Did you ever see the video of two regular people trying to fight Eddie Hall, the strongest man on earth? Ben and Vaden bring that same energy to this conversation, where they gang up on Robert Wright on the subject of his forthcoming book <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Test-Artificial-Intelligence-Reckoning/dp/1668061651" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning</a>. Bob is a sport about it (well, there was no choice really: we have an advanced copy of his book that we're holding hostage) and there are only one or two black eyes by the end. 

Subscribe to Robert Wright's podcasting empire NonZero on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Nonzero" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a> and <a href="https://www.nonzero.org/podcast" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack</a>. And go buy one of his many books. 

We discuss

<ul>
<li>Whether Bob was the OG podcaster </li>
<li>Is there a directionality to evolution? </li>
<li>Where Bob is on the AI fear and awe spectrum </li>
<li>Whether LLMs have decoded the meaning in language </li>
<li>Is AI best viewed as a tool or as superintelligence? </li>
<li>AI-as-slingshot analogy </li>
</ul>

References

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Test-Artificial-Intelligence-Reckoning/dp/1668061651" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The God Test by Robert Wright</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonzero:_The_Logic_of_Human_Destiny" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Nonzero by Robert Wright</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">William Paley and his pocket watch</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/94" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Our conversation with Scott Aaronson</a></li>
</ul>

Socials

<ul>
<li>Follow us on Twitter at @RobertWrighter, @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani</li>
<li>Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link</li>
<li>Become a patreon subscriber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&nbsp;<a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li>
<li>Click dem like buttons on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a></li>
</ul>

What's the directionality of this podcast? Tell us at <a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">incrementspodcast@gmail.com</a>.Special Guest: Robert Wright.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments">Support Increments</a>

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Did you ever see the video of two regular people trying to fight Eddie Hall, the strongest man on earth? Ben and Vaden bring that same energy to this conversation, where they gang up on Robert Wright on the subject of his forthcoming book &lt;a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Test-Artificial-Intelligence-Reckoning/dp/1668061651" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning&lt;/a&gt;. Bob is a sport about it (well, there was no choice really: we have an advanced copy of his book that we're holding hostage) and there are only one or two black eyes by the end. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Subscribe to Robert Wright's podcasting empire NonZero on &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Nonzero" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.nonzero.org/podcast" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;substack&lt;/a&gt;. And go buy one of his many books. &lt;/p&gt;

We discuss

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Whether Bob was the OG podcaster &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Is there a directionality to evolution? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Where Bob is on the AI fear and awe spectrum &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Whether LLMs have decoded the meaning in language &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Is AI best viewed as a tool or as superintelligence? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;AI-as-slingshot analogy &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

References

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Test-Artificial-Intelligence-Reckoning/dp/1668061651" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;The God Test by Robert Wright&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonzero:_The_Logic_of_Human_Destiny" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Nonzero by Robert Wright&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;William Paley and his pocket watch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/94" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Our conversation with Scott Aaronson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

Socials

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Follow us on Twitter at @RobertWrighter, @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Become a patreon subscriber&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Click dem like buttons on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What's the directionality of this podcast? Tell us at &lt;a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;incrementspodcast@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Special Guest: Robert Wright.&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

Robert Wright joins us to talk about his upcoming book on artificial intelligence. 

Increments

#103 - AI, Evolution, and The God Test (w/ Robert Wright)

Turning on our own! Vaden sits down with Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen to discuss some of the bad memes that run rampant in the online "crit-rat" community, in an attempt of some intra-tribal error-correction. Ben, scared of the retribution, runs away with his tail uncomfortably close to his thighs.

Follow Bruce and Peter's work on the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theory-of-anything/id1503194218" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Theory of Anything Podcast</a>.

Sign up for the Theory of Anything podcast Patreon <a href="https://www.patreon.com/BruceNielson" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>, and Check out Peter's Many World of David Deutsch facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2188597894605769/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. 

