The Most Interesting People I Know

May 09 2024 37 ep. 79 mins 234

The Most Interesting People I Know Podcast artwork

Interviews with interesting people on science, ethics, and politics, with a focus on guests from Effective Altruism and Left-wing communities.

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35 - Yoshua Bengio on Why AI Labs are “Playing Dice with Humanity’s Future”

May 09 2024 47 mins

I'm really excited to come out of hiatus to share this conversation with you. You may have noticed people are talking a lot about AI, and I've started focusing my journalism on the topic. I recently published a 9,000 word cover story in Jacobin’s winter issue called “Can Humanity Survive AI,” and was fortunate to talk to over three dozen people coming at AI and its possible r

34 - Carl Robichaud on Oppenheimer and Dealing with Nukes

Aug 06 2023 101 mins

Carl Robichaud is the first person I go to on the topic of nuclear weapons. He has been working as a grantmaker and analyst of nuclear weapons policy for close to two decades. He co-leads nuclear security grantmaking at Longview Philanthropy, where I used to work as a media consultant. Prior to Longview, Carl led nuclear grantmaking for the Carnegie Corporation of New York. We rece

33 - Habiba Islam on the Left and Effective Altruism

Oct 26 2022 155 mins

[This episode was recorded before the FTX collapse. It contains some discussion of Sam Bankman-Fried. Habiba has asked me to pass on that, to say the least, she no longer endorses what she says about Sam as an example of someone doing good. I've also linked in the show notes to her twitter thread with her thoughts on FTX.] This episode is a long time in the making. We’re going de

32 - Rutger Bregman on Why People Are Decent, Effective Altruism, and Causing Tucker Carlson’s Meltdown

Oct 04 2022 131 mins

Rutger Bregman is the bestselling author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind: a Hopeful History. He has been profiled in the New York Times and interviewed on the Daily Show. Rupert Murdoch has been spotted reading his book, and Tucker Carlson called him a “fucking moron.” I first came across Rutger years ago when a friend was reading Utopia for Realists. The book, which argu

31 - Alexander Zaitchik on How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines

May 10 2021 89 mins

Alexander Zaitchik is a freelance journalist and author with work in The New Republic, The Nation, The Guardian, and elsewhere. Zaitchik has written two books, one about Glenn Beck and another exploring Trump’s America. He’s working on a third, out in January 2022, called Owning the Sun: A People’s History of Monopoly Medicine, from Aspirin to Covid-19. This episode is about

30 - Tobias Leenaert on the Pragmatic Path to a Vegan World

Mar 03 2021 65 mins

Tobias Leenaert is the author of How to Create a Vegan World: a Pragmatic Approach, which has been translated into five languages. He is the cofounder of ProVeg International, which aims to reduce the consumption of animal products by 50% by 2040. Tobias also writes the Vegan Strategist blog, where he shares strategies for convincing people to reduce their animal product consumptio

29 - Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes, the Iraq War, protest music, and the music industry under socialism

Feb 24 2021 63 mins

Conor Oberst is one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the last twenty years. Best known for his work with Bright Eyes, Oberst has also collaborated with Flea, Jim James, Alt-J, and Phoebe Bridgers. His most recent song, “Miracle of Life”, featuring Bridgers, raised money for Planned Parenthood and opposed Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

28 - David Shor on Why Bernie Would Have Won in 2016- But Not in 2020

Jan 03 2021 73 mins

David Shor is a data scientist and the former head of political data science for Civis Analytics, a Democratic think tank. In 2012, he developed the Obama campaign’s in-house election forecasting system, which accurately predicted the outcome to within a point in every state. David was the subject of some controversy this summer when he was fired following his tweeting of an acad

27 -Trevor Beaulieu on Champagne Sharks and Why Killmonger Was Right

Oct 19 2020 73 mins

Trevor Beaulieu is the host of the podcast Champagne Sharks, a “podcast about race, politics, and pop culture, through the lenses of humor and psychology.” The show has released over 300 episodes on a huge range of topics, from Afro-pessimism and social justice, to Marvel movies and Tumblr. I’ve only scratched the surface of the show, but have really enjoyed the episodes I’

26 - Ross Barkan on Running for Office and the Return of Socialism to New York

Sep 10 2020 100 mins

Ross Barkan is an award-winning journalist and former political candidate. Ross ran for state senate in Brooklyn in 2018 (where he was endorsed by AOC). He is back to full-time journalism, with a column in the Guardian and frequent contributions to the Nation and Gothamist. He also has work in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, and the Colum