Hear This Idea

Luke Freeman is the Executive Director of Giving What We Can. Before this, he was a entrepreneur and marketing specialist, including co-founding Positly. In this episode we discuss: [00:01:52] Background: History of EA [00:04:02] Luke's story: Discovering EA [00:09:30] Foreign Aid: Myths and valid critiques [00:14:58] Evidence: RCTs and the ITN framework [00:20:12] News: "Man bites dog" [00:26:35] GWWC: Taking the pledge [00:43:43] Donations: Risk and hidden zeros [00:46:41] GWWC: Common misconceptions [00:51:34] Entrepreneurship: Positly and WEIRD science [00:54:31] Tech: Market for Donations [01:05:46] Final questions: Change in mind and book recommendations You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/luke If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Dr Sriya Iyer is a Reader in Economics at the University of Cambridge and fellow of St Catharine’s College. Her research applies the tools of economics to topics such as religion, development, and education. In this episode we discuss: [00:02:14] Introduction: Sriya Iyer [00:03:08] Background: What is the economics of religion? [00:07:25] Wealth: The Secularization Hypothesis (and why it's wrong) [00:12:02] Growth: Weber's Protestant work ethic [00:14:43] Demography: Religion and fertility in India [00:21:39] Fieldwork: Doing surveys in the developing world [00:29:31] Competition: Temples providing non-religious services [00:36:39] Signaling: The Club Good Model of Religion [00:44:00] Education: Religious versus secular schooling [00:47:42] Religious riots: The Political Economy of Hatred in India [01:02:57] Other research: Beliefs, experimental economics, and Islamic institutions [01:06:51] Social Capital: Trust, reciprocity, bonding versus bridging [01:09:41] Future of the field: Religion, Covid-19, and mental health [01:14:50] Final questions: Change in mind and book recommendations You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/sriya If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Dr S. J. Beard is a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. With a background in philosophy, he works on ethical problems relating to the long-term future of humanity, as well as evaluating extreme technological risks. In this episode we discuss: [2:00] Existential risks defined in brief; [4:45] SJ's background; [12:30] What made philosopher Derek Parfit so influential; [17:30] What is the repugnant conclusion? [22:12] What is the non-identity problem? [28:40] Meeting Parfit; [34:20] Why SJ chose a career in existial risk research; [36:43] What existential risk research looks like; [45:58] How can we estimate the probability of catastrophes with no strict precedents? [56:52] Under what circumstances could climate change cause a collapse of global civilization? [1:07:52] Why SJ ran as an MP for the Liberal Democrats; [1:17:25] Is academia broken? How can we fix it? [1:23:23] Why SJ changed his mind about whether COVID is a potential global catastrophe You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Simon. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Dr Jessie Munton is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cambridge, whose philosophical research spans perception, psychiatry, and bias. In this episode we discuss: How to think about statistical generalisations that deal with demographic groups; How accurate beliefs about them can go wrong when we 'project' from bare statistics; How the salience and ordering of information relates to prejudice; How search engines can help or hinder 'cognitive flexibility'. You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Jessie. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Carolina Alves is the Joan Robinson Research Fellow in Heterodox Economics at Girton College, Cambridge and a co-founder of D-Econ. Her work mostly focuses on macroeconomics and international political economy. In this episode we discuss: - You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/Carolina. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at https://www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Jaime Sevilla Molina is a visiting researcher at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk, and is beginning a PhD studying Bayesian reasoning. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, and his academic background is in mathematics and computer science. In this episode we discuss: How the social sciences infer causation from natural experiments; Evidence for 'cultural persistence', particularly in the context of the Atlantic slave trade; What is forecasting, and why does it matter? Why is good forecasting so hard to come by? What are the likely implications of quantum computing for cryptography, drug discovery, and AI? You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Jaime. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're still just starting out and it would really help listeners find us! If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Sanjay Joshi is the co-founder and CEO of SoGive, a non-profit which evaluates the impact and cost-effectiveness of UK charities. In this episode we discuss The meaning and neglectnedness of cost-effectiveness in the charity space; Why incentives differ so much between companies and nonprofits; Misconceptions about admin costs and senior pay in charities; SoGive's 'two-question framework' for evaluating charity's outcomes; Advice for nonprofit entrepreneurship You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Sanjay. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us! If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Eve McCormick is the co-director of Effective Altruism Cambridge and a grant recipient from the Centre for Effective Altruism. In this episode we discuss What 'effective altruism' is all about; Philosphical arguments for doing the most good; Key concepts and cause areas; Common criticisms You can read much more on this episode's accompanying write-up hearthisidea.com/episodes/Eve. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us! If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Dr Toke Aidt is Director of Studies in Economics at Jesus College, Cambridge as well as Director of the Keynes Fund. In this episode we discuss Why some economists believe corruption can be a force for good, or at least a lesser evil Why Toke believes this view does not hold up to scrutiny And how self-reinforcing cycles of corruption can make tackling it very hard (but also rewarding) You can read more on this episode's accompanying write-up (which we highly recommend!) hearthisidea.com/episodes/Toke. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us! If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

Neel Nanda is a final year maths undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, and a gold medalist in the International Mathematical Olympiad. He teaches regularly – from revision lectures to a recent ‘public rationality’ workshop. Neel is also an active member in rationalist and effective altruism communities. In this episode we discuss How to view self-improvement and optimising your goals Forming good habits through the 'TAPs' technique How to build effective plans by using our 'inner simulator' and 'pre-hindsight' You can read more on this episode's accompanying write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/neel. You can also read Neel's teaching notes for his planning workshop here. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Also, Neel has created an anonymous feedback form for this episode, and he would love to hear any of your thoughts! Please also consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this; we're just starting out and it would really help listeners find us! If you want to support the show more directly, you can also buy us a beer at tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!