web01.fireside.fm Tue, 12 May 2026 07:40:12 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Increments - Episodes Tagged with “Retrospective” https://www.incrementspodcast.com/tags/retrospective Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:00 -0700 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. en-us episodic Science, Philosophy, Epistemology, Mayhem Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani 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. no Philosophy,Science,Ethics,Progress,Knowledge,Computer Science,Conversation,Error-Correction Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani incrementspodcast@gmail.com #100 - Celebrating the Centennial https://www.incrementspodcast.com/100 9a3b2d28-eb42-464f-8851-a62c791eb30e Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:00 -0700 Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani full Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani The boys reflect on nearly five years of podcasting, realize they haven't grown too much, and nearly call it quits. 1:21:16 no <p>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. </p> The questions <p>From Vaden to Ben: </p> <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> <p>From Ben to Vaden: </p> <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 <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 <a href="https://ko-fi.com/increments" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</li> <li>Click dem like buttons on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a> </li> </ul> <p>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>. </p> retrospective, ethics, popper 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:

  1. How is your side hustle going?
  2. Who are some of your major influences outside of Popper?
  3. How has the Popperian worldview influenced your day-to-day?
  4. What is the life of a nomadic academic like?
  5. What would you say to people who are considering mathematics as a career?
  6. Which charities do you recommend?

From Ben to Vaden:

  1. How do you feel about looksmaxxing?
  2. Thoughts on medical assistance in dying?
  3. Ethics of Alex Honnold free soloing Taipei 101?
  4. Thoughts on Nation-Buiding?
  5. Incest - into it?

Episode References

References

Socials

  • Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani
  • Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link
  • Become a patreon subscriber here. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations here.
  • Click dem like buttons on youtube

What is your favorite form of ince... actually nevermind, too much. Just email us at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.

Support Increments

]]> 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:

  1. How is your side hustle going?
  2. Who are some of your major influences outside of Popper?
  3. How has the Popperian worldview influenced your day-to-day?
  4. What is the life of a nomadic academic like?
  5. What would you say to people who are considering mathematics as a career?
  6. Which charities do you recommend?

From Ben to Vaden:

  1. How do you feel about looksmaxxing?
  2. Thoughts on medical assistance in dying?
  3. Ethics of Alex Honnold free soloing Taipei 101?
  4. Thoughts on Nation-Buiding?
  5. Incest - into it?

Episode References

References

Socials

  • Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani
  • Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link
  • Become a patreon subscriber here. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations here.
  • Click dem like buttons on youtube

What is your favorite form of ince... actually nevermind, too much. Just email us at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.

Support Increments

]]>