Ben Chugg
Co-Host of Increments
I'm a PhD student in machine learning and statistics at CMU, where I work on various problems in mathematical statistics and probability theory. My background involves some math, some computer science, and a stint at a law school where I learned to pretend that I knew something about law.
Ben Chugg has hosted 83 Episodes.
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#34 - Climate Change II: Growth, Degrowth, Reactions, Responses
November 9th, 2021 | 55 mins 3 secs
apocalypticism, climate change, degrowth, economic growth, optimism, specialization, trade
Round two of climate change! We talk about the degrowth movement, why economic growth is good for wellbeing, and respond to some of the criticism we received in the previous episode.
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#33 (C&R Series, Ch. 3) - Instrumentalism and Essentialism
October 25th, 2021 | 40 mins 10 secs
essentialism, instrumentalism, language, politics, progress
We discuss Popper's delicious criticism of two dominant approaches to knowledge in physics and philosophy departments: instrumentalism and essentialism.
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#32 - Climate Change I: Initial Thought-Crimes
October 5th, 2021 | 51 mins
alarmism, climate change, environmentalism, nuclear energy, renewables
We dip our toes into the heated (heating?) waters of the climate debate. Sorry Greta.
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#31 - The Fall of the Weinstein Republic
September 14th, 2021 | 54 mins 51 secs
animal suffering, physics, secular guru, tim nguyen, weinstein
We had a semi-serious conversation about environmentalism in store for you, but we got trapped by the WIN (Weinsteinian institutional narrative). Like a black hole, the epic meltdown of Weinstein's and the confrontation with Tim Nguyen -- apparently the only adult in the room -- pulled us in, and we couldn't avoid talking about it.
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#30 - Let's all just have a good cry (w/ Christofer Lövgren)
August 30th, 2021 | 1 hr 39 mins
community, criticism, crying, david deutsch, free will, labels
Christofer Lövgren joins us for a wide ranging discussion on community, criticism, and crying.
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#29 - Some Scattered Thoughts on Superforecasting
August 16th, 2021 | 45 mins 20 secs
good judgement project, philip tetlock, politics, probability, superforecasting
We discuss Philip Tetlock's work on Superforecasting.
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#28 (C&R Series, Ch. 9) - Why is Logic Applicable to Reality?
July 19th, 2021 | 1 hr 1 min
arithmetic, logic, philosophy of mathematics, rules of inference
We discuss Chapter 9 of Conjectures and Refutations: Why are the Calculi of Logic and Arithmetic Applicable to Reality?
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#27 - A Conversation with Marianne
June 28th, 2021 | 2 hrs 1 min
activism, police, politics, race, social media
Marianne recounts her summer. That's all we'll say for now.
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#26 - Moral Philosophy Cage Match (with Dan Hageman)
June 8th, 2021 | 1 hr 33 mins
cluelessness, derek parfit, meta-ethics, thought experiments, wild animal suffering
Dan Hageman joins us to celebrate our completely fair treatment of Derek Parfit, to utterly agree with our use of thought experiments, and to deem us the world's most renown meta-ethicists.
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#25 - Mathematical Explanation with Mark Colyvan
May 24th, 2021 | 2 hrs 7 mins
counterfactual, explanation, logic, philosophy of mathematics, probability, thought experiments
We're joined by professor Mark Colyvan to talk about the philosophy of mathematics, logic, and thought experiments.
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#24 - Popper's Three Worlds
May 11th, 2021 | 1 hr 13 mins
abstractions, explanation, logic, popper, reality
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#23 - Physics, Philosophy, and Free Will with Sam Kuypers
May 3rd, 2021 | 1 hr 33 mins
education, free will, justice, learning, quantum mechanics, scientific realism
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#22 - Thinking Through Thought Experiments
April 14th, 2021 | 1 hr 16 mins
derek parfit, einstein, peter singer, thought experiments
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#21 (C&R Series, Ch.1) - The Problem of Induction
March 23rd, 2021 | 53 mins 58 secs
epistemology, induction, natural law, philosophy of science, popper
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#20 (HTI crossover episode) - Roundtable Longtermism Discussion
March 8th, 2021 | 3 hrs 14 mins
debate, effective altruism, longtermism
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