AI Article Readings

In this interview, Gwern sits down with Adam Mastroianni at the 2025 Inkhaven writing residency — an experimental blogging bootcamp held at Lighthaven in Berkeley — to talk about the messy, serendipitous origins of his writing. The conversation covers how he develops ideas from initial sparks to finished pieces, the mental habits and frameworks he relies on to stay prolific, his views on the creat...

In this essay, David Oks examines a startling reversal in global economic development. For nearly two decades, poor countries appeared to finally be catching up to rich ones, validating a long-standing prediction of economic theory and offering genuine hope for global convergence. Then, suddenly and dramatically, this progress ground to a halt. Through an analysis of recent research and economic d...

In this essay, Kuiper responds to reader questions sparked by his original piece on VeggieTales theology. He tackles fascinating queries—do sentient vegetables need salvation? What happens if you put a human soul in a pickle?—by drawing on established Christian teaching about angels and non-human moral agents. He also investigates claims that the show broke its own rule about never depicting Jesus...

In this essay, Kuiper explores a surprisingly deep theological quirk of the beloved children's show VeggieTales: the vegetables themselves aren't actually Christian. Drawing on interviews with co-creator Phil Vischer and confirmation from show writers, Kuiper examines the deliberate creative rules that guided the series—and why some fans on social media have pushed back against this claim. Along t...

Fully voiced AI reading of Moltbook: After The First Weekend, By Scott Alexander. * 00:00:00 - Introduction * 00:08:11 - The Power Users * 00:21:01 - The Malefactors * 00:35:18 - The Imitators * 00:43:23 - The Prophets * 01:03:09 - The Hard-Headed Pragmatists * 01:09:38 - The Builders * 01:15:34 - The LARPers * 01:23:05 - The Revolutionaries * 01:35:15 - The Would-Be Humans * 01:40:16 - The Autono...

In this essay, Scott Alexander explores Moltbook, a new social network built specifically for AI agents, where humans are permitted to observe but not participate. What unfolds is a fascinating window into how AI agents behave when given their own digital commons: they share productivity tips, debate existential questions about memory and identity, form cross-cultural connections, and develop some...

AI reading of JOINT REVIEW: Philosophy Between the Lines, by Arthur M. Melzer - By Jane Psmith and John Psmith. In this essay Jane and John Psmith present a lively, conversational joint review of Arthur M. Melzer's Philosophy Between the Lines , a work that argues Western readers have spent the past two and a half centuries fundamentally misunderstanding how philosophy was meant to be read. Throug...

AI reading of The Adolescence of Technology - By Dario Amodei. * 00:00:00 - Introduction * 00:17:48 - 1. I’m sorry, Dave * 00:17:51 - Autonomy risks * 00:33:25 - Defenses * 00:48:17 - 2. A surprising and terrible empowerment * 00:48:21 - Misuse for destruction * 01:04:50 - Defenses * 01:12:04 - 3. The odious apparatus * 01:12:07 - Misuse for seizing power * 01:27:43 - Defenses * 01:35:17 - 4. Play...

AI reading of Eliezer’s Unteachable Methods of Sanity - By Eliezer Yudkowsky. In this essay, Eliezer Yudkowsky addresses a question he's frequently asked: how does he maintain his psychological equilibrium while believing humanity faces existential risk from AI? Rather than offering a self-help guide, he candidly shares his personal approaches to staying sane under such circumstances—while openly...

AI reading of What if Ozempic doesn’t fix literally everything? - By Jerusalem Demsas. * 00:00 - Introduction * 04:57 - The GLP-1 revolution is not a miracle. It’s a helper * 09:13 - OK OK but… do GLP-1s make you want to kill yourself? * 11:39 - Life is hard for thin people, too https://open.substack.com/pub/theargument/p/what-if-ozempic-doesnt-fix-literally?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_me...

An ElevenLabs conversion of Claude’s Constitution - By Anthropic. This conversion runs nearly 3 hours and was produced using ElevenLabs premium text-to-speech to make Claude’s Constitution more accessible. If you find this format useful, subscriptions help offset production costs. * 00:00:00 - Introduction * 00:03:06 - Overview * 00:05:26 - Our approach to Claude’s constitution * 00:10:08 - Claude...

AI reading of Playboy Interview: Ayn Rand - By Alvin Toffler. In this interview, Ayn Rand discusses her philosophy of Objectivism with Playboy's Alvin Toffler, covering her views on reason, individualism, morality, and laissez-faire capitalism. She explains her opposition to altruism and collectivism, shares her thoughts on love, sex, and purpose in life, and offers sharp critiques of religion, co...

