The Bayesian Conspiracy

We covered ten episodes of feedback in one hour (and a half)! After this, we’ll reply to comments regularly at the end of episodes. Comment either at the website (www.thebayesianconspiracy.com) or at the subreddit (www.reddit.com/r/thebayesianconspiracy/). Or email us – bayesianconspiracypodcast at gmail. TONS of links this episode, because we covered such a variety of stuff: An [&#823...

Is it rational to vote? We realize the audio quality when we have live guests is terrible, we’re working to fix that now, hopefully things will start sounding better very soon. Thanks for bearing with us! Eneasz wants to say that his understanding of Timeless Decision Theory is likely flawed, because it is big and […]

The second half of our conversation on polyamory, because we talked and talked and the episode went long. As with Part 1, positions of other parties, including current and former partners, are very likely misrepresented in this episode. Links: More Than Two – An excellent online resource to ethical non-monogamy. It is also the title […]

What’s Polyamory got to do with Rationalism anyway? Be Advised: 1.) This episode contains curse words. 2.) Always, but especially when talking about sensitive, nuanced issues like human relationships, it’s important to note that we are only speaking for ourselves. Positions of other parties, including current and former partners, may be misrepresented in this episode. […]

We speak with Brian Dunning, best known as the host/creator of the Skeptoid podcast. He has also created Here Be Dragons, a 40-minute introduction to critical thinking. Mentioned in this episode: The Vanishing Village of Angikuni Lake Chris Hallquist on Trusting Expert Consensus The unusual story of the discovery that H. Pylori causes ulcers (and a […]

[content warning: suicide, human extinction. Might be a bad idea to listen to if you suffer suicidal tendencies.] We speak to Jason, who would take extreme measures to end all suffering.  However, lacking extreme powers, he recommends doing good as efficiently as possible, and offers these resources: Givewell – researches charities for effectiveness. 80,000 hours – Have a greater socia...

The Conspirators talk cryonics. Spoiler alert, they are signed up (and signing up soon) for the big freeze. Katrina is a cryocrastinator. The in-depth cryonics article that sparked this conversation, “Why Cryonics Makes Sense” by Tim : Wait But Why Essay Steven mentioned the agent he went through: Rudi Hoffman’s Website The two major US companies: Cryonics Institute […]

An ELI5 (Explain Like I’m 5) episode. Our answers when someone asks “What is Rationality anyway?” and they have a bit of time. (If they don’t have time, Eneasz’s Elevator Pitch is “Rationality is a systematized method of making your beliefs more closely match reality”) Eliezer’s Sequences of Blog Posts on Rationality In ebook form – […]

Patrick Chapin (of Top Level Podcast) joins us as a guest-host to talk about AlphaGo’s recent victory over Go master Lee Sedol. We get a primer on how AlphaGo works, a recap of all five games in the match, and thoughts on what this means. (The airing of this episode was pushed up, so we […]

We welcomed the one, the only, Eliezer Yudkowsky to the Bayesian Conspiracy for a quick chat. His latest project is Arbital, an ambitious effort to solve online discussion. It is focusing on solving online explanation. They want to do for difficult explanations – and someday, complicated arguments in general – what Wikipedia did for centralizing humanity’s recounting of agreed-on...

Can the Sanity Waterline be raised? Should it be? And just what does that mean anyway? Based on the post “Raising The Sanity Waterline” Also relevant to today’s discussion: Joy In The Merely Real, Christian Bale Did Nothing Wrong, and You Kant Dismiss Universalizability (particularly section III) Link to the TAM discussion panel.

We spent the hour trying to answer a question posed to Eneasz regarding his work with the Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Podcast. Here is the query (with pleasantries removed): Is there evidence that a rational approach to decision making, either on the personal or institutional level, will be more likely to achieve […]