Bloggingheads.tv
Smart people talking about politics, policy, culture and other stuff
Are the Pro-Palestine Protests Working? (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 11 May 2024 10:43:03 +0000
Stormy Daniels' Graphic Testimony (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Why is Kristi Noem doubling down? ... Why are evangelicals sticking with Trump despite his adultery? ... Why is Trump going to the Libertarian Party convention? ... Are Dems poised to take back the House? ...
Thu, 09 May 2024 04:41:47 +0000
Antisemitism and Free Speech (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Is it ever okay to fire professors for speech? ... Bari Weiss spreads misinformation without consequence ... Are some of Israel’s American supporters unwittingly inflaming antisemitism? ... Ayaan Hirsi Ali converts to Christianity without abandoning New Atheist creed ... Do Sam Harris et. al. get religion totally wrong? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Tue, 07 May 2024 23:33:06 +0000
The New “Pro-Israel” Assault on Free Speech (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 04 May 2024 01:30:57 +0000
Trump's 2nd Term Plan: Be MEANER (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Did Trump say too much to Time magazine? ... Will the Gaza protests impact the November election? ... What's Biden's clearest Electoral College path? ... Who will Trump pick for VP? ...
Thu, 02 May 2024 05:20:53 +0000
A Debate on Israel-Palestine (Robert Wright & Coleman Hughes)
Coleman’s Joe Rogan appearance and new book, The End of Race Politics ... Campus protests and free speech ... Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism? ... Is "exterminating Hamas" a viable solution? ... Bob: Israel never offered Palestinians a state ... “Right of return” and Palestinian national identity ... How firmly entrenched is hatred of Israel among Palestinians? ... Could better US policy have steered Israel-Palestine toward peace? ... Are Palestinian “sacred beliefs” the problem? ... Possible Palestinian futures ... Israel’s strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria ...
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 21:58:21 +0000
How Joe Biden Saved Ukraine (And Nobody Noticed) (Robert Wright & Coleman Hughes)
Why is Kevin McCarthy more hated than Mike Johnson? ... Why doesn't Biden get more credit for securing Ukraine aid and reducing Israel-Iran tensions? ... Why the divestment encampments are not effective ... Is the Trump trial hurting Trump's re-election chances? ...
Fri, 26 Apr 2024 15:43:53 +0000
Campus Protests, Dennett’s Legacy (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Paul asserts his right to non-assertion ... Campus protests and free speech controversies ... Have pro-Palestine protestors crossed a line? Have their opposition? ... Will the protests force a reckoning on campus “wokeness”? ... Remembering philosopher Daniel Dennett ... Bob vs Dennett on consciousness ... Does the mind-body problem suggest a cosmic solution? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 22:50:21 +0000
Putin, AI, Ukraine, Crypto, the Noosphere, Futurism & Other Stuff (Robert Wright & Anatoly Karlin)
Anatoly’s strange CV ... How the 20th century set the stage for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine ... Why did Putin turn against the West? ... Anatoly: I underestimated Russia’s incompetence ... Has the Ukraine war really shifted in Russia’s favor? ... Russia’s “elite human capital” problem ... Is the “bio-singularity” near? ... Unipolar vs multipolar AI takeover scenarios ... Heading to Overtime ...
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:05:12 +0000
Israel Strikes Iran, David Cameron Crumbles (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 20 Apr 2024 01:35:37 +0000
Just ONE MAGA Juror is All TRUMP Needs (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Did Trump blow it on abortion? ... Does the hush money trial jury have a secret Trump partisan? ... Is Mike Johnson Choosing Reagan over Trump? ... Should Sotomayor retire? ...
Fri, 19 Apr 2024 05:03:36 +0000
How Iran’s Attack Benefits Israel (Robert Wright & Joshua Landis)
Why Iran’s attack on Israel was an “own goal” ... Did Iran minimize casualties on purpose? ... The rising odds of Israel attacking Iran directly ... America’s contradictory relationship with Israel ... How conflict with Iran helps Israel ... What China wants in the Middle East ... America’s destabilizing role in the region ... Heading to Overtime ...
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 01:55:45 +0000
Iran’s “Imminent” Attack (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 13 Apr 2024 00:10:48 +0000
Daniel Kahneman and the Rationalists (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Why Paul’s eclipse experience eclipsed Bob’s ... Remembering pioneering psychologist Daniel Kahneman ... Bob fails gender affirmation test ... Has the “replication crisis” tainted Kahneman’s legacy? ... Eastern vs. Western “enlightenment” ... How AI doomerism came to the rationalist community ... 3 Body Problem review goes into Overtime ...
