Eric Kaufmann is a research fellow at CSPI and a professor of politics at the University of Buckingham. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution. Eric explains its thesis, which holds that the taboos around race that arose in the 1960s expanded into other areas of life and eventually led to modern wokeness. He and Richard debate the plausibility of this idea, its similarities and differences with those put forth in The Origins of Woke, and what kind of policy responses might be appropriate to stem and ultimately reverse undesirable cultural trends. The conversation ends with some discussion about free speech in academia, and why Eric decided to leave his old university and start teaching at the University of Buckingham. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Bess Stillman (email) is a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and writes at Everything Is An Emergency. She is also an excellent storyteller who uses her skills to convey the hectic and at times heart wrenching experiences one faces as an ER doctor. Bess is married to Jake Seliger, who in 2022 was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. She has written a three-part series about the struggles that she and Jake have faced getting him into clinical trials. On the podcast, Bess describes the maddening and cruelly irrational processes that dying patients must go through in order to find access to treatments that might help them. The conversation covers the nightmare of dealing with ClinicalTrials.gov, the requirement that an individual travel across state lines to even know if they are eligible for a trial, and how the government continues to exercise paternalism on the behalf of patients who have no other options other than to take a drug that has not yet been proven to work. Bess also discusses policy ideas she would like to see implemented, and finally shares some stories from her time as an ER doctor.The themes touched on here will be familiar to those who have read about the “invisible graveyard” that the FDA is responsible for. Yet even listeners who know about the utter lack of interest in patient well being normally shown by federal agencies will find themselves shocked by the degree to which bureaucratic procedures with few plausible benefits govern the lives of sick individuals who want nothing but to get some extra time on this earth and help move science forward. For dealing with the clinical trial system in its current state, Bess is currently trying to figure out ways to assist oncologists and patients in being able to navigate the process at HelpMeFindAClinicalTrial.com. And hopefully by telling her story, she can help inspire much needed reforms to the system. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Rob Henderson discusses his memoir 'Troubled,' sharing insights on his upbringing in foster care and military experiences. He delves into family reflections, genetic discoveries, navigating success as a foster kid, political evolution, and international experiences. The conversation also explores future creative projects and potential adaptations in Hollywood.

Romina Boccia is the director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, where she writes about government spending, the debt problem, and entitlement reform. She also has a Substack called the Debt Dispatch that you can subscribe to here. Romina joins the podcast to discuss available paths to deal with the coming entitlement crisis. One potential way to get politicians out of making tough choices is to create a debt commission that takes responsibility for unpopular reforms. Romina has written about using the model of the BRAC commission, which was relied on to close down military bases at the end of the Cold War.The conversation also touches on the politics of debt, how policymakers are thinking about these issues, Paul Ryan as an unappreciated hero of our time, and much more. Near the end, Romina reflects on her career as a DC policy-wonk, and why she is motivated to help ensure that America continues to be the land of opportunity. If we don’t get entitlements under control, it could potentially degrade our entire way of life. For more discussion on this topic and the difficult choices our leaders will soon be facing, see the previous CSPI podcast with Brian Riedl. Listen to the podcast with Romina here or watch the video on YouTube. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Brian Chau writes and hosts a podcast at the From the New World Substack, and recently established a new think tank, the Alliance for the Future.He joins the podcast to discuss why he’s not worried about the alignment problem, where he disagrees with “doomers,” the accomplishments of ChatGPT versus DALL-E, the dangers of regulating AI until progress comes to a halt in the way it did with nuclear power, and more. With his background in computer science, Brian takes issue with many of those who write on this topic, arguing that they think in terms of flawed analogies and know little about the underlying technology. The conversation touches on a previous CSPI discussion with Leopold Aschenbrenner, and the value of continuing to work on alignment. Brian’s view is that AI doomers are making people needlessly pessimistic. He believes that this technology has the potential to do great things for humanity, particularly when it comes to areas like software development and biotech. But the post-World War II era has seen many examples of government hindering progress, and AFF is dedicated to stopping that from happening with artificial intelligence. Listen to the conversation here, or watch the video here. LinksDonate to AFFAFF manifestoBrian on diminishing returns to machine learning, and discussing AI with Marc AndreessenVaswani et al. on transformersLimits of current machine learning techniques This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Historian Andrew Roberts discusses Napoleon's reign, free trade as a cause of war, and Napoleon's personal magnetism. Topics also include Napoleon's relationship with Josephine, his military prowess, and the inaccuracies in the film 'Napoleon' directed by Ridley Scott.

Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Richard Hanania discuss the financial future of the US, with a focus on entitlements. They explore the projected fund shortages of Social Security and Medicare, the potential consequences of borrowing money indefinitely, and the lack of seriousness in fiscal policy. The speakers highlight the challenges of raising the payroll tax limit, the inefficiency of Twitter, and the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.

Niklas Anzinger is the founder and General Partner of Infinita, the first Próspera-based VC fund, which invests in founders overcoming regulatory capture in crypto, biotech and hardware through network states and startup cities. He’s also one of the 100 or so residents of Próspera.This was quite an optimistic conversation. The title of the podcast comes from the last thing Niklas said, which was that you don’t actually need attention or to talk about grand projects, but just to show the world what you can do. Niklas is part of the charter city movement, which seeks to build hubs of innovation and progress while bringing the rule of law and economic development to poorer regions of the world. In this eventful conversation, Richard and Niklas touch on* The mechanics of governance in Próspera* Getting around red tape and becoming a hub of medical innovation* Amenities and quality of life in the city* Upcoming conferences and eventsDespite a new government in Honduras that is hostile to charter cities, Niklas is optimistic that they will be able to continue operating. He and Richard also talk about potential medical breakthroughs that Próspera might help bring about, like bacteria that remove cavities from your mouth, and a currently available gene therapy that may make your muscles and bones stronger.LinksNiklas on X, his Substack, RSS for his podcastThe Ultimate Guide to PrósperaAlex Ugorji on XPróspera websiteCiudad MorazánInfinita ManifestoScott Alexander on Próspera, Part I and Part IIMark Lutter on the CSPI podcastMarc Andreessen, The Techno-Optimist ManifestoDocumentary on medical tourism in Próspera; DW report, with appearance from NiklasUpcoming EventsNov 3-5: Crypto Futurism & Legal Engineering 2023 - A Próspera Builders’ SummitNov 17-19: DeSci & Longevity Biotech 2023 - A Próspera Builders' Summit Jan 6-Mar 1: Vitalia - Starting the Frontier City of Life This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Chris Rufo joins the podcast to talk about his new book, America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything.Rufo begins by talking about his background and his theory of political change. The conversation then shifts to his new book, the strengths of Ron DeSantis as an administrator, and finally what he’s doing on the board of the New College of Florida. Topics include:* Where did all of the crazy ideas that seem to have taken over institutions in the last few years come from? * What took conservatives so long to wake up to the problem?* Did Rufo end up liking the intellectuals he was studying?* What are the connections between left-wing ideas and civil rights law?* How do conservatives reach “good liberals” within institutions?See the transcript of the conversation at the Richard Hanania Newsletter.Listen in podcast form or watch the conversation on YouTube.Links:* Richard Hanania, The DeSantis Revolution* Politico profile on the relationship between Rufo and DeSantis* Rufo, America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything.* Rufo video on the trans movement and “nullification” surgery, discusses his theory of political change* Hanania, The Origins of Woke (forthcoming book)* Robert Rector on black-white gaps* The Atlantic giving Rufo his due This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

In the popular imagination, the AI alignment debate is between those who say everything is hopeless, and others who tell us there is nothing to worry about.Leopold Aschenbrenner graduated valedictorian from Columbia in 2021 when he was 19 years old. He is currently a research affiliate at the Global Priorities Institute at Oxford, and previously helped run Future Fund, which works on philanthropy in AI and biosecurity. He contends that, contrary to popular perceptions, there aren’t that many people working on the alignment issue. Not only that, but he argues that the problem is actually solvable. In this podcast, he discusses what he believes some of the most promising paths forward are. Even if there is only a small probability that AI is dangerous, a small chance of existential risk is something to take seriously.AI is not all potential downsides. Near the end, the discussion turns to the possibility that it may supercharge a new era of economic growth. Aschebrenner and Hanania discuss fundamental questions of how well GDP numbers still capture what we want to measure, the possibility that regulation strangles AI to death, and whether the changes we see in the coming decades will be on the same scale as the internet or more important. Listen in podcast form here, or watch on YouTube.Links:* Leopold Aschenbrenner, “Nobody’s on the Ball on AGI Alignment.” * Collin Burns, Haotian Ye, Dan Klein, and Jacob Steinhardt, “Discovering Latent Knowledge in Language Models Without Supervision.” * Kevin Meng, David Bau, Alex Andonian, and Yonatan Belinkov, “Locating and Editing Factual Associations in GPT.”* Leopold’s Tweets: * Using GPT4 to interpret GPT2 .* What a model says is not necessarily what’s it’s“thinking” internally. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com