The Bayesian Conspiracy

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We speak with aspiring rationalists with children.

Our previous episode pondering children – Kids, These Days

Louis C.K. has a bunch of stuff on parenting

I Wonder by Annaka Harris, a book on emotional intelligence for children

Article on treating kids like people

The Rider and the Elephant (and the Path!)

Pet Semetary

Nonviolent Communication

Republican Baby vs Christian Baby

Bryan Caplan argues that kids basically turn out how their genes direct, and parenting has little influence, so don’t sweat it too much (as long as you aren’t neglectful/abusive). Short Post and (comparatively) Long Book.

The Biodeterminist’s Guide to Parenting

The Polgar Sisters are raised to become chess masters

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Julia Galef’s ‘Update Project‘. Check out some of the other links on her website too.

Steven: “There’s a ton of content and techniques in this area that I wanted to cover and didn’t get a chance to. I’m including a couple of further reading suggestions below.”

Brienne Yudkowsky’s blog “Agenty Duck” is the best source of introspective techniques and considerations on this and related topics. I suggest starting with this post.

I’m also a huge fan of the Double Crux Game, which I’ve never had a chance to play formally. Basically you and a willing participant with whom you disagree on something figure out what the root cause of your disagreement is (almost never the apparent disagreement) and analyze the crux of your disagreement. At the end, you shouldn’t disagree anymore (like good Bayesians!) Check out links about this here and here.

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More ritual than spirituality, honestly. We were aiming for both, but caught up in ritual. Perhaps we’ll revisit the spirituality aspect in a future episode!

Melting Asphalt on Religion, Politics, and Self-Suppression

Welcome to Night Vale, and my All Hail summary

The type of poetry Eneasz likes is called “villanelles.” Here are four great examples.

From Less Wrong: An Alien God, and Thou Art Godshatter.

From SSC: Meditations on Moloch

From Jai: 500 Million, But Not a Single One More

Norman Borlaug & Dunbar’s Number again

Sam Harris’s book on spirituality, Waking Up

Sam Harris on Islam and the Misuses of Ecstasy

GadBeebe on Scotland’s laws on consent and autonomy, specifically the Adults with Incapacity Act

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You can’t control (well) what you can’t count

Samzdat’s posts that served as the basis of much of this episode:
Man as a Rationalist Animal, and
The Meridian of Her Greatness.
Also: The Use and Abuse of Witchdoctors for Life (not Witchdoctors Without Borders, as Eneasz misremembered)

Matt Freeman’s podcast – We’ve Got Worm
Also from Matt – The Daly Planet

Scott Alexander’s review of “Seeing Like A State”

And the original source material, for the purists. 🙂

Norman Borlaug’s dwarf wheat saved 1 billion people

GreenPeace blocks golden rice for no good reason

ChemTrails Turned My Frogs Gay

Cats are Murder Machines

Our Robin Hanson interview on Age of Em

Kim Jong Il made a quilt of sparrow’s neck feathers

A photon teleported from Earth to Space – or was it?

Northpaw Anklet

Friendship is Optimal & Caelum Est Conterrens (different authors)

Red Legacy & Other Stories

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Under the Aegis of Transhuman Spiderman + Other Considerations (and Listener Feedback Catch-up)

Fiction
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect, by Roger Williams
The Golden Age, by John C Wright
Utopia, LOL?, by Jamie Wahls (+audio version)
Red Legacy and Other Stories, by Eneasz Brodski

Non-Fiction
Making Beliefs Pay Rent
The Psychological Unity of Humankind, by Eliezer Yudkowsky
 – counterpoint: The Psychological Diversity of Mankind, by Kaj Sotala
Dunbar’s Number/Monkey Sphere
CEV

IQ actually doesn’t correlate with unhappiness. It’s either uncorrelated or weakly correlated with happiness! /surprised

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Going beyond our meat-suits

Transhumanism as Simplified Humanism text. Also available in audio here, starting at 6:52

Eneasz with PZ Meyers, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and David Brin: The Immortality Debate

The Fun Theory Sequence (also – here’s a quick summary, but the summaries really never do the sequences full justice)

Chinese scientists genetically modify human embryos

China accused of engineering its most famous sporting export (Yao Ming)

The Singleton

Louis C.K.’s Incurable Shitty Ankle

Fiction Mentioned:
Eneasz’s short story “Host” (plus others) is now available in a collection, both print and ebook!
The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Golden Age, by John C. Wright
Friendship Is Optimal, by Iceman