Ep 148: Memetics

Comparing ideas around "superintelligence" over the last decade. How have visions of what "SI" or "AI" or "ASI" and AGI evolved since Bostrom wrote "Superintelligence". This is the combination of various recent YouTube videos but counts as a sequel to part 1 found here: https://w ... Show More

A reaction to @CosmicSkeptic and @SabineHossenfelder discussing the nature, or even possibility of, genuine scientific explanation in this video: https://youtu.be/KWBm0_1QBDs?si=3JwIDGAtumO3mfBz Which of them is correct? Or are they both wrong? What counts as an explanation? What ... Show More

This is Part 1 of 2 where I compare and contrast what philosophers were saying about the possibility of "Super Intelligence" many years ago with respect to the discourse today. What did Nick Bostrom say over a decade ago, and what is he saying today? How is the discourse being fr ... Show More

Theoretical physicist David Deutsch delivers a mind-bending meditation on the "great monotony" -- the idea that nothing novel has appeared in the universe for billions of years -- and shows how humanity's capacity to create explanatory knowledge could be the thing that bucks this ... Show More

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins. They discuss the strangeness of the "gene's-eye view" of the world, the limits of Darwinian thinking when applied to human life, the concept of the extended phenotype, ideologies as meme complexes, whether consciousness might be an epiph ... Show More

<p class="p1">Sam Harris speaks with Geoffrey Miller about evolutionary psychology. They discuss sexual selection, virtue signaling, social media, public shaming, monogamy and polyamory, taboo topics in science, genetic engineering, gender differences and the "Google memo," moral ... Show More

<p class="p1">Sam Harris speaks with Bret Weinstein about the moral panic at Evergreen State College, the concept of race, genetic differences between human populations, intersectionality, sex and gender, "metaphorical truth," religion and "group selection," equality, and other t ... Show More

Some acts of expression are awesome, while others suck, and one philosopher has a new theory about the difference. Using this theory as a guide, we look at some of the suckiest things that ever sucked in urban design, and the street artists and compassionate vandals who are tryin ... Show More

Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about meditation, the need for stories, the power of technology to erase the boundary between fact and fiction, wealth inequality, the problem of finding meaning in a world without work, religion as a virtual reality game, the difference b ... Show More

Connecting the Four Theories into a Unified Whole 0:34 Emergence Is Fundamental 3:18 Constructor Theory Could Transform Multiple Fields 8:30 Innovation Often Emerges Unexpectedly 22:46 Knowledge Evolves Independently Across Universes 29:31 Anti-Rational Memes Hinder Human Progres ... Show More

This is the first of two lectures that address: Memory, narrative therapy, important life events, creativity, personality, mental flexibility, positive and negative affect, cognitive flexibility, cognitive arousal, emotions, coping strategies, teamwork, neuroplasticity, resilienc ... Show More

What is the connection between personality and memory? This lecture is the second of two that talks about: Cultural storytelling, personal myths, narratives and the self, schemas, family remembering, narrative therapy, empathic listening, memory, trauma, emotional remembering and ... Show More