We discuss

<ul>
<li>Bruce and Peter's origin stories</li>
<li>Anarcho-capitalism and its (pseudo) connections to Popperian philosophy</li>
<li>CritRat disbelief in mental illness</li>
<li>What does the Universal Explainer hypothesis imply about mental illness and IQ?</li>
<li>Is Anarcho-capitalism a foundationalist and utopian philosophy? </li>
<li>Why are so many crit-rats Trump supporters?</li>
</ul>

See Also

<ul>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LLsyWoshSYgydl6QddW3Y" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Theory of Anything Podcast #136: Michael Golding on Mental Illness</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LLsyWoshSYgydl6QddW3Y" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Theory of Anything Podcast #82: Popper's Ratchet</a></li>
</ul>

Socials

<ul>
<li>Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani, @bnielson01</li>
<li>Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link</li>
<li>Become a patreon subscriber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&nbsp;<a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li>
<li>Click dem like buttons on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a></li>
</ul>

I before E except after B? Send your best guess as to the spelling of Bruce's last name (no one knows) over to <a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">incrementspodcast@gmail.com</a>.Special Guest: Bruce Nielson.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments">Support Increments</a>

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Turning on our own! Vaden sits down with Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen to discuss some of the bad memes that run rampant in the online "crit-rat" community, in an attempt of some intra-tribal error-correction. Ben, scared of the retribution, runs away with his tail uncomfortably close to his thighs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Follow Bruce and Peter's work on the &lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theory-of-anything/id1503194218" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Theory of Anything Podcast&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Sign up for the Theory of Anything podcast Patreon &lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/BruceNielson" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and Check out Peter's Many World of David Deutsch facebook group &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2188597894605769/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;

We discuss

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Bruce and Peter's origin stories&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Anarcho-capitalism and its (pseudo) connections to Popperian philosophy&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;CritRat disbelief in mental illness&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What does the Universal Explainer hypothesis imply about mental illness and IQ?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Is Anarcho-capitalism a foundationalist and utopian philosophy?&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Why are so many crit-rats Trump supporters?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

See Also

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LLsyWoshSYgydl6QddW3Y" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Theory of Anything Podcast #136: Michael Golding on Mental Illness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LLsyWoshSYgydl6QddW3Y" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Theory of Anything Podcast #82: Popper's Ratchet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

Socials

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani, @bnielson01&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Become a patreon subscriber&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Click dem like buttons on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I before E except after B? Send your best guess as to the spelling of Bruce's last name (no one knows) over to &lt;a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;incrementspodcast@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Special Guest: Bruce Nielson.&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

We turn on our own tribe and criticize some of the bad memes that have engulfed the online critical rationalist community

#102 - Criticizing Crit-rats (w/ Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen)

Wasn't Popper a falsificationist? Then why did he try to develop ideas about corroboration and versimilitude - the extent to which a theory was closer to truth than another theory? Isn't this verging dangerously close to verificationist territory? 

In our fourth ep on Chapter 10 in C&amp;R, we wrestle with Popper's treatment of verisimilutude, both the formal and informal versions. Did the project fail? Was Popper out of his mind? Does this invalidate everything?

We discuss

<ul>
<li>Murders with ball-peen hammers </li>
<li>Walking the line between verification and falsification</li>
<li>Is science only after truth?</li>
<li>Verisimilutude and its formalization </li>
<li>Why the formalization fails </li>
<li>Popper's three requirements for the growth of knowledge</li>
<li>Popper's ratchet and the no ad-hoc rule </li>
</ul>

Quotes

<blockquote>
Like many other philosophers I am at times inclined to classify philosophers as belonging to two main groups—those with whom I disagree, and those who agree with me. 
- C&amp;R, page 309 

I shall give here a somewhat unsystematic list of six types of cases in which we should be inclined to say of a theory t1 that it is superseded by t2 in the sense that t2 seems—as far as we know—to correspond better to the facts than t1 , in some sense or other.

<ul>
<li> t2 makes more precise assertions than t1 , and these more precise assertions stand up to more precise tests.</li>
<li>t2 takes account of, and explains, more facts than t1 (which will include for example the above case that, other things being equal, t2 ’s assertions are more precise).</li>
<li>t2 describes, or explains, the facts in more detail than t1 .</li>
<li>t2 has passed tests which t 1 has failed to pass.</li>
<li>t2 has suggested new experimental tests, not considered before t 2 was designed (and not suggested by t1 , and perhaps not even applicable to t1 ); and t 2 has passed these tests.</li>
<li>t2 has uniﬁed or connected various hitherto unrelated problems.</li>
</ul>

- C&amp;R, page 315

Let me ﬁrst say that I do not suggest that the explicit introduction of the idea of verisimilitude will lead to any changes in the theory of method. On the contrary, I think that my theory of testability or corroboration by empirical tests is the proper methodological counterpart to this new metalogical idea. The only improvement is one of clariﬁcation. 
- C&amp;R, page 318
</blockquote>

Socials

<ul>
<li>Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani</li>
<li>Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link</li>
<li>Become a patreon subscriber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&nbsp;<a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li>
<li>Click dem like buttons on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a></li>
</ul>

