17 - Caspar Oesterheld on evidential cooperation in large worlds (ECL)
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, I chat with Caspar Oesterheld about a relatively simple application of weird decision theory: evidential cooperation in large worlds, or ECL for short. The tl;dr is you think there's at least some small probability of a very large multiverse, so you try to follow something closer to the average of all the values of civilizations in that multiverse that think like you, and therefore 'make it more likely' (in an evidential way) that those other civilizations do things that you like. Links for various things that Caspar has provided: ECL overview page: A while after the...
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16 - Alessandro on learning Latin and Greek
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, I chat with Alessandro ( on X/Twitter) about our respective experiences learning Latin (and in his case ancient Greek). The Ranieri-Roberts approach to learning ancient Greek: We need to talk about Latinitas: Legentibus: Intermediate-level Greek texts: There is a good series called "Reading Greek" published by the Joint Association of Classics Teachers. An example volume is "The Intellectual Revolution: Selections from Euripides, Thucydides and Plato". Intermediate-level Latin texts: The reader Alessandro used in his second-year course was the...
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15 - On learning Latin
The Filan Cabinet
In which I monologue about my experience learning Latin. Links: My friend's podcast episode: r/latin: Lingua Latina: Playlist of someone reading out loud the chapters (plus some related material): We need to talk about Latinitas [re: criticizing Latin novellas]: Legentibus:
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14 - The 2024 Eclipse
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, I give you updates from my trip with friends to see the 2024 total solar eclipse. Questions answered include: - Why are we bothering to go see it? - How many of us will fail to make it to the eclipse? - Does it actually get darker during a total solar eclipse, or is that just an optical illusion? - What moral dilemma will we face, and what will we do? - Whose lav mic will mysteriously fail to work during their interview?
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13 - Aaron Silverbook on anti-cavity bacteria
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, I speak with Aaron Silverbook about the bacteria that cause cavities, and how different bacteria can prevent them: specifically, a type of bacterium that you can buy at . This podcast episode has not been approved by the FDA. Specific topics we talk about include: How do bacteria cause cavities? How can you create an anti-cavity bacterium? What's going on with the competitive landscape of mouth bacteria? How dangerous is it to colonize your mouth with a novel bacterium? Why hasn't this product been available for 20 years already? Lumina Probiotic (the brand name of this new...
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12 - Holly Elmore on AI pause
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, I talk to Holly Elmore about her advocacy around AI Pause - encouraging governments to pause the development of more and more powerful AI. Topics we discuss include: Why advocate specifically for AI pause? What costs of AI pause would be worth it? What might AI pause look like? What are the realistic downsides of AI pause? How the Effective Altruism community relates to AI labs. The shift in the alignment community from proving things about alignment to messing around with ML models.
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11 - Divia Eden and Ronny Fernandez on the orthogonality thesis
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode, Divia Eden and Ronny Fernandez talk about the (strong) orthogonality thesis - that arbitrarily smart intelligences can be paired with arbitrary goals, without additional complication beyond that of specifying the goal - with light prompting from me. Topics they touch on include: Why aren't bees brilliant scientists? Can you efficiently make an AGI out of one part that predicts the future conditioned on some plans, and another that evaluates whether plans are good? If minds are made of smaller sub-agents with more primitive beliefs and desires, does that shape their terminal...
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10 - Jeffrey Heninger on Mormonism
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode I chat with Jeffrey Heninger about his religious beliefs and practices as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes colloquially referred to as "the Mormon church" or "the LDS church". Topics we talk about include: Who or what is God? How can we know things about God? In particular, what role does religious experience play? To what degree is modern morality downstream of Jesus? What's in the Book of Mormon? What does modern-day prophecy look like? What do Sunday services look like in the LDS church? What happens after you die? Why don't Mormons...
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9 - Effective Altruism Global: Bay Area (2023)
The Filan Cabinet
Every year, the Centre for Effective Altruism runs a number of "Effective Altruism Global" (EA Global or EAG for short) conferences thru-out the world. This year, I attended the one held in the San Francisco Bay Area, and talked to a variety of participants about their relationship with effective altruism, the community around that idea, and the conference. Timestamps: 00:00:16 - interview 1 00:07:06 - interview 2 00:15:46 - interview 3 00:22:35 - interview 4 00:31:22 - interview 5 00:38:30 - interview 6 00:44:18 - interview 7 00:48:59 - interview 8 00:53:14 - interview 9 00:56:22 - interview...
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8 - John Halstead on climate doom
The Filan Cabinet
In this episode I chat with John Halstead about whether climate change will kill us all. He thinks it won't. Topics we talk about include: How did the effective altrism community come to have someone dedicated to the question of whether climate change will kill us all? How bad will climate change likely be? How is the role of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere different from that of other greenhouse gasses? How big a volcano would have to go off to warm up the world by 10 degrees Celsius? How concerned should we be about climate change as a general stressor that makes other risks worse?
info_outlineIn this episode, Peter Jaworski talks about the practice of paid plasma donation, whether it's ethical to allow it, and his work to advocate for it to be legalized in more jurisdictions. He answers questions such as:
- Which country used to run clinics in a former colony to pay their former colonial subjects for their plasma?
- Why can't we just synthesize what we need out of plasma?
- What percentage of US exports by dollar value does plasma account for?
- If I want to gather plasma, is it cheaper to pay donors, or not pay them?
- Is legal paid plasma donation one step towards a dystopia?
Peter's faculty page: https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014TksCAAS/peter-jaworski
His twitter account: https://twitter.com/petermjaworski
His website on donation ethics: https://www.donationethics.com/
His white paper, Bloody Well Pay Them: https://www.niskanencenter.org/bloody-well-pay-them-the-case-for-voluntary-remunerated-plasma-collections/
The second edition of his book with Jason Brennan, Markets without Limits: https://www.amazon.com/Markets-without-Limits-Commercial-Interests-dp-0367758857/dp/0367758857/
The blood plushies behind his desk: https://imgur.com/a/ce4tKLp