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Podcast: In Our Time Episode: The WaltzRelease date: 2024-04-11Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dance which, from when it reached Britain in the early nineteenth century, revolutionised the relationship between music, literature and people here for the next hundred years. While it may seem formal now, it was the informality and daring that drove its popularity, with couples holding each other as they spun round a room to new lighter music popularised by Johann Strauss, father and son, such as The Blue Danube. Soon the Waltz expanded the creative world in poetry, ballet, novellas and music, from the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev to Moon River and Are You Lonesome Tonight.WithSusan Jones Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of OxfordDerek B. Scott Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of LeedsAndTheresa Buckland Emeritus Professor of Dance History and Ethnography at the University of RoehamptonProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list: Egil Bakka, Theresa Jill Buckland, Helena Saarikoski, and Anne von Bibra Wharton (eds.), Waltzing Through Europe: Attitudes towards Couple Dances in the Long Nineteenth Century, (Open Book Publishers, 2020)Theresa Jill Buckland, ‘How the Waltz was Won: Transmutations and the Acquisition of Style in Early English Modern Ballroom Dancing. Part One: Waltzing Under Attack’ (Dance Research, 36/1, 2018); ‘Part Two: The Waltz Regained’ (Dance Research, 36/2, 2018)Theresa Jill Buckland, Society Dancing: Fashionable Bodies in England, 1870-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)Erica Buurman, The Viennese Ballroom in the Age of Beethoven (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Paul Cooper, ‘The Waltz in England, c. 1790-1820’ (Paper presented at Early Dance Circle conference, 2018)Sherril Dodds and Susan Cook (eds.), Bodies of Sound: Studies Across Popular Dance and Music (Ashgate, 2013), especially ‘Dancing Out of Time: The Forgotten Boston of Edwardian England’ by Theresa Jill BucklandZelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (first published 1932; Vintage Classics, 2001)Hilary French, Ballroom: A People's History of Dancing (Reaktion Books, 2022)Susan Jones, Literature, Modernism, and Dance (Oxford University Press, 2013)Mark Knowles, The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries (McFarland, 2009)Rosamond Lehmann, Invitation to the Waltz (first published 1932; Virago, 2006)Eric McKee, Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music Relations in 3/4 Time (Indiana University Press, 2012)Eduard Reeser, The History of the Walz (Continental Book Co., 1949)Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 27 (Macmillan, 2nd ed., 2000), especially ‘Waltz’ by Andrew LambDerek B. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis: The 19th-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris and Vienna (Oxford University Press, 2008), especially the chapter ‘A Revolution on the Dance Floor, a Revolution in Musical Style: The Viennese Waltz’Joseph Wechsberg, The Waltz Emperors: The Life and Times and Music of the Strauss Family (Putnam, 1973)Cheryl A. Wilson, Literature and Dance in Nineteenth-century Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2009)Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out (first published 1915; William Collins, 2013)Virginia Woolf, The Years (first published 1937; Vintage Classics, 2016)David Wyn Jones, The Strauss Dynasty and Habsburg Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 2023)Sevin H. Yaraman, Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound (Pendragon Press, 2002)Rishona Zimring, Social Dance and the Modernist Imagination in Interwar Britain (Ashgate Press, 2013)

Podcast: Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin Episode: Brian ArmstrongRelease date: 2025-12-24Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationBrian Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume and users. He launched Coinbase in 2012 after working as a software engineer at Airbnb, where he experienced firsthand the frictions of global payment systems. Under his leadership, Coinbase grew into a publicly traded company on Nasdaq in 2021 and now serves over 100 million verified users in more than 100 countries. Beyond Coinbase, Armstrong has co-founded initiatives like ResearchHub and NewLimit and is a prominent advocate for an open, crypto-powered financial system. ------ Thank you to the sponsors that fuel our podcast and our team: Athletic Nicotine https://www.athleticnicotine.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Squarespace https://squarespace.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ LMNT Electrolytes https://drinklmnt.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Sign up to receive Tetragrammaton Transmissions https://www.tetragrammaton.com/join-newsletter

Podcast: Conversations with Tyler Episode: Cass Sunstein on Liberalism and Rights in the Age of AIRelease date: 2025-11-26Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarization Cass Sunstein is one of the most widely cited legal scholars of all time and among the most prolific writers working today. This year alone he has five books out, including Imperfect Oracle on the strengths and limits of AI and On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom. In his second appearance on the show, he brings his characteristic intellectual range to exploring liberalism's present precariousness and AI's implications for law and speech. Tyler and Cass discuss whether liberalism is self-undermining or simply vulnerable to illiberal forces, the tensions in how a liberal immigration regime would work, whether new generations of liberal thinkers are emerging, if Derek Parfit counts as a liberal, Mill's liberal wokeism, the allure of Mises' "cranky enthusiasm for freedom," whether the central claim of The Road to Serfdom holds up, how to blend indigenous rights with liberal thought, whether AIs should have First Amendment protections, the argument for establishing a right not to be manipulated, better remedies for low-grade libel, whether we should have trials run by AI, how Bob Dylan embodies liberal freedom, Cass' next book about animal rights, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded October 10th, 2025. This episode was made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Cass on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.