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:47:13 +0000
Can Abortion Sink Trump? (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Are Republican Trump critics returning to the GOP fold? ... Has Trump threaded the needle on abortion? ... Can Biden shift the nation's attention to abortion? ...
Wed, 10 Apr 2024 04:03:52 +0000
Biden’s Israel Problem (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
A brief message from Bob ... Derek and Danny stumble into Bob’s Zoom room ... Israel’s doubly out-of-control week ... How Biden's Gaza failures will shape the Democratic Party ... Biden’s political incentives on Israel-Palestine ... Heading to Overtime ...
Fri, 05 Apr 2024 15:01:35 +0000
AI, Rationalism, and the “Great Filter” (Robert Wright & Robin Hanson)
Robin’s history of thinking about the future ... Seeing AI as offspring, not adversary ... Robin’s famous answer to a great cosmic mystery ... Would evidence of aliens be good news or bad? ... Is rationalist culture cultist? ... LLMs: revolution or hype cycle? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:42:57 +0000
The Cosmic Thought of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Robert Wright & Ilia Delio)
Ilia’s background ... Things to know about the noosphere ... Teilhard’s transgressive theological and scientific thought ... Does AI suggest a “transcendent nature to nature”? ... The Teilhardian solution to the mind-body problem ... How Darwinian was Teilhard, really? ... Teilhard on love ... “Techno-sapiens,” redemption, and the Omega Point ... Heading to Overtime ...
Sun, 31 Mar 2024 12:02:33 +0000
Bibi Beats Biden (Again) (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 30 Mar 2024 00:23:59 +0000
RFK Jr.'s Bad VEEP Pick (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Matt's X spat with Ric Grenell ... The importance of narrative framing ... Should NBC have hired/fired Ronna McDaniel? ... How awful is RFK Jr.'s VP pick? ...
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 05:53:35 +0000
Meditation Tips for Beginners (and Non-Beginners) (Robert Wright & Kathryn Devaney)
Kati’s unusual niche ... How Covid changed meditation ... Kati: The optimal amount of meditation is… ... Is focusing on the breath overblown? ... AI as a spiritual challenge ... Meditation and cognitive empathy ... Using technology mindfully ... Heading to Overtime ...
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 21:59:43 +0000
What Does Putin Want? (Robert Wright & Nikolay and Kirill)
Are Nikolay and Kirill satisfied with the "special military operation"? ... Why have Russians become more supportive of the war effort? ... Kirill defends the RWA tweet that unsettled Bob ... US policies that made the war more likely ... How much of Ukraine does Putin want? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Fri, 22 Mar 2024 04:05:55 +0000
America’s Blood Bath (and Beyond) (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
What did Trump mean by "bloodbath"? ... Trump doesn't want you to remember 2020 ... Does Bernie Moreno have the edge over Sherrod Brown? ...
Thu, 21 Mar 2024 06:32:02 +0000
Elon and Altman: Dueling Messiahs (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Paul’s Substack: small potatoes or some pumpkins? ... Elon sours on Lemon—is ketamine to blame? ... The enduring enigma that is Elon Musk ... Is Altman overdramatizing the AI #Resistance? ... Paul cavalierly ignores Bob’s sage guidance ... Oscars: The good, the bad, and the hammy ... Heading to Overtime (plus: big Small Potatoes news!) ...
Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:48:15 +0000
The Open Source AI Question (Robert Wright & Nathan Labenz)
Nathan’s role as “AI scout” ... What "open source" in AI really means ... Why the secrecy around AI training data? ... What’s actually “open” about OpenAI? ... The case for and against open source AI ... Is an open source crackdown coming? ... What Waymark, Nathan’s company, does with AI ...
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 22:04:14 +0000
Can TikTok Survive? (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
Should TikTok be banned? ... Why did Ken Buck quit? ... Will the Hur report hurt Biden? ... Is Biden's new ad any good? ...
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:26:21 +0000
Biden’s Gaza Failures (Robert Wright & Daniel Levy)
Should Biden pursue regime change in Israel? ... How the White House mishandled Netanyahu's far-right government ... Daniel: “Israel has lost this war” ... What a ceasefire deal would look like ... Biden’s immense, unused leverage over Netanyahu ... Heading to Overtime ...
Tue, 12 Mar 2024 22:21:10 +0000
Biden's Big Speech (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 09 Mar 2024 02:53:09 +0000
Kyrsten Sinema Says Goodbye (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
Did Super Tuesday tell us anything? ... What should Biden do in the SOTU? ... Is Trump losing it? ... Did Sinema's retirement mean bipartisanship is dead? ...
