80k After Hours

Most AI safety conversations centre on alignment: ensuring AI systems share our values and goals. But despite progress, we're unlikely to know we've solved the problem before the arrival of human-level and superhuman systems in as little as three years.So some — including Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research — are developing a backup plan to safely deploy models we fear are actively scheming to harm us: so-called “AI control.” While this may sound mad, given the reluctance of AI companies to delay deploying anything they train, not developing such techniques is probably even crazier. These highlights are from episode #214 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway, and include:What is AI control? (00:00:15)One way to catch AIs that are up to no good (00:07:00)What do we do once we catch a model trying to escape? (00:13:39)Team Human vs Team AI (00:18:24)If an AI escapes, is it likely to be able to beat humanity from there? (00:24:59)Is alignment still useful? (00:32:10)Could 10 safety-focused people in an AGI company do anything useful? (00:35:34)These aren't necessarily the most important or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org. Highlights put together by Ben Cordell, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/fJssGodnCQgConor and Arden sit down with Matt in his farewell episode to discuss the law, their team retreat, his lessons learned from 80k, and the fate of the show.

The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years.That's the future Will MacAskill — philosopher and researcher at the Forethought Centre for AI Strategy — argues we need to prepare for in his new paper “Preparing for the intelligence explosion.” Not in the distant future, but probably in three to seven years.These highlights are from episode #213 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we're completely unprepared, and include:Rob's intro (00:00:00)A century of history crammed into a decade (00:00:17)What does a good future with AGI even look like? (00:04:48)AI takeover might happen anyway — should we rush to load in our values? (00:09:29)Lock-in is plausible where it never was before (00:14:40)ML researchers are feverishly working to destroy their own power (00:20:07)People distrust utopianism for good reason (00:24:30)Non-technological disruption (00:29:18)The 3 intelligence explosions (00:31:10)These aren't necessarily the most important or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org. Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Technology doesn't force us to do anything — it merely opens doors. But military and economic competition pushes us through. That's how Allan Dafoe — director of frontier safety and governance at Google DeepMind — explains one of the deepest patterns in technological history: once a powerful new capability becomes available, societies that adopt it tend to outcompete those that don't. Those who resist too much can find themselves taken over or rendered irrelevant.These highlights are from episode #212 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway, and include:Who's Allan Dafoe? (00:00:00)Astounding patterns in macrohistory (00:00:23)Are humans just along for the ride when it comes to technological progress? (00:03:58)Flavours of technological determinism (00:07:11)The super-cooperative AGI hypothesis and backdoors (00:12:50)Could having more cooperative AIs backfire? (00:19:16)The offence-defence balance (00:24:23)These aren't necessarily the most important or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org. Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/IRRwHCK279EMatt, Bella, and Huon sit down with Chi Nguyen to discuss cooperating with aliens, elections of future past, and Bad Billionaires pt. 2.Check out: Matt's summer appearance on the BBC on funding for the artsChi's ECL Explainer (get in touch to support!)

Economist and editor of Works in Progress Sam Bowman isn't content to just condemn the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) mentality behind rich countries' construction stagnation. He wants to actually get a tonne of stuff built, and by that standard the strategy of attacking ‘NIMBYs' has been an abject failure. They are too politically powerful, and if you try to crush them, sooner or later they crush you.So Sam lays out three alternative strategies in our full interview with him — including highlights like:Rich countries have a crisis of underconstruction (00:00:19)The UK builds shockingly little because of its planning permission system (00:04:57)Overcoming NIMBYism means fixing incentives (00:07:21)NIMBYs aren't wrong: they are often harmed by development (00:10:44)Street votes give existing residents a say (00:16:29)It's essential to define in advance who gets a say (00:24:37)Property tax distribution might be the most important policy you've never heard of (00:28:55)Using aesthetics to get buy-in for new construction (00:35:48)Locals actually really like having nuclear power plants nearby (00:44:14)It can be really useful to let old and new institutions coexist for a while (00:48:27)Ozempic and living in the decade that we conquered obesity (00:53:05)Northern latitudes still need nuclear power (00:55:30)These highlights are from episode #211 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sam Bowman on why housing still isn't fixed and what would actually work. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org. (And you may have noticed this episode is longer than most of our highlights episodes — let us know if you liked that or not!)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

