Moment of Zen Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez

Anton Troynikov of Chroma, Flo Crivello of Lindy AI, and Nathan Labenz of Waymark and co-host of The Cognitive Revolution podcast join Erik Torenberg for a timely debate on the issues raised in the AI open letter which advocates for a 6-month pause on AI system trainings. Dan and Antonio will be back next week. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.

Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks, David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, and more. 

Links:
Open letter: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/
Scott Aronson blog post: https://scottaaronson.blog/

Timestamps:
(3:00) Explanation of the AI open letter
(3:50) Anton’s skepticism of the open letter
(7:00) Flo’s skepticism of the open letter
(13:00) Nathan’s support for the open letter
(15:39) Sponsors
(20:00) Differences between Flo and Anton’s positions
(30:00) GPT4 is still dangerous
(38:00) Luddites/“Pausers” are on the wrong side of history
(42:00 )Why not pause 6 months?
(50:00) Anton and Flo debate robotics
(56:00) What we’re all scared of with AI
(1:21:00) Is there asymmetric risk with pausing or not pausing?

Twitter
@MOZ_Podcast
@atroyn (Anton)
@labenz (Nathan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@altimor (Flo)

More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ 

Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

Writer, VC, and podcaster Nic Carter joins us to talk about Balaji's bet, Operation Chokepoint 2.0, and the Fed's financial crisis. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.

Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen (Episode 1 is live now), David Sacks, Ezra Klein, Balaji Srinivasan, Katherine Boyle, and more. Subscribe here:
Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL
Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0

Podcast Info:
(0:00) Intro
(3:00) Reflections on Balaji episode 
(10:00) Coinbase and SVB
(14:00) Sponsors
(15:00) Operation chokepoint 2.0
(16:45) We find out the reason for Antonio’s circumcision
(25:00) Crypto banking crisis
(36:00) How much of crypto is new?
(38:40) Main benefits of crypto 
(47:20) Finance is politicized 
(55:00) Defining a CDBC
(1:02:00) Nic’s biggest crypto beef
(1:07:30) Nic’s take on Balaji’s bet
(1:12:30) Why crypto should vote republicans next election
(1:19:30) We’re in a financial crisis caused by the fed
(1:20:30) Our options for addressing the crisis
(1:27:00) If we were kings for a day how we’d solve it
(1:28:50) Nic would rather cut rates than raise rates
(1:30:00) AI is the U.S.’s main hope

More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/

Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

Balaji Srinivasan tells us why he is making a $1M BTC prediction and discusses SVB, the financial crisis, the digital devaluation of the USD, and what comes next. 
Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen (Episode 1 is live now), David Sacks, Ezra Klein, Balaji Srinivasan, Katherine Boyle, and more. Subscribe here:
Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL
Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0
 
(8:00) What happened with SVB
 
 
(15:00) Constructive debate
 
 
(59:00) Where we agree and where we disagree
 
 
(1:07:00) If the U.S. implodes, there’s no where else to go
 
 
(1:18:00) Responding to critics
 
 
More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/
We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%
Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.
 

0:00 Intro 0:45 Sponsors 1:28 Dan’s story with SVB 6:00 Byrne intro (Check out Thediff.co) 7:00 How Byrne identified SVB’s insolvency 15:30 How banking works 22:10 Fractional reserve banking 27:00 Banking on-chain 32:00 Understanding illiquidity 46:00 Housing market 53:00 How much can crypto recreate the financial system? 1:08:00 Crypto is financial system for digital native world 1:15:25 Are we at the end of (financial) history? 1:20:00 Finance is never solved

Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerationist (e/acc) movement @Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz (@BasedBeff) join Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Nathan Labenz to debate views on AI safety. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.
(3:00) Intro to effective accelerationism
(8:00) Differences between effective accelerationism and effective altruism
(23:00) Effective accelerationism is bottoms-up
(42:00) Transhumanism
(46:00) "Equanimity amidst the singularity"
(48:30) Why AI safety is the wrong frame
(56:00) Pushing back against effective accelerationism
(1:06:00) The case for AI safety
(1:24:00) Upgrading civilizational infrastructure
(1:33:00) Effective accelerationism is anti-fragile
(1:39:00) Will we botch AI like we botched nuclear?
(1:46:00) Hidden costs of emphasizing downsides
(2:00:00) Are we in the same position as neanderthals, before humans?
(2:09:00) "Doomerism has an unpriced opportunity cost of upside"
More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack:https://momentofzen.substack.com/
Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

"If you can't compete on history, compete on philosophy"
We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MomentofZenPodcast. (0:00) Intro  
(13:00) Why knowing history makes you a better entrepreneur  
(20:00) Christianity’s moral innovations  
(29:00) America as culture exporter  
(37:00) Consumer culture and social progressivism  
(50:00) Egalitarianism eats the world  
(1:04:48) Equality of Opportunity vs Equality of Outcome  
(1:12:00) Equality of Opportunity IS Equality of Outcome  
(1:17:00) Wokeness isn't recedingMore shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.