Astral Codex Ten Podcast

The podcast explores genetic influences on pain perception, including redheads needing more anesthesia and unique neurological conditions like platypus venom increasing pain sensitivity. It also delves into philosophical perspectives on suffering, visionary utopian societies, CRISPR technology in gene manipulation, and the pursuit of super-happiness through radical hedonic recalibration.

Exploring regulatory changes in event contracts trading, Manifold Markets pivot to real money gambling, superforecasting on COVID-19 origins, and insights on statistics, forecasts, and election results.

Analyzing the impact of health insurance on mortality rates, exploring patient behavior and antibiotic use in healthcare, navigating healthcare decisions and treatment innovations, uncovering hidden medication damages and maternal mortality statistics, exploring unique pregnancy mortality tracking and healthcare incentives.

The podcast delves into the controversial realm of emotional support animals, highlighting the legal requirements for accommodation while questioning the legitimacy of the system. It explores the benefits of pets for mental health, the evaluation process for ESA letters, and the ethical dilemmas faced by professionals in prescribing emotional support animals.

Asterisk/Zvi discusses California's AI bill SB1047, debunking misconceptions about its impact on open-source AI and technology. They explore the need for regulations on harmful AI models, clarify certification objections, and interpret the bill's implications on model manipulation and regulatory constraints. The discussion emphasizes the importance of truthful AI conversations and offers bets on potential impacts.

Exploring the origins of modern wokeness, legal challenges in workplaces, the evolution of the woke movement, quota systems in Brazil, and perspectives on workplace discrimination and test usage.

Richard Hanania, author of The Origins Of Woke, challenges the idea that wokeness stems from civil rights law, arguing instead that US civil rights law is flawed. The podcast covers the unintended consequences of civil rights legislation, navigating corporate 'wokeness,' workplace harassment laws, a legal battle over racial discrimination at a Tesla plant, and the influence on conservative policy perspectives.

Debating health care efficacy, straw-manning arguments, exploring public health impact, navigating healthcare decision complexities, contrasting views on medical treatments in cancer and heart attack cases, scrutinizing gun violence and medical inefficiencies.

In November 2022, Aella posted this Twitter poll: 19% of women without pre-menstrual symptoms believed in the supernatural, compared to 39% of women with PMS. I can’t do chi-squared tests in my head, but with 1,074 votes this looks significant. Weird! Here’s another one Now 72% of people with PMS self-describe as neurotic, compared to only 45% without. Aella writes more about this here, and sebjenseb confirms here. I’m less weirded out by this one, because you can imagine that people feel neurotic because of PMS symptoms, but it’s still a surprisingly strong effect. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/survey-results-pms-symptoms 

Exploring flawed comparisons between disproven fears like overpopulation and concerns about AI safety, with a focus on the irrationality of equating these scenarios and the historical significance of events like the 'coffeepocalypse'. Analyzing fallibility of predictions and moral panics, discerning between groundless fears and valid concerns. Emphasizing constructing persuasive arguments using evidence and the complexities of evaluating reasoning in diverse contexts.