We explored the cutting edge of wild animal welfare science our full interview with Cameron Meyer Shorb, executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, including highlights like:One concrete example of how we might improve wild animal welfare (00:00:16)How many wild animals are there, and which animals are they? (00:04:24)Why might wild animals be suffering? (00:08:40)The objection that we shouldn't meddle in nature because nature is good (00:12:25)Vaccines for wild animals (00:17:37)Gene drive technologies (00:20:50)Optimising for high-welfare landscapes (00:24:52)These highlights are from episode #210 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Cameron Meyer Shorb on dismantling the myth that we can't do anything to help wild animals. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Nonprofit legal expert Rose Chan Loui lays out the legal case and implications of OpenAI's attempt to shed its nonprofit parent. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Rose, including:How OpenAI carefully chose a complex nonprofit structure (00:00:26)The nonprofit board is out-resourced and in a tough spot (00:04:09)Is control of OpenAI 'priceless' to the nonprofit in pursuit of its mission? (00:06:47)Control of OpenAI is independently incredibly valuable and requires compensation (00:11:06)It's very important that the nonprofit gets cash and not just equity (00:16:06)How the nonprofit board can best play their hand (00:21:20)These highlights are from episode #209 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Rose Chan Loui on OpenAI's gambit to ditch its nonprofit. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Elizabeth Cox — founder of the independent production company Should We Studio — makes the case that storytelling can improve the world. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Elizabeth, including:Keiran's intro (00:00:00)Empirical evidence of the impact of storytelling (00:00:16)The hits-based approach to storytelling (00:03:35)Debating the merits of thinking about target audiences (00:07:48)Ada vs other approaches to impact-focused storytelling (00:13:15)Why animation? (00:18:56)How long will humans stay relevant as creative writers, given AI advances? (00:22:40)These highlights are from episode #208 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Elizabeth Cox on the case that TV shows, movies, and novels can improve the world. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Charity founder Sarah Eustis-Guthrie has a candid conversation about her experience starting and running her maternal health charity, and ultimately making the difficult decision to shut down when the programme wasn't as impactful as they expected. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Sarah:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)What it's like to found a charity (00:00:14)Yellow flags and difficult calls (00:03:17)Disappointing results (00:06:28)The ups and downs of founding an organisation (00:08:37)Entrepreneurship and being willing to make risky bets (00:12:58)Why aren't more charities shutting down? (00:16:50)How to think about shutting down (00:19:39)These highlights are from episode #207 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sarah Eustis-Guthrie on why she shut down her charity, and why more founders should follow her lead. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Neuroscientist Anil Seth explains how much we can learn about consciousness by studying the brain in these highlights from our full interview — including:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)How our brain interprets reality (00:00:15)How our brain experiences our organs (00:04:04)What psychedelics teach us about consciousness (00:07:37)The physical footprint of consciousness in the brain (00:12:10)How to study the neural correlates of consciousness (00:15:37)This is a selection of highlights from episode #206 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Anil Seth on the predictive brain and how to study consciousness. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Science writer and video blogger Sébastien Moro blows our minds with the latest research on fish consciousness, intelligence, and potential sentience.This is a selection of highlights from episode #205 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sébastien Moro on the most insane things fish can do. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode.And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)The ingenious innovations of Atlantic cod (00:00:19)The mirror test triumph of cleaner wrasses (00:05:46)The astounding accuracy of archerfish (00:10:30)The magnificent memory of gobies (00:14:25)The tactical teamwork of the grouper and moray eel (00:17:42)The remarkable relationships of wild guppies (00:22:01)Sébastien's take on fish consciousness (00:26:48)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Election forecaster Nate Silver gives his takes on: how effective altruism could be better, the stark tradeoffs we faced with COVID, whether the 13 Keys to the White House is "junk science," how to tell whose election predictions are better, and if venture capitalists really take risks.This is a selection of highlights from episode #204 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Nate Silver on making sense of SBF, and his biggest critiques of effective altruism. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode. And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Rob's intro (00:00:00)Is anyone doing better at "doing good better"? (00:00:29)Is effective altruism too big to succeed? (00:02:19)The stark tradeoffs we faced with COVID (00:06:02)The 13 Keys to the White House (00:07:53)Can we tell whose election predictions are better? (00:11:40)Do venture capitalists really take risks? (00:16:29)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from our April 2023 episode with host Luisa Rodriguez and producer Keiran Harris on 80k After Hours. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Luisa and Keiran on free will, and the consequences of never feeling enduring guilt or shameAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Keiran's intro (00:00:00)Jerk Syndrome (00:00:53)The basic case for free will being an illusion (00:05:10)Feeling bad about not being a different person (00:08:29)Implications for the criminal justice system (00:10:57)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #203 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Peter Godfrey-Smith on interfering with wild nature, accepting death, and the origin of complex civilisationAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Thinking about death (00:00:24)Uploads of ourselves (00:05:32)Against intervening in wild nature (00:12:36)Eliminating the worst experiences in wild nature (00:16:15)To be human or wild animal? (00:21:46)Challenges for water-based animals (00:27:38)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/yncw2T77OAcMatt, Bella, and Huon sit down with Conor Barnes to discuss unlikely journeys, EA criticism, discipline, timeless decision theory, and how to do the most good with a degree in classics. Check out:Conor's 100 Tips for a Better Life: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7hFeMWC6Y5eaSixbD/100-tips-for-a-better-lifeConor's writing: https://parhelia.conorbarnes.com/Zvi on timeless decision theory: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/scwoBEju75C45W5n3/how-i-lost-100-pounds-using-tdt