How many chromosomes does diethyl-methyl pentophosphate have, exactly? Tell as at <a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">incrementspodcast@gmail.com</a><a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments">Support Increments</a>

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Wasn't Popper a falsificationist? Then why did he try to develop ideas about corroboration and versimilitude - the extent to which a theory was closer to truth than another theory? Isn't this verging dangerously close to verificationist territory? &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In our fourth ep on Chapter 10 in C&amp;amp;R, we wrestle with Popper's treatment of verisimilutude, both the formal and informal versions. Did the project fail? Was Popper out of his mind? Does this invalidate everything?&lt;/p&gt;

We discuss

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Murders with ball-peen hammers &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Walking the line between verification and falsification&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Is science only after truth?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Verisimilutude and its formalization &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Why the formalization fails &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Popper's three requirements for the growth of knowledge&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Popper's ratchet and the no ad-hoc rule &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

Quotes

&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like many other philosophers I am at times inclined to classify philosophers as belonging to two main groups—those with whom I disagree, and those who agree with me.&lt;br&gt;
- C&amp;amp;R, page 309 &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I shall give here a somewhat unsystematic list of six types of cases in which we should be inclined to say of a theory t1 that it is superseded by t2 in the sense that t2 seems—as far as we know—to correspond better to the facts than t1 , in some sense or other.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt; t2 makes more precise assertions than t1 , and these more precise assertions stand up to more precise tests.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;t2 takes account of, and explains, more facts than t1 (which will include for example the above case that, other things being equal, t2 ’s assertions are more precise).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;t2 describes, or explains, the facts in more detail than t1 .&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;t2 has passed tests which t 1 has failed to pass.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;t2 has suggested new experimental tests, not considered before t 2 was designed (and not suggested by t1 , and perhaps not even applicable to t1 ); and t 2 has passed these tests.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;t2 has uniﬁed or connected various hitherto unrelated problems.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- C&amp;amp;R, page 315&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Let me ﬁrst say that I do not suggest that the explicit introduction of the idea of verisimilitude will lead to any changes in the theory of method. On the contrary, I think that my theory of testability or corroboration by empirical tests is the proper methodological counterpart to this new metalogical idea. The only improvement is one of clariﬁcation.&lt;br&gt;
- C&amp;amp;R, page 318&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Socials

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Become a patreon subscriber&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Click dem like buttons on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;How many chromosomes does diethyl-methyl pentophosphate have, exactly? Tell as at &lt;a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;incrementspodcast@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

Conjectures and refutations, Chapter 10, Part 4 baby. What's the deal with corroboration and verisimilitude?

#101 (C&R Chap 10, Part IV) - Was Popper Wrong about Verisimilitude?

100 episodes! To celebrate, Vaden tries to get personal with Ben, while Ben dodges his questions and wants to know how Vaden feels about incest. All in all, a pretty typical episode. 

The questions

From Vaden to Ben: 

<ol>
<li>How is your side hustle going? </li>
<li>Who are some of your major influences outside of Popper?</li>
<li>How has the Popperian worldview influenced your day-to-day?</li>
<li>What is the life of a nomadic academic like?</li>
<li>What would you say to people who are considering mathematics as a career? </li>
<li>Which charities do you recommend?</li>
</ol>

From Ben to Vaden: 

<ol>
<li>How do you feel about looksmaxxing? </li>
<li>Thoughts on medical assistance in dying? </li>
<li>Ethics of Alex Honnold free soloing Taipei 101? </li>
<li>Thoughts on Nation-Buiding?</li>
<li>Incest - into it? </li>
</ol>

Episode References

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/76" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">#22 - Thinking Through Thought Experiments</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/66" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">#66 - Sex Research, Addiction, and Financial Domination (w/ Aella)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/58" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">#58 - Ask Us Anything V: How to Read and What to Read</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/70" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">#70 - ... and Bayes Bites Back (w/ Richard Meadows)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/76" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">#76 (Bonus) - Is P(doom) meaningful? Debating epistemology (w/ Liron Shapira)</a> </li>
</ul>

References

<ul>
<li>Angus Deaton debates Abhijit Banerjee: <a href="https://nyudri.wordpress.com/initiatives/deaton-v-banerjee/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">https://nyudri.wordpress.com/initiatives/deaton-v-banerjee/</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnWvP2UDQM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Christopher Hitchens and Robert Wright</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJqYP4Mf6c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sam Harris and Garry Kasparov</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Private-Empire-ExxonMobil-American-Power/dp/0143123548" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Bomb-My-Garden-Secrets-Mastermind/dp/0471679658" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind</a></li>
</ul>

