Tag: Rationally Speaking

Humanity on the Precipice (Toby Ord)

Rationally Speaking | 10 December 2021 | 1h 08m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Toby Ord about this book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. Explains the possible existential risks we face, including climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence. Discusses what led him to take existential risk more seriously, which risks he considers underrated versus overrated, and how to estimate the probability of existential risk.

Posted on by

Is Cash the Best Way to Help the Poor? (Michael Faye)

Rationally Speaking | 23 December 2021 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Michael Faye about the philosophy and operation of GiveDirectly, which gives poor people cash, with no strings attached. Discusses why this is unappealing to most donors; the evidence about cash transfers as an anti-poverty intervention; how long the effects last; whether it makes recipients less likely to work; and whether it drives inflation.

Posted on by

Predicting the Future Is Possible

The Ezra Klein Show | 3 December 2021 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Philip Tetlock about ideas from his books Expert Political Judgement and Superforecasting:The Art and Science of Prediction. Discusses the intellectual virtues, habits of mind, and ways of thinking that we can learn to become better forecasters; the inverse correlation between fame and forecast accuracy; the rigour-relevance gap; how to approach real-life questions; and why government bureaucracies often resist adopting the tools of superforecasting.

Posted on by

“Price Gouging” in Emergencies

Rationally Speaking | 19 August 2021 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with first Raymond Niles and then Amihai Glazer discussing the merits, or otherwise, of price gouging – when prices rise in an emergency.

On the same topic, see also Michael Munger on Free Markets.

Posted on by

Intellectual Honesty, Cryptocurrency, & More (Vitalik Buterin)

Rationally Speaking | 4 March 2021 | 1h 16m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Vitalik Buterin (creator of the open-source blockchain platform Ethereum) exploring his intellectually honest approach to leadership, why prediction markets appear to be biased in favour of Trump, whether it was rational to invest in Bitcoin ten years ago, effective altruism, Vitalik’s defence of life extension research against its critics, and more.

Posted on by

Understanding Moral Disagreements (Jonathan Haidt)

Rationally Speaking | 18 February 2021 | 1h 06m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Jonathan Haidt about his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Discusses his Moral Foundations Theory and whether liberals should expand their moral horizons by learning to think like conservatives.

Posted on by

Are Boomers to Blame for Millennials’ Struggles?

Rationally Speaking | 9 November 2020 | 0h 59m | Listen Later | iTunes
Faced with stagnant wages and rising costs of education, rent, and health care, Millennials have a tougher path to economic security than Boomers did. Discusses whether Millennials’ situation is the result of misguided and irresponsible policy choices by Boomers. Perspectives from: Jill Filipovic, author of OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind; Joseph C. Sternberg, author of The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole Millennials’ Economic Future; and Patrick Fisher, author of Demographic Gaps in American Political Behavior.

It’s great to see Rationally Speaking return after a twelve-month hiatus.

Posted on by