The Bayesian Conspiracy

In this episode we have our sound engineer Kyle Moore on the show. I thought it would be fun to talk with someone who sort of has to listen to the show and get their take on it. The conversation was, in my opinion, very fun and engaging. I also edited this episode since Kyle has been busy with his day job. – Steven Discussed in this episode: Straw Man vs Steel Man arguments Eneasz’s panel discussion on death (with PZ Meyers, David Brin and Eliezer Yudkowsky) Transhumanism (Quick reference link) Transhumanism (Good essay) The Bottom Line Minecraft Calculator Long explanation of the Double Crux game Previous episode where we talked about moral philosophy ” “is normative ethics boring and/or completely disconnected from any actual moral reasoning you do in your everyday life?” If your answer is “yes”, you are not a Ravenclaw primary. If your answer is “no”, welcome to Team Ravenclaw. ” – from Ozy’s  blog, Thing of Things. The Wired article explaining what the current internet architecture looks like, and why Net Neutrality is most a fight between CDNs (like Netflix) and ISPs (like Comcast). Tyler Cowen comes out against the current Net Neutrality regulations A Forbes opinion piece on the matter, pointing out that the battle isn’t over what people think it’s over, internet “fast lanes” already exist, and linking to: This FCC report (pdf) that says as of Dec 31 2106, 94% of the US population had access to 3+ providers in their area that provide speeds of 10Mbps download, and 76% had access to at least 2 providers of 25Mbps download. According to the graph on this page, as of June 30 2015, only about 20% of people in the United States had access to at least two ISPs who provide speeds up to 25 Mbps of download speed. About 89% had access to 2+ providers at 10 Mbps. Either there’s been a lot of ISP expansion in the past two years, or the FCC has changed how they measure access. The actual numbers required unlocking everything in Star Wars Battlefront 2 (before the fanbase exploded and EA temporarily disabled the ability to buy loot boxes).

Make me one with everything. We went a little off-format for this one. Peter Singer – All Animals Are Equal (pdf) Scott Alexander tries to do a study, but it’s unethical… Eliezer Yudkowsky on Joy In The Merely Real Richard Dawkins – The Greatest Show on Earth William The Conqueror (Sexyback parody) Rick Strassman – DMT: The Spirit Molecule

We speak with Robert McIntyre, winner of the Small Animal Brain Preservation Prize, about recent advances in brain preservation. A pretty good introduction to connectomics is this TED Talk by Sebastian Seung Robert recommends some papers on recent advances in scanning and simulation of brain tissue — 1, 2, 3, 4 — and also the Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap Robert’s paper on Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation, as well as a more straight-forward introduction. Robert’s blog where he talks shares ideas and talks about his work The Alcor Case we talked about  

If this episode sounds a little sub-par, it’s because Steven edited it since Kyle was on vacation. Let his reputation remain intact! Check out Naveen Mishra on twitter! @urstrulymishra   Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark Stanford’s Legal Design Lab Legalese: an open-source project to draft legal documents the way programmers develop software! Quantifying Decentralization  

The Only Way to Win is Not to Play Major source used by Eneasz – Our Mind Can Be Hijacked Meditations on Moloch A recent Molochian short story Eneasz likes – Three Bodies at Mitanni The Two Income Trap Age of Em Superstitious Mice The Capt America/National Anthem Meme – spread by Russians? Tristan Harris on Sam Harris’s podcast, and his article Steven referenced Facebook Purity – use it, it’s good TheZvi’s post Against Facebook. (It’s long, but you can skip the “break down of the 30 items” section in the middle, that’s really just there for documentation) The Toxoplasma of Rage Grover Norquist Alonzo Fyfe on the moral duty to Secure One’s Beliefs and Moral Negligence Ken Ham vs Bill Nye

A quick primer, and what do they have to do with EA? Bitcoin mining takes off in Venezuela due to hyperinflation of the local currency and nearly-free electricity. China is starting to shut down legal BitCoin use. What makes Ethereum special? Ethereum already using as much electricity as a small country. Rhys Lindmark on Twitter and Patreon Harry Potter – is it super pro-capitalist/consumerist?

Eneasz talks about his first Burning Man experience Sorry this is late. Please accept a 167 minute episode as apology? And 9/26 is Petrov Day! The 10 Principles of Burning Man, at the official Burning Man Organization site Eneasz’s series of posts on Burning Man – (0) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (some repetition from what’s in the podcast) There’s a couple minutes of extra talk about the Burning Man Suicide that is available on Patreon. It’s free for anyone who wants to hear it, but we didn’t include it in the main episode, and don’t have it available on our main RSS feed, so that no one accidentally listens to it. Does criticizing rationalists make you rationalist-adjacent? Ozy and the SSC subreddit gesture in the direction of “yeah, pretty much”. We couldn’t contact Thomas in time to get his source, and will update this once we can, but it’s possible he was referring to the CDC’s fact sheet stating “CDC projects that approximately one in six MSM overall are at risk of being diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime if current diagnoses rates persist” Thomas’s game design company – Sixpence Games

We speak with aspiring rationalists with children. Our previous episode pondering children – Kids, These Days Louis C.K. has a bunch of stuff on parenting I Wonder by Annaka Harris, a book on emotional intelligence for children Article on treating kids like people The Rider and the Elephant (and the Path!) Pet Semetary Nonviolent Communication Republican Baby vs Christian Baby Bryan Caplan argues that kids basically turn out how their genes direct, and parenting has little influence, so don’t sweat it too much (as long as you aren’t neglectful/abusive). Short Post and (comparatively) Long Book. The Biodeterminist’s Guide to Parenting The Polgar Sisters are raised to become chess masters

Julia Galef’s ‘Update Project‘. Check out some of the other links on her website too. Steven: “There’s a ton of content and techniques in this area that I wanted to cover and didn’t get a chance to. I’m including a couple of further reading suggestions below.” Brienne Yudkowsky’s blog “Agenty Duck” is the best source of introspective techniques and considerations on this and related topics that I’ve come across. I suggest starting with this post. I’m also a huge fan of the Double Crux Game, which I’ve never had a chance to play formally. Basically you and a willing participant with whom you disagree on something figure out what the root cause of your disagreement is (almost never the apparent disagreement) and analyze the crux of your disagreement. At the end, you shouldn’t disagree anymore (like good Bayesians!) Check out links about this here and here.

More ritual than spirituality, honestly. We were aiming for both, but caught up in ritual. Perhaps we’ll revisit the spirituality aspect in a future episode! Melting Asphalt on Religion, Politics, and Self-Suppression Welcome to Night Vale, and my All Hail summary The type of poetry Eneasz likes is called “villanelles.” Here are four great examples. From Less Wrong: An Alien God, and Thou Art Godshatter. From SSC: Meditations on Moloch From Jai: 500 Million, But Not a Single One More Norman Borlaug & Dunbar’s Number again Sam Harris’s book on spirituality, Waking Up Sam Harris on Islam and the Misuses of Ecstasy GadBeebe on Scotland’s laws on consent and autonomy, specifically the Adults with Incapacity Act Jamal wrote in with this relevant link! It’s called Meditation 101 and covers all the basics.