Émile Torres's guest appearances

Émile Torres

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Kate and Mohanad have been busy touring this summer, and are back to talk about the hottest labor strikes of Summer '23. Then, Kate talks with philosophy professor Émile Torres, a philosopher and historian whose work focuses on existential threats to civilization and humanity, about  Longtermism, what it is and Émile being a former member of the "fringe philosophical theory" aka cult.Show notes:- https://www.newsweek.com/if-your-packages-get-delayed-dont-blame-exploited-workers-opinion-1813106- https://www.xriskology.com/- Follow Émile on Twitter: https://twitter.com/xriskologyKate and Mohanad can be found on Twitter at @KateWillett and @MohanadElshiekySubscribe to the Patreon here: www.patreon.com/replyguysHosts: Kate Willett and Mohanad ElshiekyProducer: Genevieve GearityTheme Song: Emily Frembgen and Kate WillettArtwork: Adrienne Lobl

Kate and Mohanad have been busy touring this summer, and are back to talk about the hottest labor strikes of Summer '23. Then, Kate talks with philosophy professor Émile Torres, a philosopher and historian whose work focuses on existential threats to civilization and humanity, about Longtermism, what it is and Émile being a former member of the "fringe philosophical theory" aka cult. Show notes: - <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/if-your-packages-get-delayed-dont-blame-exploited-workers-opinion-1813106" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.newsweek.com/if-your-packages-get-delayed-dont-blame-exploited-workers-opinion-1813106</a> - <a href="https://www.xriskology.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.xriskology.com/</a> - Follow Émile on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/xriskology" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/xriskology</a> Kate and Mohanad can be found on Twitter at @KateWillett and @MohanadElshieky Subscribe to the Patreon here: <a href="http://www.patreon.com/replyguys" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/replyguys</a> Hosts: Kate Willett and Mohanad Elshieky Producer: Genevieve Gearity Theme Song: Emily Frembgen and Kate Willett Artwork: Adrienne Lobl

Leaving Longtermism/Hot Labor Summer with Émile Torres

Everyone's talking about AI, how it will change the world, and even suggesting it might end humanity as we know it. Dave is joined by Dr. Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres, two prominent critics of AI doomerism, to cut through the noise, and look at where these ideas really came from, and offer suggestions on how we might look at these problems differently. And they also offer a picture of the darker side of these ideas and how they connect to Eugenics and other ideologies historically. Together Émile and Timnit coined an acronym called TESCREAL, which stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism — and yeah, that's a lot of -isms. But it ties into other topics that we have covered in this series, including Russian Cosmism and Longtermism. Dr. Gebru came to prominence in 2020 after she was fired from Google for speaking up about the company's lack of ethical guardrails in its AI development work. Émile Torres studies existential risk and has been a critic of the "longtermist" movement for several years. Dave last spoke with them last year in Season 1, Episode 23. Here are some relevant articles from Timnit and Émile. On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? (Bender, Gebru, McMillan-Major, Schmitchell) https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922 The Acronym Behind Our Wildest AI Dreams and Nightmares https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/ Longtermism and Eugenics: A Primer, by Émile Torres https://www.truthdig.com/articles/longtermism-and-eugenics-a-primer/ The Wide Angle: Understanding TESCREAL — the Weird Ideologies Behind Silicon Valley’s Rightward Turn, by Dave Troy https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/ Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I. (New York Times; Cade Metz, Daisuke Wakabayashi) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html Keywords: existential risk, artificial intelligence, TESCREAL, Yudkowsky, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil, Timnit Gebru, Émile Torres, Gary Marcus, OpenAI, Google, doomerism.

Everyone's talking about AI, how it will change the world, and even suggesting it might end humanity as we know it. Dave is joined by Dr. Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres, two prominent critics of AI doomerism, to cut through the noise, and look at where these ideas really came from, and offer suggestions on how we might look at these problems differently. And they also offer a picture of the darker side of these ideas and how they connect to Eugenics and other ideologies historically. Together Émile and Timnit coined an acronym called TESCREAL, which stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism — and yeah, that's a lot of -isms. But it ties into other topics that we have covered in this series, including Russian Cosmism and Longtermism. Dr. Gebru came to prominence in 2020 after she was fired from Google for speaking up about the company's lack of ethical guardrails in its AI development work. Émile Torres studies existential risk and has been a critic of the "longtermist" movement for several years. Dave last spoke with them last year in Season 1, Episode 23. Here are some relevant articles from Timnit and Émile. On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? (Bender, Gebru, McMillan-Major, Schmitchell) <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922</a> The Acronym Behind Our Wildest AI Dreams and Nightmares <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/</a> Longtermism and Eugenics: A Primer, by Émile Torres <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/longtermism-and-eugenics-a-primer/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.truthdig.com/articles/longtermism-and-eugenics-a-primer/</a> The Wide Angle: Understanding TESCREAL — the Weird Ideologies Behind Silicon Valley’s Rightward Turn, by Dave Troy <a href="https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/</a> Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I. (New York Times; Cade Metz, Daisuke Wakabayashi) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html</a> Keywords: existential risk, artificial intelligence, TESCREAL, Yudkowsky, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil, Timnit Gebru, Émile Torres, Gary Marcus, OpenAI, Google, doomerism.

