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Hacking State

Latest episodes

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Nov 17, 2023 • 56min

18 - Nikolai Yakovenko: Exploring DeepNews

DeepNews is using LLMs to aggregate and summarize the latest news across the internet, seeking to change the way we digest news. Nikolai Yakovenko is an ex-Twitter, Google, and Nvidia machine-learning engineer who initially forayed into Web3 with his venture 'DeepNFTValue,' which uses machine learning to estimate the value of NFTs; before also going on to create DeepNews. We cover using generative AI for compression, why this application of LLMs could better deliver news from primary sources across the internet in real time, the narrative neutrality of the AI-platform, concerns about information accuracy, misinformation, fidelity, and robustness, as well as potential areas for improvement.   You can find Nikolai on: https://twitter.com/ivan_bezdomny https://nikocrypto.substack.com/ https://substack.com/@nikocrypto   Relevant Links: https://deepnewz.com/ https://www.deepnftvalue.com/     If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml
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Nov 10, 2023 • 1h 15min

17 - Will: Anthrochauvinism

In this conversation, I speak with Will (@latinxputler) about Anthrochauvinism, an alternative to e/acc & decel ideologies.   We cover his experiences in the early days witnessing the formulation of e/acc (Effective Accelerationism) in groupchats as a response to Effective Altruism. His reservations about transhumanism and encounters with post-human or anti-human AI researchers. We then get into laying out the concept of Anthrochauvinism as a reactionary, human-centric orientation that puts technology in service of us. Finally, we touch on reproductive technology and genomics when considered from an Anthrochauvinist perspective.   Will on X: https://twitter.com/LatinxPutler   Readings mentioned: The Artilect War by Hugo de Garis https://www.amazon.com/Artilect-War-Controversy-Concerning-Intelligent/dp/0882801546 https://agi-conf.org/2008/artilectwar.pdf    The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger https://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil394/The%20Question%20Concerning%20Technology.pdf     If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml  
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Oct 30, 2023 • 1h 17min

16 - Grant Dever: Nuclear Texas

We envision a nuclear Texas. Grant Dever is a research fellow at FREOPP (Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity) who writes about energy policy, with a focus on nuclear power. He earned his degree in economics and business from the University of Rochester. During the pandemic, Grant cultivated community for IndieThinkers.org—an accelerator for independent thinkers on the internet. He also authored "Lead The Future: Strategies and Systems for Emerging Leaders."   The conversation touches on Texas as an independent energy powerhouse and the challenges with its power grid. Dever also speaks about the role of tech giants in advancing Nuclear Energy. By adopting demand response and managing intermittency, power-intensive applications like bitcoin mining, training LLMs & hydrogen production can be transformative in nuclear energy proliferation.    The discussion concludes with a note on the  opportunities in the Texas energy sector, particularly when diverging from federal directives, standing as the lone star state.   You can find Grant on:    Website: https://grantdever.com/   Substack: https://www.seekingtribe.com/   FREOPP: https://freopp.org/the-freopp-scholar-grant-dever-badbe66c8b7e   X: https://twitter.com/grantadever   Book: https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Future-Strategies-Systems-Emerging-ebook/dp/B0828895H4   Relevant Links:    https://freopp.org/rethinking-u-s-nuclear-energy-regulation-7639c7e88642   https://blog.freopp.org/were-not-going-to-have-another-chernobyl/     If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml
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Oct 17, 2023 • 1h 38min

15 - Brendon Marotta: Children’s Justice

Brendon Marotta is a filmmaker, author, and podcaster. We talk about his book, "Children's Justice", which applies critical theory to the controversial topic of infant circumcision. We go through his decision to appropriate the tools and tactics of critical theory in service of this issue, apprehensions around taking circumcision up as a social justice or human rights concern, my discomfort with everything about this, childhood trauma and its reverberating effects on adults and institutions, rhetorical methods borrowed from Foucault and others to make his argument, barriers for men and parents to discussing circumcision, and why he sees advocacy around this issue as a microcosm for opening a broader discussion around the treatment of children.   Brendon Marotta's feature-length documentary, "American Circumcision" garnered numerous nominations and awards at film festivals, including Best Documentary at the Lone Star Film Festival (2017), The Silver Jury Prize at The Social Justice Film Festival (2017), Best Documentary Feature at Outer Docs Film Festival (2018), and is available on Netflix (non-US) and Prime video.     Children's Justice (2022): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735113425/ American Circumcision: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7628146/ Gods of AI (2022): https://www.amazon.com/Gods-AI-AI-Generated-Art-Book/dp/B0BMTFSNQ5/   Brendon Marotta Site: https://brendonmarotta.com/ X: https://twitter.com/bdmarotta   If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml  
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Oct 3, 2023 • 1h 50min

