#11 - Spencer Greenberg on speeding up social science 10-fold & why plenty of startups cause harm

#11 - Spencer Greenberg on speeding up social science 10-fold & why plenty of startups cause harm

Do most meat eaters think it’s wrong to hurt animals? Do Americans think climate change is likely to cause human extinction? What is the best, state-of-the-art therapy for depression? How can we make academics more intellectually honest, so we can actually trust their findings? How can we speed up social science research ten-fold? Do most startups improve the world, or make it worse?

If you’re interested in these question, this interview is for you.

Click for a full transcript, links discussed in the show, etc.

A scientist, entrepreneur, writer and mathematician, Spencer Greenberg is constantly working to create tools to speed up and improve research and critical thinking. These include:

* Rapid public opinion surveys to find out what most people actually think about animal consciousness, farm animal welfare, the impact of developing world charities and the likelihood of extinction by various different means;
* Tools to enable social science research to be run en masse very cheaply;
* ClearerThinking.org, a highly popular site for improving people’s judgement and decision-making;
* Ways to transform data analysis methods to ensure that papers only show true findings;
* Innovative research methods;
* Ways to decide which research projects are actually worth pursuing.

In this interview, Spencer discusses all of these and more. If you don’t feel like listening, that just shows that you have poor judgement and need to benefit from his wisdom even more!

Get free, one-on-one career advice

We’ve helped hundreds of people compare their options, get introductions, and find high impact jobs. If you want to work on any of the problems discussed in this episode, find out if our coaching can help you.

Jaksot(320)

2025 Highlight-o-thon: Oops! All Bests

2025 Highlight-o-thon: Oops! All Bests

It’s that magical time of year once again — highlightapalooza! Stick around for one top bit from each episode we recorded this year, including:Kyle Fish explaining how Anthropic’s AI Claude descends i...

29 Joulu 20251h 40min

#232 – Andreas Mogensen on what we owe 'philosophical Vulcans' and unconscious beings

#232 – Andreas Mogensen on what we owe 'philosophical Vulcans' and unconscious beings

Most debates about the moral status of AI systems circle the same question: is there something that it feels like to be them? But what if that’s the wrong question to ask? Andreas Mogensen — a senior ...

19 Joulu 20252h 37min

#231 – Paul Scharre on how AI-controlled robots will and won't change war

#231 – Paul Scharre on how AI-controlled robots will and won't change war

In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet lieutenant colonel, sat in a bunker watching a red screen flash “MISSILE LAUNCH.” Protocol demanded he report it to superiors, which would very likely trigger a ret...

17 Joulu 20252h 45min

AI might let a few people control everything — permanently (article by Rose Hadshar)

AI might let a few people control everything — permanently (article by Rose Hadshar)

Power is already concentrated today: over 800 million people live on less than $3 a day, the three richest men in the world are worth over $1 trillion, and almost six billion people live in countries ...

12 Joulu 20251h

#230 – Dean Ball on how AI is a huge deal — but we shouldn’t regulate it yet

#230 – Dean Ball on how AI is a huge deal — but we shouldn’t regulate it yet

Former White House staffer Dean Ball thinks it's very likely some form of 'superintelligence' arrives in under 20 years. He thinks AI being used for bioweapon research is "a real threat model, obvious...

10 Joulu 20252h 54min

#229 – Marius Hobbhahn on the race to solve AI scheming before models go superhuman

#229 – Marius Hobbhahn on the race to solve AI scheming before models go superhuman

We often worry about AI models “hallucinating” or making honest mistakes. But what happens when a model knows the truth, but decides to deceive you anyway to achieve a goal of its own? This isn’t sci-...

3 Joulu 20253h 3min

Rob & Luisa chat kids, the 2016 fertility crash, and how the 50s invented parenting that makes us miserable

Rob & Luisa chat kids, the 2016 fertility crash, and how the 50s invented parenting that makes us miserable

Global fertility rates aren’t just falling: the rate of decline is accelerating. From 2006 to 2016, fertility dropped gradually, but since 2016 the rate of decline has increased 4.5-fold. In many weal...

25 Marras 20251h 59min

#228 – Eileen Yam on how we're completely out of touch with what the public thinks about AI

#228 – Eileen Yam on how we're completely out of touch with what the public thinks about AI

If you work in AI, you probably think it’s going to boost productivity, create wealth, advance science, and improve your life. If you’re a member of the American public, you probably strongly disagree...

20 Marras 20251h 43min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-narsisti
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
aamukahvilla
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
rss-niinku-asia-on
adhd-podi
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
kesken
psykologia
dear-ladies
rss-koira-haudattuna
leveli
rss-luonnollinen-synnytys-podcast
rahapuhetta
aloita-meditaatio
rss-duodecim-lehti
jari-sarasvuo-podcast
rss-palopaikalla-podcast