Jeffery Martin, founding director of the Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness, discusses enlightenment, fundamental wellbeing, and the locations within it. They explore the effectiveness of the Finders Course and the necessity of control groups in researching enlightenment. The guest also delves into the limitations of surveys in measuring well-being and introduces the Mindease app for stress relief. They discuss different stages of spiritual development and consciousness and the challenges faced by late location finders. The concept of a continuum combining location and depth is introduced. The layers of the mind, fluidity, and integration are explored, along with the trade-off between well-being and functionality. The success rate of a protocol in achieving fundamental well-being is examined, along with methods and challenges in this pursuit.

Andrea Dunlop, an expert on Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen by Proxy, discusses the motivations behind individuals who pretend to be sick or hurt themselves for attention. She also explores the intentional harm parents inflict on their children for attention and the complexity of recognizing such behavior. The podcast delves into personal experiences, investigations, deceit, and the psychological toll of holding someone accountable for their lies. It also reflects on the concept of falling in love with someone who doesn't actually exist and the dark side of attention-seeking.

Geoffrey Miller, an evolutionary psychologist, explores the misconceptions and relevance of evolutionary psychology. They discuss cultural variations, universal behavior patterns, gender continuum test, aversion to incest, speed dating, and challenges of incorporating religious and political values into AI systems.

Robin Hanson, economist and futurist, discusses the concept of futarchy as a form of governance based on prediction markets. They explore the limitations of democracy, propose reforming the legislative process with an auction system for bills, and highlight the importance of understanding hidden motivations for effective reform. They also discuss the challenges and potential of decision markets, explore the concept of the sacred, and examine the qualifications and role of elites in society.

Metacognitive therapy expert Pia Callesen and host Spencer Greenberg discuss the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy in addressing mental health challenges. They explore the concept of metacognitive beliefs and the impact of uncontrollable thoughts and rumination. They distinguish between useful and unuseful worrying and examine how rumination affects problem-solving abilities. The connection between rumination and negative beliefs is examined along with the application of metacognitive therapy to improve sleep. The importance of proper training and available resources are highlighted.

Danny Hernandez, AI industry expert, joins Spencer Greenberg to discuss the growth and advancement of AI, potential bottlenecks, predictability of AI models, automation of jobs, AI's impact on roles, motivations for working in AI, and approaching difficult decisions.

Gavin Leech, an expert in personal development and behavior change, discusses topics like choosing our identity, failed psychology replications, the effectiveness of growth mindset, challenges of forecasting, and ethical concerns of AI simulations.

Read the full transcript here. Besides the need to attract attention, what are some other drivers behind the news media's tendency to "catastrophize the normal"? To what extent does paltering take place on the politically left and right ends of the new media spectrum? Should journalists try to be as objective and unbiased as possible, or should they strive to make a difference in the world by highlighting particular issues that are important to them? Is the US on the verge of a civil war? Are prophecies of civil war self-fulfilling? Is it (and should it be) okay to reference certain taboo phrases by saying them explicitly? To what extent do journalists pull their punches because they fear angering the wrong crowd?Mike Pesca is host of The Gist, the longest running daily news podcast in history, consistently ranked in Apple's Top 20 Daily News charts. During his 10 years as a correspondent for NPR, Mike guest hosted All Things Considered and the news quiz Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. His work has been featured on This American Life, Radiolab, and Planet Money. He has frequently appeared on MSNBC, CNN, and The PBS Newshour, and written for The Washington Post, The Guardian, GQ, Slate, and Baseball Prospectus. Listen to Mike on The Gist, or follow him on Twitter at @pescami. StaffSpencer Greenberg — Host / DirectorJosh Castle — ProducerRyan Kessler — Audio EngineerUri Bram — FactotumWeAmplify — TranscriptionistsMiles Kestran — MarketingMusicBroke for FreeJosh WoodwardLee RosevereQuiet Music for Tiny Robotswowamusiczapsplat.comAffiliatesClearer ThinkingGuidedTrackMind EasePositlyUpLift[Read more]

Read the full transcript here. What's wrong with society? And what can we do to fix it? Centuries ago, a person's grandparents lived in a world that was basically identical to that person's world; but what are the implications of living in a time when the rate of technological change is such that our grandparents' world was almost nothing like ours, and ours will be almost nothing like our grandchildren's? How do Tim's concepts of the "primitive mind" and the "higher mind" map onto System 1 and System 2 thinking types? What thinking styles exist along the spectrum from primitive mind to higher mind? Why are there either lots of Nazis or virtually none at all? Are there more "golems" or "genies" in the world right now? Are the American political left and right wings just equal but opposite groups, or are there significant asymmetries between them? How does social justice activism differ from "wokeness"? What is "idea supremacy"? Does liberalism need to be destroyed and rebuilt from scratch (perhaps as something else entirely) or merely repaired and revamped? Is illiberalism the biggest threat facing the world right now — bigger even than AI, climate change, etc.?Tim Urban is the writer/illustrator and co-founder of Wait But Why, a long-form, stick-figure-illustrated website with over 600,000 subscribers and a monthly average of half a million visitors. He has produced dozens of viral articles on a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to social anxiety to humans becoming a multi-planetary species. Tim's 2016 TED main stage talk is the third most-watched TED talk in history with 67 million views. In 2023, Tim published his bestselling book What's Our Problem? A Self Help Book for Societies. StaffSpencer Greenberg — Host / DirectorJosh Castle — ProducerRyan Kessler — Audio EngineerUri Bram — FactotumWeAmplify — TranscriptionistsMiles Kestran — MarketingMusicBroke for FreeJosh WoodwardLee RosevereQuiet Music for Tiny Robotswowamusiczapsplat.comAffiliatesClearer ThinkingGuidedTrackMind EasePositlyUpLift[Read more]

Read the full transcript here. Where does innovation come from? How common is it for "lone wolf" scientists to make large leaps in innovation by themselves? How can we imbue AIs with creativity? Or, conversely, how can we apply advances in AI creativity to our own personal creative processes? How do creative strategies that work well for individuals differ from creative strategies that work well for groups? To what extent are models like DALL-E and ChatGPT "creative"? Can machines love? Or can they only ever pretend to love? We've worried a fair bit about AI misalignment; but what should we do about the fact that so many humans are misaligned with humanity's own interests? What might it mean to be "reverent" towards science?Joel Lehman is a machine learning researcher interested in algorithmic creativity, AI safety, artificial life, and intersections of AI with psychology and philosophy. Most recently he was a research scientist at OpenAI co-leading the Open-Endedness team (studying algorithms that can innovate endlessly). Previously he was a founding member of Uber AI Labs, first employee of Geometric Intelligence (acquired by Uber), and a tenure track professor at the IT University of Copenhagen. He co-wrote with Kenneth Stanley a popular science book called Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned on what AI search algorithms imply for individual and societal accomplishment. Follow him on Twitter at @joelbot3000 or email him at lehman.154@gmail.com.Further reading:"Machine Love" by Joel Lehman StaffSpencer Greenberg — Host / DirectorJosh Castle — ProducerRyan Kessler — Audio EngineerUri Bram — FactotumWeAmplify — TranscriptionistsMiles Kestran — MarketingMusicBroke for FreeJosh WoodwardLee RosevereQuiet Music for Tiny Robotswowamusiczapsplat.comAffiliatesClearer ThinkingGuidedTrackMind EasePositlyUpLift[Read more]