Bhtv: Woodruff & Strauss (audio)

Dementia vs senility ... Biden’s brain: a post-debate diagnosis ... Who’s to blame for the Biden problem? ... Biden’s most baffling debate moment ... Will Biden step down? Bob and Paul place their bets ... Has Nick Bostrom flipped on AI doomerism? ... The earthly side of a meditation retreat ... Heading to Overtime ...

Why Jeffrey helped turn Meta’s Llama into Bad Llama ... Bioweapons, hacking, and other AI dangers ... How America unwittingly boosts China’s AI sector ... The dark side of AI “alignment” ... Is superintelligence the super-weapon of the future? ... The perils of AI acceleration ...

What do Biden and Trump need to accomplish at the debate? ... Will Trump's VP pick get a trial run in the spin room? ... Why is Rep. Bowman in trouble in NY-16? ...

Edward’s new book, At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China ... What Americans get wrong about China ... Humiliation and China’s national psychology ... Why Edward’s father joined the People’s Liberation Army ... How Edward’s father fell out of favor with the PLA ... How draconian is Xi Jinping’s crackdown on Uyghurs? ... Famine, purges, and alienation in Mao’s China ... Heading to Overtime ...

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Matt's big announcement ... What's the import of "cheapfakes"? ... Has Trump set debate expectations too low? ... Does it matter that Trump insulted Milwaukee? ... Will attacking Trump as a criminal work? ... Why is Trump outsourcing GOTV to Charlie Kirk? ...

Bob re-enters reality ... Elon’s X-rated horse-trading ... What do LLMs really say about the “blank slate” view of the mind? ... Bob challenges Paul to meditate—will Paul retreat? ... Have Bob’s views changed since writing Nonzero? ... Paul’s and Bob’s (semi-compatible) views on free ... Heading to Overtime ...

Glenn’s very unvarnished memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative ... Glenn’s unusual urban upbringing ... Is Glenn’s sermon for black men hypocritical? ... Glenn’s double life at Harvard ... How it all came crashing down ... Is Glenn’s book *too* honest? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Kevin’s place in cyberspace history ... Are we grappling with the pace of tech progress rationally? ... Why Kevin identifies as a techno-optimist ... Is it too early to regulate AI? ... The noosphere, the technium, and species of mind ... Do AI doomers think too highly of thinking? ... Evolution and the question of cosmic purpose ... Should we see AIs as “artificial aliens”? ...

AI's human-like, but inhuman, language skills ... Bob argues that LLMs don’t vindicate the ‘blank slate’ view of the mind ... Do humans and AIs acquire language in totally different ways? ... Will AIs ever quit hallucinating? ... The importance (or not) of “embodied cognition” ... What is it like to be an AI? ... Why Steve is skeptical of AI doom scenarios ...

Kelley’s new podcast, Trip the Beltway Fantastic ... Pat Buchanan and conservative opposition to the Iraq war ... Would Trump 2.0 promote foreign policy restraint? ... Possible Trump appointees pushing for conflict with China ... The time Tucker Carlson helped prevent war with Iran ... Would Trump greenlight ethnic cleansing in Gaza? ... Would Trump end the Russia-Ukraine war? ... Heading to Overtime ...

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The Nonzero-American Prestige apocalypse aversion project ... Are Bob, Derek, and Danny surprised the Gaza war is still going on? ... Biden’s simple political calculus on Gaza ... Would Trump greenlight the ethnic cleansing of Gaza? ... Israel’s plan (or lack thereof) for post-war Gaza ... Heading to Overtime ...

Nikki Haley's not-surprising support of Trump ... Why can't Biden get credit for the economy? ... Sam Alito flies his freak flags ...

Bob’s sage status rises ... GPT-4o: harbinger of the Metaverse? ... Does sentience matter for AI companionship? ... The promise and perils of social AI ... How LLMs flip the script on computing ... Heading to Overtime—and a special announcement! ...

How the Overton window is shifting after October 7 ... Israel’s 9/11, Israel’s overreaction, and liberal Zionism ... The power of the Israel lobby ...

Is the Biden campaign panicking? ... Are the polls wrong? ... Is it wrong to debate Trump? ... Why did Biden take Trump's idea for 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs? ... What happened in this week's primaries? ...

Why this pod’s a little odd ... Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike quit OpenAI—part of a larger pattern? ... Bob: AI doomers need Hollywood ... Does an AI arms race spell doom for alignment? ... Why the “Pause AI” movement matters ... AI doomerism and Don’t Look Up: compare and contrast ... How Liron (fore)sees AI doom ... Are Sam Altman’s concerns about AI safety sincere? ... Paperclip maximizing, evolution, and the AI will to power question ... Are there real-world examples of AI going rogue? ... Should we really align AI to human values? ... Heading to Overtime ...

How Jews fit—or don’t—into universities’ DEI regimes ... What do controversial pro-Palestine chants really mean? ... When does criticism of Israel become antisemitic? ... The Israel lobby’s influence on Congress and academia ... Do pro-Israel donors unwittingly inflame antisemitism? ... Evidence of increasing antisemitism ... Was Ilhan Omar’s “all about the Benjamins” tweet antisemitic? ... Bob criticizes Bari Weiss, Bill Ackman, and an Eli tweet ... Balancing concerns about free speech and antisemitism ... Are Israelis too fatalistic about antisemitism for their own good? ...