Global Optimum

Daniel Gambacorta
  • 5.0 (18)
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

Host Daniel Gambacorta shares insights, advice, and stories designed to help make you a more effective altruist.

  1. 11/27/2023

    New podcast: The Scientific Worldview

    I started a new podcast! Here is the blurb: Professor Daniel Gambacorta and Behavior Interventionist Atanah Shannon explore the big questions in science and philosophy. What is consciousness? Do we have free will? Are we living in a simulation??? Find out on the next episode of... The Scientific Worldview.

    1 min

  2. 12/10/2019

    Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part III

    This episode features: -Why does men's testosterone go down when they fall in love? -Does "power posing" have any psychological effects? -What is "humblebragging" and why does it pervade social media? -Is our preference for democracy really a preference for high status? -What is self-esteem? -How to increase self-esteem (the answer is disappointing) -How to act high status (the answer is not disappointing)   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Cameron, J. J., & Stinson, D. A. (2017). Sociometer Theory. Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, 1-6. Feltovich, N., Harbaugh, R., & To, T. (2002). Too Cool for School? Signalling and Countersignalling. RAND Journal of Economics, 33(4), 630-649. Gettler, L. T., McDade, T. W., Feranil, A. B., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2011). Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(39), 16194-16199. Longman, D. P., Surbey, M. K., Stock, J. T., & Wells, J. C. (2018). Tandem androgenic and psychological shifts in male reproductive effort following a manipulated "win" or "loss" in a sporting competition. Human Nature, 29(3), 283-310. Amy Cuddy TED Talk Is it time to give up on self-esteem? Move on – this isn't true Politics isn't about policy Check This Rec: Future Strategist

    45 min

  3. 11/26/2019

    Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part II

    This episode features: -Why does high status reduce creativity? -How to remain creative as you gain status -When should you distrust your own moral reasoning? -How do we come to learn what counts as high status in our culture? -What are the psychological underpinnings of "inspiration"? -How to feel less motivated to engage in conspicuous consumption   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Borjas, G. J., & Doran, K. B. (2015). Prizes and productivity how winning the fields medal affects scientific output. Journal of human resources, 50(3), 728-758. Ethical Injunction High Status and Stupidity: Why? Check This Rec: Murray, D. (2019). The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

    27 min

  4. 11/12/2019

    Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part I

    This episode features: -How do people behave differently when they are high vs low status? -How did human social status evolve? -Should you try to dampen your desire for status? -Are EAs too credential-focused? -Is publishing in academic journals overrated? -Can you get more done by working alone than by starting an organization? -What causes groups to splinter? -How has effective altruism "professionalized?" What are the upsides and downsides of this trend?   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Anderson, C., Hildreth, J. A. D., & Howland, L. (2015). Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature. Psychological Bulletin, 141(3), 574. Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Anderson, C. (Eds.). (2014). The psychology of social status. New York, NY: Springer. Puts, D. A. (2010). Beauty and the beast: Mechanisms of sexual selection in humans. Evolution and human behavior, 31(3), 157-175.  Solnick, S. J., & Hemenway, D. (1998). Is more always better?: A survey on positional concerns. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 37(3), 373-383. Celebrating failed projects Estimating readership of different EA/LW writings (EA Forum comment) Check This Rec: The Dissenter YouTube channel The Dissenter podcast

    35 min

  5. 10/22/2019

    How to Make Mistakes, Fail, and Give Up

    This episode features: -How to evaluate your chance of successfully completing difficult projects -Can you be justified in believing that you are an extraordinary person who can do extraordinary things? -When to trust the advice of others and when not to -How to fail faster -How to judge a project based on how well it fails -How to avoid repeating mistakes -Why you should want to fail occasionally -How to make failure more foreseeable: the "premortem"   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Klein, G. (2007). Performing a project premortem. Harvard business review, 85(9), 18-19. Roese, N. J., & Vohs, K. D. (2012). Hindsight bias. Perspectives on psychological science, 7(5), 411-426. Arbital postmortem Celebrating failed projects How Many of the 540,000 Podcasts have "Podfaded?" Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck 'Never Settle' Is A Brag Umeshisms Why we should err in both directions Check This Rec: Philosophical Disquisitions Episode #44 – Fleischman on Evolutionary Psychology and Sex Robots

    44 min

  6. 10/01/2019

    How to Learn Better

    This episode features: -What are the best and worst studying techniques? -Do "learning styles" exist? -How to squeeze more learning into your day -How to start learning a new field -How to cultivate viewpoint diversity -How to avoid getting parasitized by bad ideas -Should you study in the morning or at night? -Can napping enhance learning?   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick. Harvard University Press. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. Feld, G. B., & Diekelmann, S. (2015). Sleep smart—optimizing sleep for declarative learning and memory. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 622. Isarida, T., & Isarida, T. K. (2014). Environmental context-dependent memory. Advances in experimental psychology research, 115-51. Anki Audible Crucial Considerations and Wise Philanthropy Oxbridge Notes Guide To Autodidactism Rationality: From AI to Zombies Spaced Repetition for Efficient Learning The Best Textbooks on Every Subject Twelve Virtues of Rationality Why should effective altruists embrace uncertainty? Wyzant You and Your Research Check This Rec: Foundations of Economic Prosperity taught by Daniel Drezner Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage taught by John McWhorter The Higgs Boson and Beyond taught by Sean Carroll

    55 min

  7. 09/03/2019

    How Altruistic Should You Be?

