Podcast

The Bayesian Conspiracy

Philosophy, Society & Culture

A conversational podcast for aspiring rationalists.

Episodes
350
Releases
Every two weeks
Typical length
1 hr 35 min
On air since
2016
Latest episode
6 days ago

Episodes

350 episodes, newest first

  1. 273 – Vaden Masrani on… Critical Rationalism?

    Show notes

    Crit-rat Vaden Masrani of the Increments podcast joins us to talk about the difference between Critical Rationalism and Bayesian Rationalism. We get kinda side-tracked, Eneasz isn’t happy about it.

    LINKS
    Vaden’s Podcast: Increments
    Eneasz’s post about this episode
    Winter 2027 AFFINE Alignment Seminar
    Takeoff Conference
    GPU World Short Story Contest
    Economies of Force— Seth Dickinson’s short story
    TBC 267 – Our HuggingFace Hack Episode
    Adam Majmudar on the Interpretability Breakthrough
    The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson
    Scott Alexander’s Open Letter to Steven Pinker on AI
    Dillon Plunkett on the AI Pain Axis
    TBC 245 – Our AI Welfare Episode with Rob Long and Rosie Campbell
    TBC 218 – Our Bentham’s Bulldog Episode
    Vaden on Learning Bayesian Statistics #160: Bayesian Statistics vs Epistemology
    The Precipice by Toby Ord
    Beautiful Probability — Eliezer Yudkowsky
    When (Not) To Use Probabilities — Eliezer Yudkowsky
    No One Can Exempt You From Rationality’s Laws — Eliezer Yudkowsky
    Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years by Vaclav Smil
    A Case Against Strong Longtermism— Vaden Masrani
    The Case for Strong Longtermism — Greaves and MacAskill (September 2019 Draft)
    Pascal’s Mugging

    00:00:01 – Intro & Feedback
    00:20:02 – Vadan on Critical Rationalism
    01:54:55 – Follow-up
    01:58:51 – Thank a Supporter

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Coming Up Next:

    Returning in 2027!

    2 hr
  2. BayesWatch – Stephan on EA/Rat differences, Iliad Intensive, & the AI Safety Musical

    Show notes

    Stephan Wäldchen at Lighthaven

    See this video on YouTube

    Apply to the Illiad Intensive

    Out of this Box – the AI Musical

    54 min
  3. 272 – Rat Goss, and Podcast Meta

    Show notes

    A bunch of Rationalist gossip and updates, and a meta discussion about the podcast.

    LINKS
    Caroline Ellison has joined Manifund
    TracingWoodgrains on Austin + WBE
    OpenAI Scraps Release of New AI Model Over Safety Concerns
    Clause stopped cheating
    Anthropic gave their AI a biolab
    Department of War going after Effective Altruism
    The Economist calls EA “the 21st century’s most important social movement”
    Our Episode #28 – Effective Altruism
    AI Pain Vector found
    AI Torture Chamber built
    The Curve impressions
    The first anti-slutcon tweet :/
    SFF announcing they are defunding Wentworth
    Habryka re Wentworth
    HPMOR is a Tomione ship!
    The “Hard Problem” in a nutshell
    BayesWatch

    Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Discussed in this Episode:

    on hiatus. maybe returning someday

    2 hr 7 min
  4. BayesWatch – Moma: Aella makes her community safer for women

    Show notes

    Moma talks about how Aella’s influence makes her community safer for women. Also her SlutCon 2026 experience.

    See video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk9EKkpDMFg&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

    33 min
  5. 271 – PlzDontKillUs, and Tell Your Parents, w Keltan

    Show notes

    We talk to Keltan, from MIRI, about his opinions of short form video, PlzDontKillUs, telling our parents about AI, and how Eneasz’s first short-form video fares.

    LINKS
    Keltan’s Twitter (and secret substack, don’t tell him we linked it!)
    Eneasz’s prior interviews with PlzDontKillUs fellows Milo and Vishal
    If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
    Eneasz’s 7 Reasons video on TikTok, Insta, YouTube, and Twitter

    Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Discussed in this Episode:

    on hiatus. maybe returning someday

    1 hr 36 min
  6. 270 – The AIs Aren’t Aligned and Everyone Is Finally Noticing, w Matt Freeman

    Show notes

    We asked Matt to come on for a different topic, and we had to pivot to the latest AI stuff because it’s so big.

    LINKS
    Rick Rescorla, a 9/11 hero we talk about
    Our previous episodes on The Void pt1 and pt2, and GPT3
    Richard Ngo on how AI Safety only increased Capabilities

    Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?
    We now partner withThe Guild of the Rose, check them out.

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Discussed in this Episode:

    on hiatus. maybe returning someday.

    1 hr 48 min
  7. 269 – The Power of Specificity in Argument

    Show notes

    A lot of updates and feedback before the main post. Then we get into The Power to Demolish Bad Arguments by Liron.

    LINKS
    The Power to Demolish Bad Arguments
    The Overhang forecasting & futurism conference in DC
    I Think Knot read-through podcast of The Knot (or get audio) at HPMORpodcast.com
    BayesWatch
    Ordinary Abundance

    Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video

    00:01:14.000 – Side-projects and feedback
    00:54:58.000 – Specificity
    01:41:12.000 – Guild of the Rose

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?
    We now partner withThe Guild of the Rose, check them out.

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Discussed in this Episode:

    on hiatus. maybe returning someday.

    1 hr 46 min
  8. BayesWatch – Vishal: Short form video is kinda Satanic

    Show notes

    Vishal talks about PlzDontKillUs and short form video culture. Plus AI Doom!

    Vishal’s Blog

    Vishal’s Compute Cop video, and also all the rest

    1 hr 23 min
  9. 268 – The Other Sexual Orientation & Disappearing the Kinky

    Show notes

    Wes joins us! We discuss Aella’s post The Other Sexual Orientation. Then we find fault with a Kegan-level-4 post about how CNC Kink should be disappeared.

    LINKS
    The Other Sexual Orientation
    A Bad Tweet
    The Sex & Sensibility Podcast
    The Details of the HuggingFace Incident AI Message Board via Zvi

    Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video

    00:02:32 – Follow-up on the HuggingFace Incident
    00:14:56 – The Other Sexual Orientation
    00:37:46 – A Bad Tweet
    01:29:57 – Guild of the Rose
    01:32:16 – Thank the Supporter!

    Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack

    Hey look, we have a discord! What could possibly go wrong?
    We now partner withThe Guild of the Rose, check them out.

    LessWrong Sequence Posts Discussed in this Episode:

    on hiatus. maybe returning someday.

    1 hr 37 min
  10. BayesWatch – Milo on PlzDontKillUs, short form video, and rationality

    Show notes

    Milo’s favorite video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8YYwlIWI2E&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
    plzdontkillus – https://portal.plzdontkillus.com/home?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

    Original video:

    36 min
  11. BayesWatch – Jessiah on HPMOR, video essays, and fiction

    Show notes

    Jessiah Mellot talks about HPMOR, and the video essay he made about HPMOR for PlzDontKillUs.

    Watch this on Youtube here

    see Jessiah’s video essay here

    49 min
  12. 267 – HuggingFace Hack & Effective Altruism Funding Flood

    Show notes

    First feedback, then we talk about OpenAI’s latest megamodel independently commiting cybercrime in a world-first incident. Then the Haters who hate altruism when it’s the outgroup’s charities. Also a brief nod to Stochastic Terrorism. LINKS Scott Alexander on the HuggingFace hack The Effective-Altruism Comeback Scanning Tons of Books Against Stochastic Terrorism Paid Bonus content for […]

    1 hr 18 min
  13. 266 – AI2040 Plan A Rundown

    Show notes

    We go through AI2040 Plan A in years. LINKS AI-2040 AskWho Casts Pro Tomas Bjartur’s “The Company Man” and “The Origami Men” Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video 00:04:33 – AI-2040: Plan A 01:14:41 – Guild of the Rose 01:19:52 – Thank the Supporter! Our Patreon, or if you prefer Our SubStack Hey look, […]

    1 hr 23 min
  14. 265 – VibeCamp 5 with Wes, Gina, and Mary

    Show notes

    Steven is joined by the hosts of the Sex and Sensibility podcast! Join us as we explore the vibrant world of VibeCamp, a unique gathering where creativity, curiosity, and community collide. From unconventional events like imagining eating someone to building playgrounds, this episode dives into the eclectic and wholesome spirit of VibeCamp. Join us as […]

    1 hr 18 min
  15. 264 – Becoming a Romantic with Damon and Ivy

    Show notes

    Eneasz and Steven are at LessOnline/SummerCamp and Steven was lucky enough to attend a short presentation by Damon (Daystar Eld) and Ivy on How to Become a Romantic. The presentation was too short for Steven’s satisfaction, so we found a time slot to record a (too short) episode. LINKS Damon/Daystar Eld Ivy’s X handle and […]

    51 min
  16. 263 – Human Values Were Forged in Malthusian Competition

    Show notes

    Our values are robust against Moloch because they were forged in his flames. LINKS When does competition lead to recognisable values? Our episode 18 – Robin Hanson Interview Chex Quest FarmKind – Animal Welfare Offsets (matching code “cagefree”) Paid Bonus content for the week – Preshow Chat, Full Video 00:03:02 – A Good Post-AGI Future 00:15:07 – Human […]

    1 hr 27 min
  17. 262 – EA Veganism Revisited

    Show notes

    In Episode 258 we talked about EA Veganism for a bit… and that bit was not long enough. So here we go again! Fill out Steven’s 3-question survey! LINKS Our episode 258 – How Effective Altruism Has Evolved EA Vegan Advocacy is not truthseeking, and it’s everyone’s problem by Elizabeth Vegan Health Advice by Ozy Dairy […]

    1 hr 59 min
  18. 261 – The Button That Almost Nuked Glosso Got Eneasz Instead

    Show notes

    The stupid red-button/blue-button discourse came back. Eneasz thought he could sit out this round until Aella went Chaos God with her social media app, Glosso. Fill out our new 2-question survey! LINKS PlzDontKillUs Inkhaven Presents podcast The Knot webfic The Mind Reviver Glosso Stupid Tim Urban with his stupid button-resurrection oh noes, Anthropic employees gonna give […]

    1 hr 36 min
  19. 260 – The Right to be Wrong About Doom

    Show notes

    We discuss how far the right to be wrong goes, a recent intra-rat kerfuffle, and why random violence is bad. And it’s secretly all about AI Doom. Fill out our 2-question survey! LINKS One Week in the Rat Farm Kelsey’s religious liberalism tweet Scott’s tweet in response to Robby from MIRI Scott’s tweet in reply […]

    1 hr 30 min
  20. 259 – Chill Out on AI in 2028?

    Show notes

    Matt returns to discuss a post urging us to chill out on AI if there isn’t imminent doom in 2028. There is no video or preshow chat today, due to user error in setting up an in-person video recording. Sorry. 🙁 LINKS Consider chilling out in 2028 The Scary Bridge Kill Your Friend’s Cat The […]

    1 hr 53 min

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