1 episode

A free-wheeling podcast that combines books, booze, and interesting guests to create thought-provoking conversations.

Books & Booze John Leven

    • Education
    • 4.5 • 8 Ratings

A free-wheeling podcast that combines books, booze, and interesting guests to create thought-provoking conversations.

    Episode #17 - Famine, Affluence, and Morality

    Episode #17 - Famine, Affluence, and Morality

    Guest: Evan Sandhoefner (blogger, Effective Altruist, and alum of Microsoft & Harvard)
    Book: Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer
    Booze: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

    0:00:00 - Evan and Ballast Point Sculpin
    https://sandhoefner.com/
    https://twitter.com/EvanSandhoefner?lang=en

    0:03:49 - Brian Tomasik, who inspired Evan’s website
    https://briantomasik.com/
    https://reducing-suffering.org/

    0:05:21 - How does Evan handle discussing ethics without sounding like a dick?

    0:08:00 - Famine, Affluence, and Morality and the Effective Altruism movement
    https://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1972----.htm
    https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_singer_the_why_and_how_of_effective_altruism?language=en
    https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/blog/understanding-cause-neutrality/

    0:17:42 - Direct work vs Working to Give
    https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/
    https://80000hours.org/career-guide/
    https://80000hours.org/2015/07/80000-hours-thinks-that-only-a-small-proportion-of-people-should-earn-to-give-long-term/

    0:26:28 - The Most Effective Cocaine Dealer
    https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/3DGYg2RxXHgekLGeG/to-save-the-world-don-t-get-a-job-at-a-charity-go-work-on
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

    0:30:57 - Utilitarian calculus: Quantifying fuzzy concepts like suffering, happiness, well-being, etc.

    0:33:09 - Consciousness, consciousness meters, and aliens
    https://www.iep.utm.edu/hard-con/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciesism
    https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

    0:42:19 - Moral tug-of-war: The demandingness objection to utilitarianism and Effective Altruism
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demandingness_objection

    0:49:53 - Bugs in our brains: Grappling with our flawed moral minds
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201108/statistical-numbing-why-millions-can-die-and-we-don-t-care
    https://fs.blog/2017/05/confirmation-bias/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_favoritism
    https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs

    0:56:58 - Is ethics self-limiting? Can ethical people be successful?

    1:02:11 - Self-deception, and The Elephant in the Brain by Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias
    https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyday/dp/0190495995

    1:03:56 - Wild animal suffering, selection theory, and cats wearing bells
    https://reducing-suffering.org/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory
    https://www.birdsbesafe.com/

    1:17:57 - Domestic animal suffering, unhappy cows, and reducing vs eliminating meat from your diet
    https://animalcharityevaluators.org/
    https://www.givewell.org/

    1:26:53 - Existential risk and the “expected value” of the far future
    https://concepts.effectivealtruism.org/concepts/existential-risks/
    https://concepts.effectivealtruism.org/concepts/the-long-term-future/
    https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-far-future-of-life/

    1:30:42 - Epic Givewell spreadsheet
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xBKlshqbu6H-uByB2INEaDNPpj_Ulz0WrrFwgrnkXfk/edit#gid=1537947274

    1:31:59 - Open philanthropy, hit-based giving, and The Man Who Fed the World
    https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/hits-based-giving
    https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Fed-World-Laureate/dp/1930754906

    1:41:04 - Slow vs fast Artificial intelligence, giving now vs giving later, the time value of money, and John’s personal reasons for (mostly) giving later
    https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7uJcBNZhinomKtH9p/giving-now-vs-later-a-summary
    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/timevalueofmoney.asp
    https://fs.blog/2013/02/the-psychology-of-human-misjudgement/

    1:53:01 - Effective Altruism’s “popularity problem”, growing the movement, and caring vs counting
    https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pcygusgiy6ZabnB93/how-valuable-is-movement-growth

    2:06:10 - An opportunity to be a real superhero

    • 2 hr 13 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
8 Ratings

8 Ratings

DustinGranger ,

Very informative podcast

John Leven’s taste in books is similar to my own so it’s nice getting book ideas and summaries from him. The podcast is entertaining too. Love the addition of Booze to anything!

'39 Redhead ,

Thoughtful and entertaining

Conversations which cover science, culture, travel and life. Entertaining and intellectually enjoyable conversations with host John and his guests. Perfect to listen to on a long drive or whilst cleaning the house. Kudos John.

Elliott K27S ,

Books, Alcohol, Current events

John and the guest take a book and use it to talk about current events and trends. I like that they come prepared with notes sometimes dropping stats about an issue. Keep it up

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