert Wright's Nonzero

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0:00 Is DeSantis done for? 9:14 Ro Khanna for president! 13:04 Why Cold War II makes AI scarier 22:45 Is Twitter done for? 27:23 How imminent is a recession, really? 31:52 Ukraine war update 45:06 The Blinken wrinkle in the Hunter Biden laptop story 47:43 Parrot room preview: Mickey’s AI revelation; Can the GOP win over the college crowd?; Is Fetterman out of the woods?; Is a border crisis incoming?; The slow-burn of Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice; more on DeSantis

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded April 21, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66054 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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0:00 How Roko and Alex wound up debating on the Nonzero Podcast5:05 Could near-term AI disruption be worse than Covid?13:18 Is AI an existential threat? 25:31 How the sci-fi apocalypse scenario might unfold36:42 How is a renegade AI like a man wearing a condom?47:06 Why would an AI want to kill us?55:47 How the Cold War makes AI more dangerous1:09:49 Roko and Alex make final statements before Overtime

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True), Roko Mijic (Heretical Update), and Alexander Campbell (Rose AI). Recorded April 11, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66201 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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1:29 The promise (and perils) of Notes, Substack’s new social media platform10:08 One big way Notes could be a better Twitter24:47 Nikita’s grand vision for Notes—and Substack41:21 User control vs. the allure of algorithms48:09 Is a better culture of discourse possible through Notes?1:06:11 How Notes benefits from elite buy-in1:15:15 Bob’s advice for Substack: Don't be like Microsoft!1:24:40 Towards a civil society

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com/). Recorded April 15, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66011Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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00:00 The Biden age issue 5:59 Are Republicans setting the stage for Biden’s re-election? 15:10 Bob: Right-wing “non-interventionists” are rabid China hawks 24:48 The Pentagon’s no good, very leaky week 31:39 Is Clarence Thomas corrupt? 37:50 The New York Times hunts down a leaker 43:39 Elon vs. Matt Taibbi and Substack 48:07 Parrot Room preview: The new legal theory for prosecuting Trump; Biden’s border policy; Mickey vs. Ross Douthat on AI alarmism; government programs Mickey likes; the movie Megan comes to life; the potential of Substack Notes.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/65962Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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

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0:36 How freaked out is Michal by current AIs? 9:30 Why "theory of mind" (aka cognitive empathy)—even in humans—is mind-blowing 16:00 Michal’s theory-of-mind experiments with AI 19:49 Bob’s theory-of-mind experiments with AI 29:21 Do large language models construct representations of concepts? 42:26 Does AI have subjective experience? 49:56 What human neural networks do that AI doesn't

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Michal Kosinski (Stanford University). Recorded April 04, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/65981 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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0:00 The SBF and Trump indictments: compare and contrast 8:32 Is DeSantis tanking? 15:25 How the Tennessee House controversy could boost Biden 24:06 Unpacking progressive wins in Wisconsin and Chicago 30:58 Is Twitter becoming a banana republic? 49:04 Ukraine war (and NATO) update 59:12 Parrot room preview: Russian pro-war blogger’s strange assassination; Jill Biden’s basketball misstep; Clarence Thomas’s controversial trips; Amazon against anti-woke reviews; M3GAN, the alignment problem, and more AI talk; GM’s EV blunder; Matt Taibbi vs. Mehdi Hasan; Dershowitz on Epstein

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded April 07, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/65962Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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

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00:51 Paul’s book, The World Crisis and International Law7:25 Should we demand that other countries be as liberal as we are?20:06 What went wrong in Russia after the Soviet Union fell?33:32 How post-Cold war consensus gave way to global fragmentation39:29 Can international law prevent techno-authoritarianism?48:12 Paul’s skepticism about international law57:44 How the knowledge economy could lead to a Chinese Trump

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Stephan(University of Virginia, The World Crisis and International Law). Recorded March 15, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/65935Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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00:00 A common conundrum: How to pay off your porn-star mistress 11:38 Ways to make Ron DeSantis seem human 20:49 Bob: The newest AI has cognitive empathy 28:01 How Cold War II makes AI more dangerous 35:47 Why are traditional American values in decline? 49:20 What foreign policy elites say about Russia-Ukraine behind closed doors 57:07 Parrot Room preview: Something smart Zelensky said; US think tank advocates murder; how the Nashville shooting was reported; Musk makes another Twitter policy change; why Elizabeth Holmes was ahead of her time

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded March 31, 2023.

Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/65924 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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

1:26 Is ChatGPT capable of “theory of mind”5:39 Is it like anything to be ChatGPT?7:44 ChatGPT passes a cognitive empathy test with flying colors.13:19 ChatGPT analyzes cognitive empathy.17:17 ChatGPT flatters Bob22:36 How ChatGPT uses cognitive empathy in everyday life.

A transcript of this conversation is available here:

Robert Wright’s simulated voice generated using Play.ht. “ChatGPT” simulated voice generated using Descript.

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

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0:00 Bob and David reminisce about Bloggingheads3:26 David’s book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy 9:18 Are Russiagaters moving the goalposts? 20:10 What the Trump team knew about Russian meddling 36:05 The missing “collusion” piece of the Russiagate puzzle 46:54 Why David thinks Russiagate's biggest critics are perpetuating a hoax 58:08 If Russiagaters are right, why didn’t Trump do Russia many favors?

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Corn (Mother Jones, Russian Roulette, American Psychosis). Recorded March 16, 2023.