This is a selection of highlights from episode #202 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Venki Ramakrishnan on the cutting edge of anti-ageing scienceAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Is death an inevitable consequence of evolution? (00:00:15)How much additional healthspan will the next 20 to 30 years of ageing research buy us? (00:03:10)The social impacts of radical life extension (00:05:46)Could increased longevity increase inequality? (00:10:06)Does injecting an old body with young blood slow ageing? (00:14:23)Freezing cells, organs, and bodies (00:18:35)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #201 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Ken Goldberg on why your robot butler isn't here yetAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Moravec's paradox (00:00:22)Successes in robotics to date (00:03:51)Why perception is a big challenge for robotics (00:07:02)Why low fault tolerance makes some skills extra hard to automate (00:12:29)How might robot labour affect the job market? (00:17:19)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #200 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Ezra Karger on what superforecasters and experts think about existential risksAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Why we need forecasts about existential risks (00:00:26)Headline estimates of existential and catastrophic risks (00:02:43)What explains disagreements about AI risks? (00:06:18)Learning more doesn't resolve disagreements about AI risks (00:08:59)A lot of disagreement about AI risks is about when AI will pose risks (00:11:31)Cruxes about AI risks (00:15:17)Is forecasting actually useful in the real world? (00:18:24)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #199 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Nathan Calvin on California's AI bill SB 1047 and its potential to shape US AI policyAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Why we can't count on AI companies to self-regulate (00:00:21)SB 1047's impact on open source models (00:04:24)Why it's not "too early" for AI policies (00:07:54)Why working on state-level policy could have an outsized impact (00:11:47)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #198 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Meghan Barrett on challenging our assumptions about insectsAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Size diversity (00:00:16)Offspring, parental investment, and lifespan (00:03:18)Headless cockroaches (00:06:13)Is self-protective behaviour a reflex? (00:08:50)If insects feel pain, is it mild or severe? (00:11:54)Evolutionary perspective on insect sentience (00:16:53)How likely is insect sentience? (00:20:25)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #197 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Nick Joseph on whether Anthropic's AI safety policy is up to the taskAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights:Rob's intro (00:00:00)What Anthropic's responsible scaling policy commits the company to doing (00:00:17)Why Nick is a big fan of the RSP approach (00:02:13)Are RSPs still valuable if the people using them aren't bought in? (00:05:07)Nick's biggest reservations about the RSP approach (00:08:01)Should Anthropic's RSP have wider safety buffers? (00:11:17)Alternatives to RSPs (00:14:57)Should concerned people be willing to take capabilities roles? (00:19:22)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #196 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Jonathan Birch on the edge cases of sentience and why they matterAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)The history of neonatal surgery without anaesthetic (00:00:23)Overconfidence around disorders of consciousness (00:03:17)Separating abortion from the issue of foetal sentience (00:07:26)The cases for and against neural organoids (00:11:30)Artificial sentience arising from whole brain emulations of roundworms and fruit flies (00:15:45)Using citizens' assemblies to do policymaking (00:22:00)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #195 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Sella Nevo on who's trying to steal frontier AI models, and what they could do with themAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Why protect model weights? (00:00:23)SolarWinds hack (00:03:51)Zero-days (00:08:16)Side-channel attacks (00:11:45)USB cables (00:15:11)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #194 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Vitalik Buterin on defensive acceleration and how to regulate AI when you fear governmentAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Rob's intro (00:00:00)Vitalik's "d/acc" alternative (00:00:14)Biodefence (00:05:31)How much do people actually disagree? (00:09:49)Distrust of authority is a big deal (00:15:09)Info defence and X's Community Notes (00:19:35)Quadratic voting and funding (00:26:22)Vitalik's philosophy of half-assing everything (00:30:32)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #192 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Sihao Huang on the risk that US–China AI competition leads to warAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)How advanced is Chinese AI? (00:00:25)Is China catching up to the US and UK? (00:05:14)Could China be a source of catastrophic AI risk? (00:07:50)AI enabling human rights abuses and undermining democracy (00:13:53)China's attempts at indigenising its semiconductor supply chain (00:18:14)How the US and UK might coordinate with China (00:20:32)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #192 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Annie Jacobsen on what would happen if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon at the USAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)The minutes after an incoming nuclear attack is detected (00:00:22)Deciding whether to retaliate (00:04:24)Russian misperception of US counterattack (00:07:37)The nuclear launch plans that would kill millions in neighbouring countries (00:11:38)The war games that suggest escalation is inevitable (00:15:31)A super-electromagnetic pulse (00:19:12)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/AUuEaYltONgMatt, Bella, and Cody sit down with Maria Gutierrez Rojas to discuss the 80k's aesthetics, religion (again), bad billionaires, and why it's hard to be an org that both gives advice and has opinions.