Socials

<ul>
<li>Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani</li>
<li>Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link</li>
<li>Become a patreon subscriber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&nbsp;<a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li>
<li>Click dem like buttons on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a></li>
</ul>

What is your favorite form of ince... actually nevermind, too much. Just email us at <a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">incrementspodcast@gmail.com</a>. <a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments">Support Increments</a>

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;100 episodes! To celebrate, Vaden tries to get personal with Ben, while Ben dodges his questions and wants to know how Vaden feels about incest. All in all, a pretty typical episode. &lt;/p&gt;

The questions

&lt;p&gt;From Vaden to Ben: &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How is your side hustle going? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Who are some of your major influences outside of Popper?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How has the Popperian worldview influenced your day-to-day?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What is the life of a nomadic academic like?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What would you say to people who are considering mathematics as a career? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Which charities do you recommend?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;From Ben to Vaden: &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How do you feel about looksmaxxing? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Thoughts on medical assistance in dying? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ethics of Alex Honnold free soloing Taipei 101? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Thoughts on Nation-Buiding?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Incest - into it? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

Episode References

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/76" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;#22 - Thinking Through Thought Experiments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/66" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;#66 - Sex Research, Addiction, and Financial Domination (w/ Aella)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/58" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;#58 - Ask Us Anything V: How to Read and What to Read&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/70" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;#70 - ... and Bayes Bites Back (w/ Richard Meadows)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.incrementspodcast.com/76" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;#76 (Bonus) - Is P(doom) meaningful? Debating epistemology (w/ Liron Shapira)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

References

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Angus Deaton debates Abhijit Banerjee: &lt;a href="https://nyudri.wordpress.com/initiatives/deaton-v-banerjee/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;https://nyudri.wordpress.com/initiatives/deaton-v-banerjee/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnWvP2UDQM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Christopher Hitchens and Robert Wright&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJqYP4Mf6c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Sam Harris and Garry Kasparov&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Private-Empire-ExxonMobil-American-Power/dp/0143123548" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Bomb-My-Garden-Secrets-Mastermind/dp/0471679658" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

Socials

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Become a patreon subscriber&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Click dem like buttons on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What is your favorite form of ince... actually nevermind, too much. Just email us at &lt;a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;incrementspodcast@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

The boys reflect on nearly five years of podcasting, realize they haven't grown too much, and nearly call it quits. 

#100 - Celebrating the Centennial

Ben is hesitant to talk too much about politics on the podcast. So, naturally, we're having a political debate. We have on a pseudonymous guest to talk Trump, MAGA, and what's wrong with the left and the right. 

We discuss

<ul>
<li>Trump's politics as trial and error </li>
<li>The dynamics of MAGA </li>
<li>ICE activity in Minnesota </li>
<li>Illegal immigration</li>
<li>Would Popper have supported Trump?</li>
<li>What does "incrementalism" mean in politics? </li>
</ul>

Socials

<ul>
<li>Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani</li>
<li>Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link</li>
<li>Become a patreon subscriber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&nbsp;<a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li>
<li>Click dem like buttons on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a></li>
</ul>

Cross the border into the increments discord and hit us up at <a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">incrementspodcast@gmail.com</a>. <a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments">Support Increments</a>

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Ben is hesitant to talk too much about politics on the podcast. So, naturally, we're having a political debate. We have on a pseudonymous guest to talk Trump, MAGA, and what's wrong with the left and the right. &lt;/p&gt;

We discuss

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Trump's politics as trial and error &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The dynamics of MAGA &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;ICE activity in Minnesota &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Illegal immigration&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Would Popper have supported Trump?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What does "incrementalism" mean in politics? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

Socials

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Become a patreon subscriber&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.patreon.com/Increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Click dem like buttons on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Cross the border into the increments discord and hit us up at &lt;a href="mailto:incrementspodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"&gt;incrementspodcast@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

A civil debate about Trump, MAGA, immigration, wokeism, and culture with a Trump symapthizer

#99 - Debating Trump in Good Faith (w/ Don Robinson)

Vaden Masrani, a senior research scientist in machine learning, and Ben Chugg, a PhD student in statistics, get into trouble arguing about everything except machine learning and statistics. Coherence is somewhere on the horizon. Bribes, suggestions, love-mail and hate-mail all welcome at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.

Increments

Details

Recent Episodes