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Eric Schwitzgebel

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  1. 80,000 Hours2h 50m

    The best of The 80,000 Hours Podcast in 2024

    Luisa, Rob, Randy Nesse, Hugo Mercier, Meghan Barrett, Sébastien Moro, Sella Nevo, Zvi Mowshowitz, Zach Weinersmith, Rachel Glennerster, Emily Oster, Carl Shulman, Nathan Labenz, Nathan Calvin, Rose Chan Loui, Nick Joseph, Sihao Huang, Ezra Karger, Matt Clancy, Vitalik Buterin, Annie Jacobsen, Nate Silver, Kevin Esvelt, Lewis Bollard, Bob Fischer, Elizabeth Cox, Anil Seth, Eric Schwitzgebel, Jonathan Birch, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Laura Deming, Venki Ramakrishnan, Ken Goldberg, Sarah Eustis-Guthrie, Dean Spears, Cameron Meyer Shorb, Spencer Greenberg

    Randy Nessie and Hugo Mercier establish that morality and skepticism are evolutionary adaptations driven by social selection and the need for honest signaling. In parallel, experts like Megan Barrett and Lewis Bollard advocate for expanding ethical consideration to insect sentience and the eradication of wild animal suffering, while AI safety researchers demonstrate emerging risks such as sleeper agents and instrumental convergence. The discussion further critiques the economic viability of space resources and analyzes social dynamics ranging from the gender wage gap to the limitations of cryonics, concluding with philosophical arguments about consciousness and strategies for effective altruism.

  2. 80,000 Hours2h 1m

    The world is weird, our intuitions are dubious, and the US might be conscious | Eric Schwitzgebel

    Eric Schwitzgebel, Luisa Rodriguez

    Philosopher Eric Schwitzgabel argues that humanity lacks empirical justification for any single theory regarding the universe or consciousness, leaving all major foundational claims equally bizarre and uncertain. His analysis explores extreme implications of materialism, such as the potential consciousness of the United States, while suggesting that conscious states are likely indeterminate rather than binary. Ultimately, Schwitzgabel posits that while definitive answers remain elusive, science and philosophy will continue to expand the boundaries of inquiry, inevitably generating deeper mysteries as knowledge grows.