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #191 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Carl Shulman on government and society after AGIAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:How AI advisors could have saved us from COVID-19 (00:00:05)Why Carl doesn't support enforced pauses on AI research (00:06:34)Value lock-in (00:12:58)How democracies avoid coups (00:17:11)Building trust between adversaries about which models you can believe (00:24:00)Opportunities for listeners (00:30:11)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #190 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Carl Shulman on the economy and national security after AGIAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Intro (00:00:00)Robot nannies (00:00:23)Key transformations after an AI capabilities explosion (00:05:15)Objection: Shouldn't we be seeing economic growth rates increasing today? (00:10:28)Objection: Declining returns to increases in intelligence? (00:16:09)Objection: Could we really see rates of construction go up a hundredfold or a thousandfold? (00:20:58)Objection: "This sounds completely whack" (00:26:10)Income and wealth distribution (00:30:02)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #190 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Eric Schwitzgebel on whether the US is consciousAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)Can consciousness be nested? (00:00:18)Are our intuitions useless for thinking about these things? (00:05:45)Do small differences rule out consciousness? (00:09:43)Overlapping consciousnesses (00:13:26)Are we dreaming right now? (00:17:21)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #189 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Rachel Glennerster on how “market shaping” could help solve climate change, pandemics, and other global problemsAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)What is market shaping? (00:00:25)Why some countries didn't have COVID vaccines sooner (00:05:04)Designing incentives for pull mechanisms (00:09:12)Using pull mechanisms to get a universal COVID vaccine (00:13:31)Pull mechanisms to incentivise repurposing of generic drugs (00:18:20)Specific interventions versus systemic reform in education (00:23:25)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #188 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Matt Clancy on whether science is goodAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Luisa's intro (00:00:00)How could scientific progress be net negative? (00:00:15)Non-philosophical reasons to discount the far-future (00:03:42)How technology generates huge benefits in our day-to-day lives (00:07:54)Can science reduce extinction risk? (00:14:17)Are we already too late to delay the time of perils? (00:18:48)The omnipresent frictions that might prevent explosive economic growth (00:21:59)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/R9VGbY7CgOIMatt, Bella, and Cody sit down with Julian Hazell to discuss the UK recession, religion, higher education, and whether being an amateur swordfighter should give you the right to vote.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #187 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Zach Weinersmith on how researching his book turned him from a space optimist into a “space bastard”And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:A potted history of space exploration (00:00:23)Why space settlement (probably) won't make us rich (00:06:07)What happens to human bodies in space (00:11:43)The ethics of space babies (00:16:05)Making babies in space (00:18:40)A roadmap for settling space (00:22:42)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #186 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Dean Spears on why babies are born small in Uttar Pradesh, and how to save their livesAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #185 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Lewis Bollard on the 7 most promising ways to end factory farming, and whether AI is going to be good or bad for animalsAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #184 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Zvi Mowshowitz on sleeping on sleeper agents, and the biggest AI updates since ChatGPTAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Matt Reardon, Arden Koehler, and Huon Porteous sit down with Dwarkesh Patel to find out how you become a world-famous (among tech intellectuals) podcast host at 23. We also discuss how 80k would have advised 21-year-old Dwarkesh and 80k strategy more broadly.You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/H5px6CQTe8oTopics covered:How did Dwarkesh start landing world-class guests?Why is Bryan Caplan such an easy get?How does Dwarkesh think about ideological labels?Dwarkesh explains his pivot towards AIDo intellectuals matter for progress?Was Microsoft or the Gates Foundation more impactful?Do biographies ever matter more than their subjects?How would 80k have advised young Dwarkesh?What does motivate people in government and what should motivate people in government?Should do-gooders seek power?Should 80k advice always aim at the tails?Are people just layering their simple political memes onto the AI debate?How do you boost people's agency?How do we feel about self-perceived entrepreneurs?What's the tradeoff between having the right initiative and having the right ideas?How does 80k's advice deal with AI timelines?  Are 80k users self-selected for not being the highest potential people?Should you assume that everyone can make it to the extreme tail?In how many areas should 80k have detailed advice?What happened to the EA brand?