Podcast: The Gradient: Perspectives on AI Episode: Iason Gabriel: Value Alignment and the Ethics of Advanced AI SystemsRelease date: 2025-11-26Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationEpisode 143I spoke with Iason Gabriel about:* Value alignment* Technology and worldmaking* How AI systems affect individuals and the social worldIason is a philosopher and Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind. His work focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence, including questions about AI value alignment, distributive justice, language ethics and human rights.You can find him on his website and Twitter/X.Find me on Twitter (or LinkedIn if you want…) for updates, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.Outline* (00:00) Intro* (01:18) Iason’s intellectual development* (04:28) Aligning language models with human values, democratic civility and agonism* (08:20) Overlapping consensus, differing norms, procedures for identifying norms* (13:27) Rawls’ theory of justice, the justificatory and stability problems* (19:18) Aligning LLMs and cooperation, speech acts, justification and discourse norms, literacy* (23:45) Actor Network Theory and alignment* (27:25) Value alignment and Iason’s starting points* (33:10) The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants, AI’s impacts on social processes and users, personalization* (37:50) AGI systems and social power* (39:00) Displays of care and compassion, Machine Love (Joel Lehman)* (41:30) Virtue ethics, morality and language, virtue in AI systems vs. MacIntyre’s conception in After Virtue* (45:00) The Challenge of Value Alignment* (45:25) Technologists as worldmakers* (51:30) Technological determinism, collective action problems* (55:25) Iason’s goals with his work* (58:32) OutroLinksPapers:* AI, Values, and Alignment (2020)* Aligning LMs with Human Values (2023)* Toward a Theory of Justice for AI (2023)* The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants (2024)* A matter of principle? AI alignment as the fair treatment of claims (2025) Get full access to The Gradient at thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe

Podcast: Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin Episode: Tony HawkRelease date: 2025-09-24Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationTony Hawk is a professional skateboarder widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the sport’s history. Rising to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, he became known for pioneering tricks like the 900 and for pushing skateboarding into the mainstream through competitions, video games, and media appearances. He became a household name through victorious X Games performances, and his career highlights include being the first to land the 900 in competition, earning over 70 contest victories, and dominating vert skating across two decades. As an ambassador for the sport, he also founded the Tony Hawk Foundation to support youth skateparks, further cementing his influence and legacy in skateboarding culture. ------ Thank you to the sponsors that fuel our podcast and our team: Athletic Nicotine https://www.athleticnicotine.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ LMNT Electrolytes https://drinklmnt.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Squarespace https://squarespace.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Sign up to receive Tetragrammaton Transmissions https://www.tetragrammaton.com/join-newsletter

Podcast: Working DefinitionEpisode: Working Definition episode 3: Freedom, with Tyler CowenRelease date: 2025-08-29Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationIn this episode, Tyler Cowen and I discuss freedom. We talk about how people talk about freedom, whether you can define freedom, freedom's relation to other concepts, the relevance of free will and consciousness, what it might mean for a country to be free, and much more. In short, we do some philosophy! I hope you enjoy it.. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endsdontjustifythemeans.com

