Astral Codex Ten Podcast

The podcast explores the ethical implications of kidney donation, discussing risks, benefits, and personal perspectives. It dives into the potential risks of donation, including mortality rates and increased cancer risk. The chapter also discusses the long-term effects, highlighting a study that found no negative effects after 20 years. The recovery process and reflections on organ donation are shared, along with the need for financial compensation for kidney donors and admiration for the Coalition to Modify Noter.

The podcast discusses the results and highlights of a test run of an Impact Market, where 18 projects were funded by investors. Only one project made back its original investment, but five highly impactful projects are highlighted, one of which had a high valuation and a 25 times return on investment. The podcast also explores grants, Calibets, and long-term forecasting, as well as the creation of an impact market using blockchain-based hyper-statificates. The chapter concludes with a summary of the impact market mini-grants and acknowledgments, mentioning other related podcasts and platforms like Manifolio and the Telegram Bot for Telegram-based prediction markets.

A debate among experts on pausing AI development is explored, including different types of pause and their potential benefits and drawbacks. The challenges of implementing a total pause on AI development are discussed, as well as the effectiveness of treaties and the necessity for advanced models in alignment research. The concerns and implications of implementing a full moratorium on advanced AI are explored, including the potential consequences and the feasibility of a policy remaining in place indefinitely. The possibility of a treaty to pause AI advancements globally and the importance of alignment research are also discussed.

In the 1990s, Blanchard and Bogaert proposed the Fraternal Birth Order Effect (FBOE). Men with more older brothers were more likely to be gay. “The odds of having a gay son increase from approximately 2% for the first born son, to 3% for the second, 5% for the third and so on”. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/how-are-the-gay-younger-brothers 

Topics discussed in the podcast include DIY geoengineering, challenges faced by sex workers using cryptocurrency, AI-generated art with hidden features, challenges in recognizing adversarial examples, use of the term 'big lie', dating app challenges, poverty alleviation, relationship stability of nerds, robotic security guards, little-known grammatical tenses, case of Romana Digilo, sovereign citizenship and Messianism.

Scholars search for the historical Jesus, but the Alexander Romance goes in reverse, making the story of Alexander the Great wackier. It was a best-seller for over a thousand years, endorsed by the Koran, embellished by the Talmud, and praised by a Mongol Khan. The podcast reviews the embellishments of the Alexander myth, from Alexander's mythical birth to his encounters with unusual creatures and philosophers. It also explores the divide between high culture and mass culture through the lens of literature, comparing Batman and Alexander the Great. Lastly, it examines the flaws and characteristics of the Alexander Romance, likening it to comic books and considering Alexander as the first superhero.

Topics discussed include personal experiences with Elon Musk, debates on his intelligence and mental health, insights on Tesla and The Boring Company, comparisons to other famous figures, and the feasibility of colonizing Mars.

Winners of the Book Review Contest 2023 are announced, including Brandon Hendrickson who reviewed 'The Educated Mind' and Daniel Böttger who reviewed 'On the Marble Cliffs'. The host praises their entries and shares details on prize money and contacting them.

Ashlee Vance, author of a 2015 Elon Musk biography, discusses the contradictions in Musk's character and the industry of Musk-bashing. They also delve into Musk's relentless drive, his approach to communication and PR, his motivation for SpaceX, his involvement with Twitter, and his past failures that have shaped his decision-making.

Comments On The Solano County City Ecorche writes: The Public's Radio article has a map in it that gives a better idea of the location. It looks like most of the land is closer to Rio Vista and does include a good stretch of riverfront. The land close to Travis is probably intended as industrial park rather than residential https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-last