Richard Hanania is the President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and the author of Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy: How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. Follow Richard on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Read Richard's Substack: https://richardhanania.substack.com/Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Intro(0:04:35) - Did war prevent sclerosis?(0:06:05) - China vs America's grand strategy(0:10:00) - Does the president have more power over foreign policy?(0:11:30) - How to deter bad actors?(0:15:39) - Do some countries have a coherent foreign policy?(0:16:55) - Why does self-interest matter in foreign but not domestic policy? (0:21:05) - Should we limit money in politics?(0:23:47) - Should we credit expertise for nuclear detante and global prosperity?(0:28:45) - Have international alliances made us safer?(0:31:57) - Why does academic bueracracy work in some fields?(0:36:26) - Did academia suck even before diversity?(0:39:34) - How do we get expertise in social sciences?(0:42:19) - Why are things more liberal?(0:43:55) - Why is big tech so liberal?(0:47:53) - Authoritarian populism vs libertarianism(0:51:40) - Can authoritarian governments increase fertility?(0:54:54) - Will increasing fertility be dysgenic?(0:56:43) - Will not having kids become cool?(0:59:22) -Advice for libertarians? Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

David Deutsch is the founder of the field of quantum computing and the author The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality.Read me contra David on AI.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Read the full transcript with helpful links here.Follow David on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future podcasts.Timestamps(0:00:00) - Will AIs be smarter than humans? (0:06:34) - Are intelligence differences immutable / heritable?(0:20:13) - IQ correletation of twins seperated at birth(0:27:12) - Do animals have bounded creativity?(0:33:32) - How powerful can narrow AIs be?(0:36:59) - Could you implant thoughts in VR?(0:38:49) - Can you simulate the whole universe?(0:41:23) - Are some interesting problems insoluble?(0:44:59) - Does America fail Popper's Criterion?(0:50:01) - Does finite matter mean there's no beginning of infinity?(0:53:16) - The Great Stagnation(0:55:34) - Changes in epistemic status is Popperianism(0:59:29) - Open ended science vs gain of function(1:02:54) - Contra Tyler Cowen on civilizational lifespan(1:07:20) - Fun criterion(1:14:16) - Does AGI through evolution require suffering?(1:18:01) - Would David enter the Experience Machine?(1:20:09) - (Against) Advice for young people Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Byrne Hobart writes The Diff, a newsletter about inflections in finance and technology with 24,000+ subscribers.  Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. The Diff newsletter: https://diff.substack.com/Follow Byrne on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes!Thanks for reading The Lunar Society! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Timestamps: (0:00:00) - Byrne's one big idea: stagnation (0:05:50) -Has regulation caused stagnation? (0:14:00) - FDA retribution (0:15:15) - Embryo selection (0:17:32) - Patient longtermism (0:21:02) - Are there secret societies? (0:26:53) - College, optionality, and conformity(0:34:40) - Differentiated credentiations underrated? (0:39:15) - WIll contientiousness increase in value? (0:44:26) - Why aren't rationalists more into finance? (0:48:04) - Rationalists are bad at changing the world. (0:52:20) - Why read more? (0:57:10) - Does knowledge have increasing returns? (1:01:30) - How to escape the middle career trap? (1:04:48) - Advice for young people (1:08:40) - How to learn about a subject? Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

David Friedman is a famous anarcho-capitalist economist and legal scholar.  Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website + transcript here.David Friedman's website: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Dating market (0:12:15) - The future of reputation (0:27:30) - How Friedman predicted bitcoin (0:35:35) - Prediction markets (0:40:00) - Can regulation stop progress globally? (0:45:50) - Lack of diversity in modern legal systems (0:54:20) - Friedman's theory of property rights (1:01:50) - Charles Murray's scheme to fight regulations (1:06:25) -Property rights of the poor (1:09:07) - Automation (1:16:00) - Economics of medieval reenactment (1:19:00) - Advice for futurist young people Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Sarah Fitz-Claridge is a writer, coach, and speaker with a fallibilist worldview. She started the journal that became Taking Children Seriously in the early 1990s after being surprised by the heated audience reactions she was getting when talking about children. She has spoken all over the world about her educational philosophy, and you can find transcripts of some of her talks on her website.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. Sarah's Website: https://www.fitz-claridge.com/Follow Sarah on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates. Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Michael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than sixty academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as well as eight amazing books.  Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here. Buy Knowledge, Reality, and Value and The Problem of Political Authority.Read Michael’s awesome blog and follow me on Twitter for new episodes.Timestamps: (0:00:00) - Intro (0:01:07) - The Problem of Political Authority (0:03:25) - Common sense ethics  (0:09:39) - Stockholm syndrome and the charisma of power (0:18:14) - Moral progress (0:26:55) - Growth of libertarian ideas (0:33:37) - Does anarchy increase violence? (0:44:37) - Transitioning to anarchy (0:47:20) - Is Huemer attacking our society?! (0:51:40) - Huemer's writing process (0:53:18) - Is it okay to work for the government (0:56:39) - Burkean argument against anarchy (1:02:07) - The case for tyranny (1:11:58) - Underrated/overrated (1:25:55) - Huemer production function(1:30:41) - Favorite books (1:33:04) - Advice for young people Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Robert Martin (aka Uncle Bob) is a programming pioneer and bestselling author or Clean Code. We discuss the prospect of automating programming, spotting and developing coding talent, occupational licensing, quotas, and the elusive sense of style.  Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Listen to his fascinating talk on the future of programming: https://youtu.be/ecIWPzGEbFc Read his blog about programming: http://blog.cleancoder.com/ Buy his books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/ent... Thanks for reading The Lunar Society! Subscribe to find out about future episodes!Timestamps(0:00) - Automating programming (8:40) - Educating programmers (expertise, talent, university) (21:45) - Spotting talent (26:10) - Teaching kids (29:31) - Prose and music sense in coding (32:22) - Occupational licensing for programmers (35:49) - Why is tech political (39:28) - Quotas (42:29) - Advice to 20 yr old Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Scott Aaronson, a Professor of Computer Science and Quantum Computing expert, discusses topics such as the historical development of quantum computing, the busy beaver function and its properties, the difficulty of finding a Nash equilibrium in game theory, and the relationship between complexity class and creativity.

Scott is the author of Ultralearning and famous for the MIT Challenge, where he taught himself MIT's 4 year Computer Science curriculum in 1 year.I had a blast chatting with Scott Young about aggressive self-directed learning. Scott has some of the best advice out there about learning hard things. It has helped yours truly prepare to interview experts and dig into interesting subjects.  Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Check out Scott’s website. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Buy Scott’s book on Ultralearning: https://amzn.to/3TuPEbfTimestamps(00:00) - Intro (01:00) - Einstein (13:20) - Age (18:00) - Transfer (24:40) - Compounding (34:00) - Depth vs context (40:50) - MIT challenge (1:00:50) - Focus(1:10:00) - Role models (1:20:30) - Progress studies (1:24:25) - Early work and ambition (1:28:18) - Advice for 20 yr old (1:35:00) - Raising a genius baby? Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Charles Murray, a prominent author known for his insights on social science, discusses his influential works like 'Human Accomplishment'. He examines the interplay of achievements across history, revealing that greatness often emerges during turbulent times. Murray emphasizes the importance of hard work over innate talent and shares personal growth experiences from living in Thailand. The conversation delves into the future of libertarianism, the complexities of government regulation, and the crisis of moral frameworks in a secular society.