Thu, 07 Mar 2024 03:47:33 +0000
Elon v. OpenAI, Google vs Itself (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
The other Tim B. Lee ... Unpacking the Elon v. OpenAI case ... How did Google’s Gemini go wrong? ... The unsung ingenious side of Gemini ... Is AI a bubble? ... Are some LLM issues insoluble? ... How Sora changes the AI picture ... Heading to Overtime ...
Thu, 07 Mar 2024 02:21:16 +0000
Possible Palestinian and Ukrainian Futures (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Fri, 01 Mar 2024 22:46:50 +0000
Nikki Haley Voters Could Sink Trump (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
Can Trump win back Haley voters? ... Does it matter how many Democrats vote "Uncommitted" in Michigan? ... Is there any logic to Trump's messaging to African-American voters? ... Do people vote for president like it's a TV show? ...
Wed, 28 Feb 2024 01:23:56 +0000
Google’s AI, Biden’s Brain, and Other Enigmas (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Big trouble with Small Potatoes ... What makes a good podcast? ... Google’s AI goes wild(ly woke) ... Is Biden a “super-ager” or just super old? ... On the psychology of self-immolation ... Are we thinking right about mental illness? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Wed, 28 Feb 2024 01:08:14 +0000
Does AI Understand Things? (Robert Wright & Gary Marcus)
Gary’s background and place in the AI world ... Are Gary’s views on AI paradoxical? ... Bob: Searle’s Chinese Room argument is dead ... Have LLMs demonstrated "theory of mind"? ... Arguing the semantics of an LLM's “semantic space” ... Do LLM representations map onto the real world? ... Can (and should) we slow down AI development? ... Gary: I’ve never seen a field as myopic as AI today ... The (symbolic?) future of AI ...
Thu, 22 Feb 2024 21:35:50 +0000
What Navalny Meant (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
Nikita’s memories of Navalny’s emergence as a political force ... The time Nikita was detained for protesting election fraud ... Navalny’s success as a political organizer ... What did Navalny represent? ... Navalny’s courageous post-poisoning return to Russia ... Heading to Overtime (plus: Nikita’s photo with Navalny) ...
Tue, 20 Feb 2024 22:55:34 +0000
Gazans' Displacement, AI's Acceleration (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 17 Feb 2024 16:00:42 +0000
Ukraine’s War, Putin’s Worldview (Robert Wright & Leonid Ragozin)
What MSM missed about Carlsons' Putin interview ... Putin’s litany of grievances against the West ... Russia gets the upper hand in Ukraine ... Why Zelensky hasn’t paved the way for peace talks ... Putin’s mafia-inspired approach to negotiations ... Do most Russians support the war? ... Why Zelensky fired his popular top general ... Heading to Overtime ...
Thu, 15 Feb 2024 22:01:19 +0000
Is the 'Age' Issue Old News? (Matt K. Lewis & Matt K. Lewis)
Does the NY-03 special election have national import? ... Will the special counsel report sink Joe Biden? ... Was Jon Stewart's monologue on the mark? ...
Thu, 15 Feb 2024 06:01:02 +0000
Inside the Mind of AI (Robert Wright & Nora Belrose)
Nora’s low score on the AI doomer test ... The messy math of AI alignment ... Teaching and (unteaching) concepts to LLMS ... Do we really want human-like AI? ... How the AI “mind” works ... How to change an AI’s mind ... Are LLMs reverse-engineering the human mind? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Tue, 13 Feb 2024 21:02:12 +0000
Putin's Monologue, Biden's Bad Day (Earthling Unplugged) (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
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Sat, 10 Feb 2024 16:00:42 +0000
Conspiracy Theories and True Fictions (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
Bob’s bad newsletter news for Paul ... Fast Car's moving Grammy moment ... Music, female orgasms, and other evolutionary enigmas ... The Moral Animal turns 30—how has it aged? ... How AI (barely) helps Paul work ... Is America real? ... Bob tries to drag Paul down the JFK rabbit hole ... Lab leak and the trouble with “conspiracy theories” ... Heading to Overtime ...
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:35:24 +0000
GOP Chaos (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
The import of Chapman-Combs ... "An embarrassing day for Republicans" ... How immigration wrecked the GOP ... What's Nikki Haley doing? ... The 3rd party X factor ...
Thu, 08 Feb 2024 17:42:43 +0000
