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

Balaji Srinivasan tells us why he is making a $1M BTC prediction and discusses the banking collapse.
(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

Moment of Zen is brought to you by:

Riverside, where we record our interviews. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.

and

Secureframe, the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Mention Moment of Zen for 20% off your first year.

Byrne Hobart joins Antonio, Dan, and Erik to discuss SVB, finance, and crypto. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.

Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerationist (e/acc) movement Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz 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.
(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 receding

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.

We speak with Amjad Masad about disenfranchised men, intellectual movements, problems with effective altruism and AI doomerism.(2:15) Replika caused Amjad to downgrade his view of humanity (3:15) Some men are down bad (5:15) Should we bring back monogamy? (8:15) If you’re not a top man, you’re screwed (phew) (13:00) Thought experiment (16:40) Antonio brings up Israel again (drink!) (18:15) “You don’t know what life is until you birth a child and bury a parent” (19:15) Unintended policy side effects (25:25) How to solve population crisis (27:45) WTF happened in 1971? (29:15) High and low time preference (35:15) Dating app preferences (39:00) Group narcissism (41:25) Groups that inbreed focus more on kinship (45:15) AI doomerism (50:45) from New Atheism to SJ to EA to AI Safety (1:00:15) Antonio calls out Eliezer Yudkowski (1:00:45) Criticizing Utilitarianism/Effective Altruism (1:10:15) Jesus vs Nietzsche (1:10:45) Bronze Age Pervert (1:13:15) Antonio recommends converting to Judaism (1:14:30) Why is EA so popular in Silicon Valley? (1:18:10) Why are EA just normie liberals (1:19:00) EA’s importance (1:24:15) The right way to think about alignment (1:27:15) Robert Conquest’s second law (1:30:15) Entryism (1:33:45) is right wing EA a thing?

We speak with Noah Smith about our modern cold wars with China & Russia, the new right, and tech’s cultural & political shifts. (0:00) intro 
(1:50) sponsor 
(2:15) What determines a country’s success 
(6:00) Chinese collapse? 
(8:35) Why does Ukraine matter? 
(13:30) Can America be isolationist? 
(20:20) Are we in a Cold War with China? 
(25:45) Unpacking the new right 
(35:44) The future of wokeness 
(41:40) How Noah finds meaning in life (petting rabbits) 
(44:20) Noah defends his liberalism 
(53:00) American cope 
(57:00) Why American infrastructure sucks 
(1:01:00) Fake liberals 
(1:06:30) Why California is a one-party state 
(1:15:00) Tech’s political shift 
(1:20:00) Noah’s advice to tech people