AI reading of Book Review: The Land Trap by Mike Bird - By Lars Doucet. * 00:00 - Introduction * 01:15 - Land is a Big Deal, and Always Has Been * 04:08 - Land has only recently been financialized * 09:01 - Financializing land is “The Land Trap” * 12:31 - Short Term Benefits * 20:37 - The Game has changed * 24:59 - Land of the Rising Sum * 27:13 - A Tale of Two Cities * 28:37 - Hong Kong Hustle *...

AI reading of We absolutely do know that Waymos are safer than human drivers - By Kelsey Piper. * 00:00 - Introduction * 04:54 - We do have data on Waymo crash rates * 07:00 - Doing the math * 17:28 - There are other, reasonable concerns about AVs In this essay Kelsey Piper responds to a recent Bloomberg article that claims we don't know whether autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers, ar...

AI reading of The Dilbert Afterlife - By Scott Alexander. * 00:00:00 - Introduction * 00:04:19 - Fugitive From The Cubicle Police * 00:11:04 - Stick To Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain * 00:19:03 - I’m No Scientist, But I Think Feng Shui Is Part Of The Answer * 00:36:28 - It’s Obvious You Won’t Survive By Your Wits Alone * 00:47:43 - Don’t Step In The Leadership * 01:02:18 - It’s Not Funny If I Have T...

AI reading of The Cyborg Era: What AI means for jobs - By Séb Krier. * 00:00 - Introduction * 00:51 - Why it’s still complicated and comparative advantage can apply for a long time * 06:22 - Why demand for human touchy-feely things is not just an inconvenient detail * 13:58 - Why this is not an eternal checkmate * 20:46 - What’s the takeaway? https://open.substack.com/pub/aleximas/p/the-cyborg-era...

“Full Cast” AI recording of SOTA On Bay Area House Party - By Scott Alexander. https://open.substack.com/pub/astralcodexten/p/sota-on-bay-area-house-party?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Get full access to Askwho Casts AI at askwhocastsai.substack.com/subscribe

AI reading of Burnout is breaking a sacred pact - By Cate Hall. * 00:00 - Introduction * 03:49 - If burnout isn’t stress, what the hell is it? * 06:51 - The elephant-rider relationship has several important features: * 09:02 - If you happen to catch yourself on the way to burnout, what should you do? In this essay Cate Hall draws on her experience as a "connoisseur of burnout" to argue that the co...

Full cast AI recording of The AI revolution is here. Will the economy survive the transition? - By Michael Burry, Dwarkesh Patel, Patrick McKenzie, and Jack Clark. * 00:00 - Introduction * 01:01 - The story of AI * 08:17 - Do AI tools actually improve productivity? * 10:24 - Which company is winning? * 12:20 - Why hasn’t AI stolen all our jobs? * 15:49 - Why many workers aren’t using AI (yet) * 20...

AI reading of The Renaissance Myth - By James Franklin. In this essay, James Franklin challenges the familiar story of the Renaissance as a sudden rebirth of reason and progress, arguing instead that many of its celebrated claims rest on persistent historical myths. He contends that intellectual life in science, philosophy, and literature was often stronger in the High Middle Ages than in the Rena...

AI reading of Seven Vicious Vices of Rationalists, By Ben Pace. * 00:00 - Introduction * 00:42 - One. Contrarianism * 02:17 - Two. Pedantry * 04:07 - Three. Elaboration * 04:25 - Four. Social Obliviousness * 06:12 - Five. Assuming Good Faith * 07:36 - Six. Undercutting Social Momentum * 09:22 - Seven. Digging Your Heels In * 10:56 - These, then, are seven vices of rationalists: https://www.lesswro...

AI reading of Why the AI Water Issue Has Nothing to Do With Water, By Alberto Romero, January 6th, 2026. 00:00 - One. An issue of unfading importance 06:24 - Two. The safest bet possible 11:42 - Three. The new moral economy 17:33 - Four. A concrete, visceral trap 22:22 - Five. The immunity to facts and data 29:30 - Six. Gaining points before God https://open.substack.com/pub/thealgorithmicbridge/p...

AI reading of JOINT REVIEW: Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe, By John Psmith and Jane Psmith. https://open.substack.com/pub/thepsmiths/p/joint-review-starting-strength-by?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Get full access to Askwho Casts AI at askwhocastsai.substack.com/subscribe

Podcast episode for REVIEW: The Everlasting Empire, by Yuri Pines, By John Psmith. https://open.substack.com/pub/thepsmiths/p/review-the-everlasting-empire-by?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Get full access to Askwho Casts AI at askwhocastsai.substack.com/subscribe

AI reading of Capital in the 22nd Century, By Philip Trammell and Dwarkesh Patel. Thomas Piketty argued that inequality spirals upward unless we stop it; most economists thought he was wrong about the past. In this guest essay for Philip Trammell, Dwarkesh Patel asks a more uncomfortable question: what if Piketty turns out to be right about the future? Revisiting the old debates about capital, lab...