This is a cross-post of an interview Rob Wiblin did on Robert Wright's Nonzero podcast in January 2024. You can get access to full episodes of that show by subscribing to the Nonzero Newsletter. They talk about Sam Bankman-Fried, virtue ethics, the growing influence of longtermism, what role EA played in the OpenAI board drama, the culture of local effective altruism groups, where Rob thinks people get EA most seriously wrong, what Rob fears most about rogue AI, the double-edged sword of AI-empowered governments, and flattening the curve of AI's social disruption.And if you enjoy this, you could also check out episode 101 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Robert Wright on using cognitive empathy to save the world. 

This is a selection of highlights from episode #183 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Spencer Greenberg on causation without correlation, money and happiness, lightgassing, hype vs value, and moreAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #182 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Bob Fischer on comparing the welfare of humans, chickens, pigs, octopuses, bees, and moreAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

"We really, really want to make sure that nuclear war never breaks out. But we also know — from all of the examples of the Cold War, all these close calls — that it very well could, as long as there are nuclear weapons in the world. So if it does, we want to have some ways of preventing that from turning into a civilisation-threatening, cataclysmic kind of war. And those kinds of interventions — war limitation, intrawar escalation management, civil defence — those are kind of the seatbelts and airbags of the nuclear world. So to borrow a phrase from one of my colleagues, right-of-boom is a class of interventions for when “shit hits the fan.” —Christian RuhlIn this episode of 80k After Hours, Luisa Rodriguez and Christian Ruhl discuss underrated best bets to avert civilisational collapse from global catastrophic risks — things like great power war, frontier military technologies, and nuclear winter.Links to learn more, summary, and full transcript.They cover:How the geopolitical situation has changed in recent years into a “three-body problem” between the US, Russia, and China.How adding AI-enabled technologies into the mix makes things even more unstable and unpredictable.Why Christian recommends many philanthropists focus on “right-of-boom” interventions — those that mitigate the damage after a catastrophe — over traditional preventative measures.Concrete things policymakers should be considering to reduce the devastating effects of unthinkable tragedies.And on a more personal note, Christian's experience of having a stutter.Who this episode is for:People interested in the most cost-effective ways to prevent nuclear war, such as:Deescalating after accidental nuclear use.Civil defence and war termination.Mitigating nuclear winter.Who this episode isn't for:People interested in the least cost-effective ways to prevent nuclear war, such as:Coating every nuclear weapon on Earth in solid gold so they're no longer functional.Creating a TV show called The Real Housewives of Nuclear Winter about the personal and professional lives of women in Beverly Hills after a nuclear holocaust.A multibillion dollar programme to invent a laser beam that could write permanent messages on the Moon, and using it just once to spell out #nonukesnovember.Chapters:The three-body problem (00:04:11)Effect of AI (00:07:58)What we have going for us, and not (00:13:32)Right-of-boom interventions (00:17:50)Deescalating after accidental nuclear use (00:24:23)Civil defence and war termination (00:30:40)Mitigating nuclear winter (00:37:07)Planning for a postwar political environment (00:40:19)Experience of having a stutter (00:53:52)Christian's archaeological excavation in Guatemala (01:09:51)Producer: Keiran HarrisAudio Engineering Lead: Ben CordellTechnical editing: Ben Cordell and Milo McGuireContent editing: Katy Moore, Luisa Rodriguez, and Keiran HarrisTranscriptions: Katy Moore“Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue, original 1924 version” by Jason Weinberger is licensed under creative commons

