Tag: EconTalk

Tyler Cowen on the Risks and Impact of Artificial Intelligence

EconTalk | 15 May 2023 | 1h 00m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Tyler Cowen about the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence. Argues that the worriers – those who think that artificial intelligence will destroy mankind – need to make a more convincing case for their concerns. Suggests that the worriers are too willing to reduce freedom and empower the state in the name of reducing a risk that is far from certain. Also discusses how AI might change various parts of the economy and the job market.

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Daniel Gordis on Israel and Impossible Takes Longer

EconTalk | 10 April 2023 | 1h 27m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Daniel Gordis about his book Impossible Takes Longer. Looks at the successes and failures of Israel as it reaches 75 years old. Discusses the history of Zionism, the plight of the Palestinians, the Jewishness of the Jewish state, and the debate in Israel over judicial reform.

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Omer Moav on the Emergence of the State

EconTalk | 6 March 2023 | 1h 02m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Omer Moav about his paper The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?, co-authored with Joram Mayshar and Luigi Pascali. Argues that it wasn’t farming but the farming of storable crops (but not others) that led to hierarchy and the State. Also discusses why it’s important to understand the past and the challenges of confirming or refuting theories about history.

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Sam Harris on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Morality

EconTalk | 6 February 2023 | 1h 51m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Sam Harris discussing the subtleties of his religious and cultural critiques; what he has learned as a podcaster and author; how ecstasy launched his spiritual journey; and the power of meditation, exploring the way it can lead to self-transcendence and real connection with others.

This is a fine example of two people discussing their differences constructively to find common ground.

 

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Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen

EconTalk | 13 February 2023 | 1h 06m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Adam Mastroianni about his Substack essay The Rise and Fall of Peer Review. Backgrounds that peer review has failed: papers with major errors make it through the process and the ones without errors often fail to replicate. Argues that peer review is a failed experiment that isn’t fixable and sets out how he plans to work going forward.

 

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Frank Dikötter on Mao’s Great Famine

EconTalk | 6 August 2018 | 1h 12m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Frank Dikötter about his book Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962. Chronicles the strategies Mao and the Chinese leadership implemented to increase grain and steel production in the late 1950s leading to a collapse in agricultural output and the deaths of millions by starvation.

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Annie Duke on the Power of Quitting

EconTalk | 28 November 2022 | 1h 22m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Annie Duke about her book Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away. Backgrounds how society’s conflation of grit with character has made quitting unnecessarily hard, and explains why our desire for certainty harms our decision-making ability. Argues for recognising the expected cost of sticking with a bad proposition.

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