Rob Wiblin is a founder and leader of the modern Effective Altruism movement…. and one of my oldest friends!

This conversation is different because there’s not much about Effective Altruism – there’s Rob’s excellent podcast and prolific writing for that. This conversation is a chat between old mates, and it tries to track our intellectual development since we were teens. Is that self-indulgent? Maybe! But it’s the conversation I was excited to have with Rob.

We cover a lot:

What Rob learnt from his parents

How we shaped each other’s views

My Theory of Rob

Rob’s excellent conversation with Russ Roberts (best rebuttal of Effective Altruism on record)

How Rob’s views have changed since starting out with EA and how confident he is in his views

What keeps him up at night

Whether he’s winning

Should we stop eating animals?

What we’re watching

Why has the Lord of The Rings held up so well?

Podcasting tips

On kids

Was learning Spanish a mistake?

What was it like being an exchange student in Spain

On institutional decline and the US today

Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think.

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Portrait of an Effective Altruist as a Young Man (my conversation with Rob Wiblin)