This is a selection of highlights from episode #181 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Laura Deming on the science that could keep us healthy in our 80s and beyondAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFEb8ICWJQQIn this episode of our new podcast project, Matt Reardon, Bella Forristal, and Arden Koehler sit down with Joel Becker to find out what's great about America, what was not so great about FTX, and invite you to port back to the time when Arden might have been CEO.You can learn more about Joel's current projects at https://joel-becker.com/ and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/joel_bkrHere's where to find episode #100 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast on dealing with anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome: https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/depression-anxiety-imposter-syndrome/Matt also beseeches you to listen to Joe Carlsmith already: https://joecarlsmith.substack.com/archiveYou can also find Joel's best friend and Matt's former flatmate Mr. Mushu at https://www.instagram.com/its_mr.mushu/Further topics include:All possible reasons militate in favour of moving to AmericaAmerican politics being justified in its savageryJoel's review of our famous podcast on depression and anxietyThe FTX fellows and visitors programme in the BahamasThe [vampiric?] energy of AmericaIs sports net negative?Living in filth and eschewing the typical mind fallacyHow much should we be working on our meta-preferences?Arden on being CEO of 80,000 HoursRuminating on the powers of non-aphantasticsWhy do kids want to draw?Are people sleeping on crayons?Our favourite foundational EA materials

This is a selection of highlights from episode #180 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Hugo Mercier on why gullibility and misinformation are overratedAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #179 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Randy Nesse on why evolution left us so vulnerable to depression and anxietyAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Matt, Bella, and Cody sit down with Chana Messinger to find out what she does, how to insulate ourselves from harsh realities, and whether pub trivia is complete waste of time.You can find Chana's long-defunct blog at: https://themerelyreal.wordpress.com/ and collect your bounty from Matt by emailing him evidence of the term steelman being publicly used before December 7, 2012 by emailing him at matt at 80000hours dot org.

This is a selection of highlights from episode #178 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Emily Oster on what the evidence actually says about pregnancy and parentingAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #177 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Nathan Labenz on recent AI breakthroughs and navigating the growing rift between AI safety and accelerationist campsAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

This is a selection of highlights from episode #146 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Robert Long on why large language models like GPT (probably) aren't consciousAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong