In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about his new book, What We Owe the Future. They discuss the philosophy of effective altruism (EA), longtermism, existential risk, criticism of EA, problems with expected-value reasoning, doing good vs feeling good, why it's hard to care about future people, how the future gives meaning to the present, why this moment in history is unusual, the pace of economic and technological growth, bad political incentives, value lock-in, the well-being of conscious creatures as the foundation of ethics, the risk of unaligned AI, how bad we are at predicting technological change, and other topics.
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#299 — Steps in the Right Direction
#298 — Leaving the Faith (Rebroadcast)
#297 — Preparing for the End
#296 — Repairing Our Country
#295 — Philosophy and the Good Life
#294 — Status Games
#293 — What I Really Think About Trump and Media Bias
#291 — Where is Happiness?
#290 — What Went Wrong?
#289 — Time Management for Mortals
#288 — The End of Global Order
#287 — Why Wealth Matters
#286 — The Paradox of Psychedelics
#285 — American Division
#284 — The Funny Business
#283 — Gun Violence in America
#282 — Do You Really Have a Self?
#281 — Western Culture and Its Discontents
#280 — The Future of Artificial Intelligence
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