    This episode features: -Arguments against utilitarianism -What moral views do philosophers favor? -Why you should consider moral uncertainty when deciding how altruistic to be -How does giving away 10% of your income affect your happiness? -Why donating 10% of your income is not too demanding (for middle class members of affluent countries) -How should the prospect of value drift affect your commitment to altruism? -Do people underestimate the selfish benefits of altruism? -Does effective altruism help save us from the "hedonic treadmill"?   Full transcript   -References- Be a Free EA: Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687-1688. MacAskill, W., Mogensen, A., & Ord, T. (2018). Giving Isn't Demanding. The Ethics of Giving: Philosophers' Perspectives on Philanthropy, 178. Bourget, D., & Chalmers, D. J. (2014). What do philosophers believe?. Philosophical studies, 170(3), 465-500. Singer, P. (1972). Famine, affluence, and morality. Philosophy & public affairs, 229-243. EA Survey 2018 Series: How Long Do EAs Stay in EA? Nobody is Perfect, Everything is Commensurable One Life Against the World Peter Singer TED Talk Toby Ord on Moral Uncertainty Check This Rec: Very Bad Wizards Episode 135: Utilitarianism and Moral Identity Very Bad Wizards Episode 147: Effective Altruism and Moral Uncertainty (with The One True Scotsman, Will MacAskill)

    45 min

  8. 08/20/2019

    The Personality of Effective Altruists Part II

    This episode features: -Are people with autism spectrum disorder more utilitarian? -Do utilitarian judgments in trolley problems predict interest in effective altruism? -What is the "identifiable victim effect" -Why empathy is bad for morality -Are effective altruists more empathetic than average?  Less empathetic? -Why do EAs disproportionately study STEM subjects and work in STEM fields? -Why is EA mostly male? -Why does gender predict cause preferences?   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 34(2), 163-175.  Batson, C. D., Klein, T. R., Highberger, L., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Immorality from empathy-induced altruism: When compassion and justice conflict. Journal of personality and social psychology, 68(6), 1042. Bloom, P. (2017). Empathy and its discontents. Trends in cognitive sciences, 21(1), 24-31. Brewer, R., Marsh, A. A., Catmur, C., Cardinale, E. M., Stoycos, S., Cook, R., & Bird, G. (2015). The impact of autism spectrum disorder and alexithymia on judgments of moral acceptability. Journal of abnormal psychology, 124(3), 589.  Cecchetto, C., Korb, S., Rumiati, R. I., & Aiello, M. (2018). Emotional reactions in moral decision-making are influenced by empathy and alexithymia. Social neuroscience, 13(2), 226-240. Conway, P., Goldstein-Greenwood, J., Polacek, D., & Greene, J. D. (2018). Sacrificial utilitarian judgments do reflect concern for the greater good: Clarification via process dissociation and the judgments of philosophers. Cognition, 179, 241-265. Gleichgerrcht, E., Torralva, T., Rattazzi, A., Marenco, V., Roca, M., & Manes, F. (2012). Selective impairment of cognitive empathy for moral judgment in adults with high functioning autism. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 8(7), 780-788.  Gleichgerrcht, E., & Young, L. (2013). Low levels of empathic concern predict utilitarian moral judgment. PloS one, 8(4), e60418. Greene, J. D. (2015). Beyond point-and-shoot morality: Why cognitive (neuro) science matters for ethics. The Law & Ethics of Human Rights, 9(2), 141-172. Hein, G., Silani, G., Preuschoff, K., Batson, C. D., & Singer, T. (2010). Neural responses to ingroup and outgroup members' suffering predict individual differences in costly helping. Neuron, 68(1), 149-160.  Kahane, G. (2015). Sidetracked by trolleys: Why sacrificial moral dilemmas tell us little (or nothing) about utilitarian judgment. Social neuroscience, 10(5), 551-560. Kahane, G., Everett, J. A., Earp, B. D., Caviola, L., Faber, N. S., Crockett, M. J., & Savulescu, J. (2018). Beyond sacrificial harm: A two-dimensional model of utilitarian psychology. Psychological Review, 125(2), 131.  Kahane, G., Everett, J. A., Earp, B. D., Farias, M., & Savulescu, J. (2015). 'Utilitarian' judgments in sacrificial moral dilemmas do not reflect impartial concern for the greater good. Cognition, 134, 193-209. Kogut, T., & Ritov, I. (2005). The "identified victim" effect: An identified group, or just a single individual?. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 18(3), 157-167. Levant, R. F., Hall, R. J., Williams, C. M., & Hasan, N. T. (2009). Gender differences in alexithymia. Psychology of men & masculinity, 10(3), 190. Patil, I., Melsbach, J., Hennig-Fast, K., & Silani, G. (2016). Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism. Scientific reports, 6, 23637. Patil, I., & Silani, G. (2014). Reduced empathic concern leads to utilitarian moral judgments in trait alexithymia. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 501. Ruzich, E., Allison, C., Chakrabarti, B., Smith, P., Musto, H., Ring, H., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Sex and STEM occupation predict autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) scores in half a million people. PloS one, 10(10), e0141229. Singer, P. (2015). The most good you can do: How effective altruism is changing ideas about living ethically. New Haven, CT: Yale University. Vyas, K., Jameel, L., Bellesi, G., Crawford, S., & Channon, S. (2017). Derailing the trolley: Everyday utilitarian judgments in groups high versus low in psychopathic traits or autistic traits. Psychiatry research, 250, 84-91. Check This Rec: Nesse, R. M. (2019). Good reasons for bad feelings: insights from the frontier of evolutionary psychiatry. Penguin.

    33 min
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5
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18 Ratings

About

Host Daniel Gambacorta shares insights, advice, and stories designed to help make you a more effective altruist.

Information

  • Creator
    Daniel Gambacorta
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2023
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Global Optimum