Podcast: Doom Debates Episode: Debate with Vitalik Buterin — Will “d/acc” Protect Humanity from Superintelligent AI?Release date: 2025-08-12Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationVitalik Buterin is the founder of Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, currently valued at around $500 billion. But beyond revolutionizing blockchain technology, Vitalik has become one of the most thoughtful voices on AI safety and existential risk.He's donated over $665 million to pandemic prevention and other causes, and has a 12% P(Doom) – putting him squarely in what I consider the "sane zone" for AI risk assessment. What makes Vitalik particularly interesting is that he's both a hardcore techno-optimist who built one of the most successful decentralized systems ever created, and someone willing to seriously consider AI regulation and coordination mechanisms.Vitalik coined the term "d/acc" – defensive, decentralized, democratic, differential acceleration – as a middle path between uncritical AI acceleration and total pause scenarios. He argues we need to make the world more like Switzerland (defensible, decentralized) and less like the Eurasian steppes (vulnerable to conquest).We dive deep into the tractability of AI alignment, whether current approaches like DAC can actually work when superintelligence arrives, and why he thinks a pluralistic world of competing AIs might be safer than a single aligned superintelligence. We also explore his vision for human-AI merger through brain-computer interfaces and uploading.The crux of our disagreement is that I think we're heading for a "plants vs. animals" scenario where AI will simply operate on timescales we can't match, while Vitalik believes we can maintain agency through the right combination of defensive technologies and institutional design.Finally, we tackle the discourse itself – I ask Vitalik to debunk the common ad hominem attacks against AI doomers, from "it's just a fringe position" to "no real builders believe in doom." His responses carry weight given his credibility as both a successful entrepreneur and someone who's maintained intellectual honesty throughout his career.Timestamps* 00:00:00 - Cold Open* 00:00:37 - Introducing Vitalik Buterin* 00:02:14 - Vitalik's altruism* 00:04:36 - Rationalist community influence* 00:06:30 - Opinion of Eliezer Yudkowsky and MIRI* 00:09:00 - What’s Your P(Doom)™* 00:24:42 - AI timelines* 00:31:33 - AI consciousness* 00:35:01 - Headroom above human intelligence* 00:48:56 - Techno optimism discussion* 00:58:38 - e/acc: Vibes-based ideology without deep arguments* 01:02:49 - d/acc: Defensive, decentralized, democratic acceleration* 01:11:37 - How plausible is d/acc?* 01:20:53 - Why libertarian acceleration can paradoxically break decentralization* 01:25:49 - Can we merge with AIs?* 01:35:10 - Military AI concerns: How war accelerates dangerous development* 01:42:26 - The intractability question* 01:51:10 - Anthropic and tractability-washing the AI alignment problem* 02:00:05 - The state of AI x-risk discourse* 02:05:14 - Debunking ad hominem attacks against doomers* 02:23:41 - Liron’s outroLinksVitalik’s website: https://vitalik.eth.limoVitalik’s Twitter: https://x.com/vitalikbuterinEliezer Yudkowsky’s explanation of p-Zombies: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fdEWWr8St59bXLbQr/zombies-zombies—Doom Debates’ Mission is to raise mainstream awareness of imminent extinction from AGI and build the social infrastructure for high-quality debate.Support the mission by subscribing to my Substack at DoomDebates.com and to youtube.com/@DoomDebates Get full access to Doom Debates at lironshapira.substack.com/subscribe

Join Tabby Kinder, FT's West Coast financial editor, and Gillian Tett, FT columnist, as they delve into the complex world of Peter Thiel. Kinder unpacks Thiel’s significant investments and his unique position in Silicon Valley, while Tett explores his controversial political philosophy and ties to Donald Trump. They discuss Thiel's influence over technology and politics, the intersection of libertarian ideals with his venture capitalism, and how his disruptive ideas continue to shape American political discourse.

Podcast: Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist Episode: Ep 114: Flying Cars Are About to Change the World — Joby CEO JoeBen BevirtRelease date: 2025-06-04Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationJoeBen Bevirt has spent two decades building electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and now he's on the cusp of commercial approval and rollout. Will flying cars be as transformational as the automobile? How will air taxis impact our cities and the way we live? And how did JoeBen achieve this feat of ingenuity?This week we're joined by the Co-Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, an American aviation company pioneering eVTOL aircraft for air taxi service. All-electric, virtually silent, and traveling up to 200mph with a pilot and four passengers, Joby is opening new possibilities in the skies above — starting at the price of an Uber Black. The implications for productivity and quality of life are massive, saving the average person an hour or two a day sitting in traffic and unlocking new swaths of land for development.I'm proud that 8VC co-led Joby's first investment round about a decade ago, when many others, even flying enthusiasts, thought it was a pipedream. Since then, Joby has single-handedly shaped an entire new industry, from engineering breakthroughs to regulatory pathways, ensuring that American aviation stays ahead of China. Joby expects its first passenger rides in Dubai within a year and is working closely with the Trump administration as it nears the final stages of FAA approval. Inspired by SpaceX, Joby is vertically integrated and plans to aggressively ramp manufacturing here in the U.S., backed by a $500 million investment from Toyota (bringing Toyota's total investment near $900 million). While we await the first passenger flights, Joby is also building out its infrastructure nationwide — and they're looking for real estate and partners! You can contact JoeBen and the team here: info@jobyaviation.com00:00 Episode Intro 01:38 Flying cars are here 04:00 JoeBen's journey 05:48 Battery progress & hydrogen breakthroughs 08:50 Air taxi for the price of Uber Black 12:35 When will commercial flights start? 20:30 Why Joby is the industry leader 24:20 Why China is copying Joby 28:00 How air taxis will change your life 32:10 How Joby will transform real estate 35:45 Solving intractable problems This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Podcast: The Trajectory Episode: Richard Ngo - A State-Space of Positive Posthuman Futures [Worthy Successor, Episode 8]Release date: 2025-04-25Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationThis is an interview with Richard Ngo, AGI researcher and thinker - with extensive stints at both OpenAI and DeepMind.This is an additional installment of our "Worthy Successor" series - where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy-- Richard's exploratory fiction writing - https://narrativeark.xyz/Watch this episode on The Trajectory YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/UQpds4PXMjQ See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/ngo1...There three main questions we cover here on the Trajectory:1. Who are the power players in AGI and what are their incentives?2. What kind of posthuman future are we moving towards, or should we be moving towards?3. What should we do about it?If this sounds like it's up your alley, then be sure to stick around and connect:-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory -- X: x.com/danfaggella -- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danfaggella -- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw-- Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954