Increments

#90 (Reaction) - Disbelieving AI 2027: Responding to "Why We're Not Ready For Superintelligence"

August 17th, 2025  |  1 hr 35 mins

agi, ai, doomerism, progress, superintelligence, technology, trends

The boys are hooked on reaction videos. This time: 80,000 hours' "Why we're not ready for superintelligence."

#72 (C&R, Chap. 19: Part II) - On the (alleged) Right of a Nation to Self-Determination

August 27th, 2024  |  51 mins 18 secs

conjectures and refutations, nation-state, nationalism, optimism, popper, progress

Second half of Chapter 19 of Conjectures and Refutations. Can we make it through more than one of Popper's five theses this time? (Hint: No, no we cannot)

#71 (C&R, Chap 19: Part I) - The History of Our Time: An Optimist's View

August 2nd, 2024  |  1 hr 12 mins

conjectures and refutations, evil, good, history, incentives, popper, progress

A dive into Chapter 19 of Conjectures and Refutations, resulting in an hour long argument between Ben and Vaden about whether people are good, bad, or you know, just signaling.

#62 (Bonus) - The Principle of Optimism (Vaden on the Theory of Anything Podcast)

January 31st, 2024  |  2 hrs 45 mins

constraints, epistemology, optimism, physics, progress

Listen to Vaden's dulcet tones on Bruce Nielson's Theory of Anything Podcast discussing the principle of optimism.

#57 (Bonus) - A calm and soothing discussion of The Patriarchy

November 15th, 2023  |  1 hr 1 min

activism, feminism, progress, sexism, the patriarchy

A sneak preview into what is usually reserved for our patrons! We talk patriachy as causal explanation vs patriarchy as description. Let's get spicy

#49 - AGI: Could The End Be Nigh? (With Rosie Campbell)

March 22nd, 2023  |  1 hr 24 mins

ai, creativity, existential risks, progress

The delightful Rosie Campbell joins us on the podcast to debate AI, AGI, superintelligence, and rogue computer viruses.

#40 - The Myth of The Framework: On the possibility of fruitful discussion

May 30th, 2022  |  45 mins 31 secs

conversation, disagreement, framework, karl popper, progress

We discuss "The Myth of the Framework," an essay by Karl Popper arguing against the thesis that fruitful conversation is impossible unless you share a common framework of beliefs and assumptions.

#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.

#16 - Social Media II: Conversation, Privacy, and Odds & Ends

December 9th, 2020  |  50 mins 12 secs

outrage, privacy, progress, social media, technology, violence

#11 - Debating Existential Risk

September 16th, 2020  |  1 hr 29 mins

bayesianism, existential risk, probability, progress, rationality