The Filan Cabinet

In which I talk with my dating coach about my date-me doc, again!   My date-me doc:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M4DuSQtgD4ScXjlXchLcRG7UVp3ROIizmsI35c61hVY/edit?usp=sharing Daliya's website: daliyakarnofsky.com Not Your Therapist: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-your-therapist/id1452125966

In which I talk with my dating coach about my date-me doc.   My date-me doc:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M4DuSQtgD4ScXjlXchLcRG7UVp3ROIizmsI35c61hVY/edit?usp=sharing Daliya's website: daliyakarnofsky.com Not Your Therapist: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-your-therapist/id1452125966

Travelogue of my trip to Seattle in September of 2025.   Photo albums: Discovery Park walk 2025-09-09: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oEFHbZqW4fjZN8wB6 Washington Park Arboretum 2025-09-10: https://photos.app.goo.gl/nACZ3WpThEUqXdvX7 Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop 2025-09-10: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cWdDgT5xgcX1cKJX8 Cougar Mountain hike 2025-09-11:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ru8LezQGR3Bvbr5w7 Poo Poo Po...

In this episode, I chat with Caspar Oesterheld about a relatively simple application of weird decision theory: evidential cooperation in large worlds, or ECL for short. The tl;dr is you think there's at least some small probability of a very large multiverse, so you try to follow something closer to the average of all the values of civilizations in that multiverse that think like you, and therefor...

In this episode, I chat with Alessandro ( @polisisti on X/Twitter) about our respective experiences learning Latin (and in his case ancient Greek).   The Ranieri-Roberts approach to learning ancient Greek:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vwb1wVzPec We need to talk about Latinitas: https://foundinantiquity.com/2024/04/15/we-need-to-talk-about-latinitas/ Legentibus: https://legentibus.com/   Inter...

In which I monologue about my experience learning Latin. Links: My friend's podcast episode: https://mutualunderstanding.substack.com/p/election-and-other-stuff-on-my-mind r/latin:  https://www.reddit.com/r/latin/ Lingua Latina:  https://www.amazon.com/Lingua-Latina-Illustrata-Pars-Familia/dp/1585104205 Playlist of someone reading out loud the chapters (plus some related material): https://www.you...

In this episode, I give you updates from my trip with friends to see the 2024 total solar eclipse. Questions answered include: - Why are we bothering to go see it? - How many of us will fail to make it to the eclipse? - Does it actually get darker during a total solar eclipse, or is that just an optical illusion? - What moral dilemma will we face, and what will we do? - Whose lav mic will mysterio...

In this episode, I speak with Aaron Silverbook about the bacteria that cause cavities, and how different bacteria can prevent them: specifically, a type of bacterium that you can buy at luminaprobiotic.com . This podcast episode has not been approved by the FDA. Specific topics we talk about include: How do bacteria cause cavities? How can you create an anti-cavity bacterium? What's going on with...

In this episode, I talk to Holly Elmore about her advocacy around AI Pause - encouraging governments to pause the development of more and more powerful AI. Topics we discuss include: Why advocate specifically for AI pause? What costs of AI pause would be worth it? What might AI pause look like? What are the realistic downsides of AI pause? How the Effective Altruism community relates to AI labs. T...

In this episode, Divia Eden and Ronny Fernandez talk about the (strong) orthogonality thesis - that arbitrarily smart intelligences can be paired with arbitrary goals, without additional complication beyond that of specifying the goal - with light prompting from me. Topics they touch on include: Why aren't bees brilliant scientists? Can you efficiently make an AGI out of one part that predicts the...

In this episode I chat with Jeffrey Heninger about his religious beliefs and practices as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes colloquially referred to as "the Mormon church" or "the LDS church". Topics we talk about include: Who or what is God? How can we know things about God? In particular, what role does religious experience play? To what degree is modern mora...

Every year, the Centre for Effective Altruism runs a number of "Effective Altruism Global" (EA Global or EAG for short) conferences thru-out the world. This year, I attended the one held in the San Francisco Bay Area, and talked to a variety of participants about their relationship with effective altruism, the community around that idea, and the conference. Timestamps: 00:00:16 - interview 1 00:07...

In this episode I chat with John Halstead about whether climate change will kill us all. He thinks it won't. Topics we talk about include: How did the effective altrism community come to have someone dedicated to the question of whether climate change will kill us all? How bad will climate change likely be? How is the role of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere different from that of other greenhouse...

In this episode I speak with Shea Levy about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and what it has to say about ethics and epistemology. Topics we talk about include: What is Objectivism? Can you be an Objectivist and disagree with Ayn Rand? What's the Objectivist theory of aesthetics? Why isn't there a biography of Ayn Rand approved of by orthodox Objectivists? What's so bad about altruism, or vi...

In this episode I speak with Oliver Habryka, head of Lightcone Infrastructure, the organization that runs the internet forum LessWrong, about his projects in the rationality and existential risk spaces. Topics we talk about include: How did LessWrong get revived? How good is LessWrong? Is there anything that beats essays for making intellectual contributions on the internet? Why did the team behin...

In this episode, I speak with Divia Eden about operant conditioning, and how relevant it is to human and non-human animal behaviour. Topics we cover include: How close are we to teaching grammar to dogs? What are the important differences between human and dog cognition? How important are unmodelled "trainer effects" in dog training? Why do people underrate positive reinforcement? How does operant...

In this episode, Peter Jaworski talks about the practice of paid plasma donation, whether it's ethical to allow it, and his work to advocate for it to be legalized in more jurisdictions. He answers questions such as: Which country used to run clinics in a former colony to pay their former colonial subjects for their plasma? Why can't we just synthesize what we need out of plasma? What percentage o...

In this episode, cryptocurrency developer Ameen Soleimani talks about his vision of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as well as his current project RAI: an ether-backed floating-price stablecoin. He answers questions such as: What's the point of cryptocurrency? If this is the beginning of the cryptocurrency world, what will the middle be? What would the sign be that cryptocurrency is working? How doe...

In this episode, Presbyterian Pastor Wayne Forkner talks about God, Christianity, and the Bible. He answers questions such as: What is 'God'? Why do people talk about Jesus so much more than the Father or the Holy Spirit? What is heaven actually like? If justification is by faith alone and not by works, why does the Bible say "A person is justified by works and not by faith alone"? How can people...

In this episode, Carrick Flynn talks about his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for Oregon's 6th congressional district. In particular, we talk about his policies on pandemic preparedness and semiconductor manufacturing. He answers questions such as: Was he surprised by the election results? Should we expect another Carrick campaign? What specific things should or could the government fund to...