14 - Stephen Pimentel: Reviewing ”Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy”

Engineer and essayist Stephen Pimentel joins me for a review of the recently released bestselling book in Political Philosophy, Costin Alamariu’s “Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy”. In this discussion we go deep in tracing the argument, point-by-point, of Costin’s thesis concerning the twin emergence of philosophy and tyranny out of the idea of nature, and its teaching and preservation in the aristocratic regime. We attempt to tour the line of argument in sequential fashion, laying out the basic premises, consequences, and conclusions Costin provides, as well as its potential reverberations for our understanding of classical political philosophy; and hint at potential future implications, given advances in technology and age of the current regime, of this timely and unexpectedly popular hit. We go through the early anthropological account of pre-philosophical societies under the sway of collective nomos, the introduction of natural law from martial-aristocratic pastoralist conquerors, the discussion of Pindar and his insights for the aristocracy's self-understanding, phusis and its connection to physicality, the emergence of nature outside the city by breeding and training as a re-wilding project aimed at cultivating men of andreia and phronesis, Callicles and Socrates in Plato's Gorgias--turning Platonic political philosophy on its head, and Nietzsche's resurrection of aristocratic radicalism in service of the preservation of philosophy for the production of genius.   Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Selective-Breeding-Philosophy-Costin-Alamariu/dp/B0CJ3ZDHF6    Stephen Pimentel: https://twitter.com/StephenPiment      If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml  
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Sep 21, 2023 • 1h 22min

13 - Steve Hsu: Polygenic Embryo Selection, Improving LLMs, & Getting Nearly Cancelled

Steve Hsu, Professor of Theoretical Physics, discusses polygenic embryo selection, phenotyping through AI, IVF, eugenic public policy, addressing concerns over reproductive technology, eliminating hallucination in LLMs, introspection for LLM error correction, and surviving cancellation attempt at MSU.
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Sep 12, 2023 • 1h 33min

12 - Garrett Dailey: Designing Business Around Philosophy

Garrett Dailey is the founder of Aion Enterprises, a business philosophy and design firm. We speak about the meaning of Aion, building a business around philosophy, individuation, the Candy Cane model of reality, and the importance of aesthetics for catalyzing people with a compelling vision of the future. “Any sufficiently complex thought is philosophy.” Aion: https://www.aion.enterprises/ https://twitter.com/AionEnterprises Garrett Dailey: https://garrettdailey.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/Liber_Rex   If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml
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Sep 1, 2023 • 1h 3min

11 - Disgraced Propagandist: The World of Dissident Marketing

Disgraced Propagandist (Isaac Simpson) is the founder of WILL, a dissident marketing agency, and The Carousel Substack and podcast. We speak about how WILL does dissident marketing for a cohort of new natural “wholesome” brands, the marketing industry as the canary in the coal mine for workplaces becoming Longhouses, the power of branding, the meaning of The Carousel metaphor, nostalgia, the “hype dad” archetype, his literary influences, and NEVER APOLOGIZE!   WILL, the agency: https://willtheagency.com/ On X: https://x.com/WILLtheagency   The Carousel: https://thecarousel.substack.com/   Disgraced Propagandist:  On X: https://x.com/DisgracedProp Site: https://isaacsimpson.com/     If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml  
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Aug 25, 2023 • 1h 34min

10 - Razib Khan: Genetic Time Traveling

Razib Khan is a population geneticist, has a popular Substack on genetics and history, and is a co-founder of GenRAIT. We speak about his role in the scientific ecosystem, the effect of the computing revolution on ancient genetics and genomics, why he’s most interested in Eurasian steppe populations, how ancient DNA has shed light on theories in archeology and philology, the effects of delayed fertility on genetic quality of offspring, prenatal genetic screening and gene editing, selection effects of modern environments, his startup, GenRait, and his antics on Twitter/X.     Website: https://www.razib.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/razibkhan GenRait: https://www.genrait.com/
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Aug 7, 2023 • 1h 10min

9 - Hannah Frankman: On the Education of Rebels

Hannah Frankman is the founder of Rebel Educator, an all-inclusive resource hub for parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs. We discuss her experiences in educational reform and alternative paths to education, Montessori education philosophy, her involvement in the education space, and the launch of Rebel Educator. We also cover criticisms of the educational system and popular alternatives, homeschooling, the potential benefits of accelerated and decelerated learning, the need for more localized, private, and independent schools, and the importance of values in education.   Hannah Frankman Website: http://hannahfrankman.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HannahFrankman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@thehannahfrankmanpodcast   Rebel Educator: https://rebeleducator.co/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rebelEducator   Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml 

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