Understanding TESCREAL with Dr. Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres

Paris Marx is joined by Émile Torres to discuss the ongoing effort to sell effective altruism and longtermism to the public, and why they’re philosophies that won’t solve the real problems we face.Émile Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. Follow Émile on Twitter at @xriskology.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Émile recently wrote about the ongoing effort to sell longtermism and effective altruism to the public.Peter Singer wrote an article published in 1972 arguing that rich people need to give to charity, which went on to influence effective altruists.NYT recently opined on whether it’s ethical for lawyers to defend climate villains.Nathan Robinson recently criticized effective altruism for Current Affairs.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Émile Torres to discuss the ongoing effort to sell effective altruism and longtermism to the public, and why they’re philosophies that won’t solve the real problems we face. Émile Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. Follow Émile on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/xriskology" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@xriskology</a>. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (<a href="https://twitter.com/techwontsaveus" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@techwontsaveus</a>) and host Paris Marx (<a href="https://twitter.com/parismarx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@parismarx</a>) on Twitter, and support the show on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Patreon</a>. The podcast is produced by <a href="https://twitter.com/ES_Wickham" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Eric Wickham</a> and part of the <a href="http://harbingermedianetwork.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harbinger Media Network</a>. Also mentioned in this episode:<ul><li>Émile recently <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/09/10/selling-longtermism-how-pr-and-marketing-drive-a-controversial-new-movement/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wrote</a> about the ongoing effort to sell longtermism and effective altruism to the public.</li><li>Peter Singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine,_Affluence,_and_Morality" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wrote</a> an article published in 1972 arguing that rich people need to give to charity, which went on to influence effective altruists.</li><li>NYT recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/magazine/law-firm-job-ethics.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">opined</a> on whether it’s ethical for lawyers to defend climate villains.</li><li>Nathan Robinson recently <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/09/defective-altruism" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">criticized</a> effective altruism for Current Affairs.</li></ul><a href="https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus" rel="payment nofollow" target="_blank">Support the show</a>

Don’t Fall for the Longtermism Sales Pitch w/ Émile Torres

Most people have never heard of "Longtermism." Long term? That sounds like it might be a pretty good thing. But many critics are suggesting that it is a dangerous philosophy, with many societal and social risks connected with it. And it's also been adopted by many wealthy and influential people, including Elon Musk. In this episode Dave sits down with Émile Torres, a philosopher at Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany. Torres has been a leading critic of longtermism and its related philosophy of so-called "Effective Altruism," and has written multiple essays on why it may be one of the most dangerous secular belief systems. For more info: https://longtermism-hub.com Follow Émile Torres: https://twitter.com/xriskology Keywords: Longtermism, Bostrom, Musk, Lesswrong, Effective Altruism, Computronium, Phil Torres, William MacAskill, Leverage Research, Paradigm, Peter Thiel, Libertarianism, seasteading.

Most people have never heard of "Longtermism." Long term? That sounds like it might be a pretty good thing. But many critics are suggesting that it is a dangerous philosophy, with many societal and social risks connected with it. And it's also been adopted by many wealthy and influential people, including Elon Musk. In this episode Dave sits down with Émile Torres, a philosopher at Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany. Torres has been a leading critic of longtermism and its related philosophy of so-called "Effective Altruism," and has written multiple essays on why it may be one of the most dangerous secular belief systems. For more info: <a href="https://longtermism-hub.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://longtermism-hub.com</a> Follow Émile Torres: <a href="https://twitter.com/xriskology" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/xriskology</a> Keywords: Longtermism, Bostrom, Musk, Lesswrong, Effective Altruism, Computronium, Phil Torres, William MacAskill, Leverage Research, Paradigm, Peter Thiel, Libertarianism, seasteading.